# Harry Potter and Kreacher **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 28, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-and-kreacher/587177 "2011-06-28T18:55:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-and-kreacher/587177/41 "2011-06-29T17:50:36Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Dumbledore has said that Sirius treated pretty much all house elves like shit. Sirius may have been a good guy, but he was, well, basically racist against elves. Are you sure about this? I imagine being raised in the Black household would encourage a tendency to treat house elves as low-paid servants that you don’t need to pay a lot of attention to, but I don’t remember Dumbledore saying that Sirius was bad to _all_ house elves. It’s just that Kreacher was a constant reminder of his unhappy childhood. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-and-kreacher/587177/42 "2011-06-29T17:52:41Z")
AClockworkMelon: > [@](#): > > Dumbledore has said that Sirius treated pretty much all house elves like shit. Sirius may have been a good guy, but he was, well, basically racist against elves. Not true. Dumbledore said that Sirius was in general nice to house-elves, but Kreacher was specifically a reminder of the family he hated. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-and-kreacher/587177/43 "2011-06-29T18:14:07Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > Yeah, and it’s even foreshadowed when Sirius tells the trio up in the cave that you can always get a better measure of a man by how he treats his inferiors than how he treats his equals. I love Sirius, he’s one of my favorite characters in the books, but in a lot of ways both he and James were…well…kind of dicks. I mean, think of all the problems that could have been avoided if they hadn’t decided to start picking on Snape the first time they laid eyes on him on the Hogwarts Express. Yes, it’s kind of one of the things that works really well in the books. Snape really did have some reasons for disliking James and Sirius. They were jerks in many ways. They were terrible to him, especially. > [@cmkeller](#): > > Not true. Dumbledore said that Sirius was in general nice to house-elves, but Kreacher was specifically a reminder of the family he hated. OK, now we need the quote. Anyone know where in the books they discuss this? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-and-kreacher/587177/44 "2011-06-29T18:40:02Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > OK, now we need the quote. Anyone know where in the books they discuss this? It’s the conversation between Dumbledore and Harry at the end of Order of the Phoenix, when Dumbledore is explaining to Harry how Voldemort fooled him, and what the prophecy was. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-and-kreacher/587177/45 "2011-06-30T22:57:14Z")
Found the passage, it’s on page 834 of Order of the Phoenix. (American Hardcover edition). ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-and-kreacher/587177/46 "2011-07-01T00:17:48Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Found the passage, it’s on page 834 of Order of the Phoenix. (American Hardcover edition). Yep, and you are right. Sirius is nice to house elves, but Kreacher is a living reminder of his past. ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2011, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-and-kreacher/587177/47 "2011-07-01T00:26:51Z")
harry: “kreacher stop hitting him!” (with a copper pan.) kreacher: “one more time, master harry? for good luck?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-and-kreacher/587177.md?page=2)