Chapter Ten: Kreacher’s Tale
In chapter ten of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows we get the Kreacher redemption tale I didn’t think was possible and meet the bravest and most selfless of all the Slytherins. Yeah, I said it!
(Please be advised that this is a reread and I will be discussing book and movie spoilers.)
After waking up to find that Ron and Hermione were holding hands in their sleep Harry escapes in desperation like any single person around their two friends coupling up to somewhere, anywhere else and stumbles across Sirius’s room, which has been ransacked. Let’s all take a moment with Harry to admire the nerve of Sirius, who put permanent sticking charms on things solely designed to enrage his parents like motorcycles, Gryffindor banners, and Muggle girls in bikinis.
I do wonder if the sticking charm really was permanent or if the Blacks had tiny slivers of hearts and wanted to keep Sirius’s things up in memory. What am I saying. It was clearly permanent sticking charms.
Harry finds a very fascinating (to him and to me) letter from Lily to Sirius with details about Harry, his first birthday, Bathilda Bagshot, and a horrible vase given to her by Petunia, showing the sisters were on speaking terms at the very least at the time of Lily’s death. Which does make me contemplate just exactly why Petunia is so antagonistic to Harry if she was at least civil to Lily a few months before her death.
Lily also discusses Wormtail seeming “down” at the visit and yeah, let’s talk Wormtail. I’ve always been curious how Wormtail, who is in many ways the most vile of villains in the story, gets increasingly sidelined after Goblet of Fire, almost as if his horrible act against his friends barely matters. Who was Peter Pettigrew? Why did he betray a good man, his best friend? What caused this? The best portrayal I’ve ever read of Wormtail and why he joined Voldemort was depicted in The Shoebox Project so I kind of take that as my personal headcanon.
Also in the letter we find out that Dumbles still has James’s cloak, which we know he still has three months later, when James and Lily die. Why did Dumbledore have the cloak so long? And would it have protected the Potters from Voldemort if they’d had it?
Changing tracks, I’m definitely going to get into the Snape/Lily relationship in this book and I’m going to start a little right now. Harry can’t find the rest of the letter saying that Grindelwald was BFF’s with Dumbledore because Snape has taken it, along with the piece of the picture that has Lily in it. Snape, this is just sad and weird and creepy. I get taking the letter and picture because you maybe have no other tangible memories of Lily even though you were her friend for five years, but take the whole thing you freak! Not just the part with Lily, erasing the existence of her husband and child. I feel like this little thing with Snape perfectly encapsulates my feelings on how romantic “Always” is. Snape’s in love with the Lily that he’s built in his mind, but that Lily doesn’t exist. The real Lily loved another man, married him, had a kid with him. She gave her life for that kid, and Snape turned around and bullied that kid as much as he could. I just can’t find this romance sweet. It’s interesting, and it makes Snape more of a three dimensional human to me, but it’s not romantic.
After Harry gives up looking for the rest of the letter and picture he finds RAB when he sees Regulus’ Black’s door across from Sirius’s. Regulus hung up articles on Voldemort like he was his favorite member of the Monkees instead of Muggle bikini girls because the Black family are a bunch of weirdos. Harry calls Kreacher after figuring out that he might’ve hid the locket, and we find out that Mundungus, thieving asshole who got Mad-Eye killed, stole it and Kreacher couldn’t save it. Random note here but why didn’t Kreacher go looking for the locket sooner, before Harry orders him to? He knows how important it was to Regulus and he has magical powers.
Harry asks Kreacher to explain the tale of Regulus Black and it’s a doozy that I can’t do justice to in recap form, so I’ll skip to wondering what Kreacher saw when he drank the potion. So Kreacher escapes the Inferi because Voldemort is so arrogant he doesn’t understand house elves or magic or love and underestimates his powers. Regulus somehow figures out that Voldemort is making Horcrux(es) and is disturbed enough to turn away from Voldemort. Regulus is another one I want more about! Is this really what drove Regulus to turn from Voldemort? Was it a culmination of a number of things? And if it was Horcruxes that turned Regulus “good” why did it? So Regulus, bravest and most noble of Slytherins not only determines to destroy this Horcrux, he also tells no one that could help him so as to protect them, doesn’t ask Kreacher to retrieve the Horcrux (even though we know he could) and doesn’t bring a bottle of water to drink from to save himself from the Inferi. Okay, maybe that last one was more stupidity then nobility. Whatever! I stan Regulus Black forever and ever. Regulus also doesn’t ask Kreacher to save him for reasons (maybe all he cared about was destroying the Horcrux) and we end this shocking and emotional chapter on a high note, when Harry presents the locket to Kreacher as a sign of appreciation from Regulus.
<—Previous Chapter Next Chapter —>
Join in with your thoughts below, on twitter, or instagram with #ReadHarryPotterWithMe. Follow me on my twitter @HSecretLibrary, pinterest, and my instagram @hermionessecretlibrary
If Lily and Petunia were on civil terms before Lily’s death what happens to make Petunia hate Harry so much?
Why does Peter turn on James?
Why does Dumbledore have James’s cloak so long, and could it have saved the Potters from Voldemort?
What does Kreacher and Regulus see when they drink Voldemort’s potion?
Why does Regulus let himself be taken by Inferi and tell no one but Kreacher?
Picture taken in Hogsmeade Village at Universal Studios Hollywood, California. Send me/tag me in your pics of you reading Harry Potter!