1995-05-11: Filthy Beasts

Participants:

Holly_icon.gif

On Loan: Kreacher

Scene Title Filthy Beasts
Synopsis Holly apologizes to Kreacher, who doesn't seem to grasp the concept.
Location London - #12 Grimmauld Place
Date May 11, 1995
Watch For Nastiness
Logger Kreacher's Master

For about a week, Grimmauld Place has been more of a flurry of activity than usual. The incident at Batherton, the missing students. The master of the house has been mostly absent, helping in Hogsmeade and with the kids. With his absence, one resident of the house seems to be a little more mental than usual. Not Mrs. Black, but Kreacher. Despite Sirius being the heir, but disowned, the elf is taking instructions again from the painting of his mistress. And direction from Phineas Nigellus. Kreacher's creeping along in the drawing room, moping, and insulting the changes that have come over the room. Phineas has already voiced loud complaints that the green is replaced with gold and scarlet.

Holly knows where the house is now. She's got the location memorised, and she won't forget it. Her memory, after all, is pretty good - it'd have to be, to remember pages and pages of case law for both the Muggle and Wizarding worlds. She apparates near the house, and simply walks into it.

Amazing what magic can do. Hiding a whole house.

She's not really here for Sirius - she's here because something the Hogwarts headmaster said bothered her. She hadn't intended cruelty to the house elf, but it'd screamed anyway. And now Holly feels bad.

It's not hard to find the creature - just listening to his talking to himself leads her right to the drawing room. She stands in the doorway, waiting for him to notice her.

The elf is found in the drawing room. He's wiping at the cleaned sofa with a grubby cloth, making it dirty with whatever is on the cloth. "Filth, scum and blood traitors, coming and going. Oh how Kreacher's mistress cries.." he mutters to himself. "Skivving sneak thieves fouling the air, and half-breed beasts to boot."

"Half-breed beings, actually," she corrects, taking a step into the room now that she's been noticed. There's a shrug, then she adds, "Well, for now. I'm sure it'll be shuffled back to the beasts division in another few years, then you'll be right on target." Try as she might, she can't offer Kreacher a smile. The most she can manage is an expression sort of like one would have if they'd just been underhandedly insulted. "Kreacher, I was hoping I could talk to you for a few minutes."

Kreacher has no fear or wariness of Holly. When she addresses him, he gives her a look that suggests he finds her lower than a slug. "It speaks to Kreacher. The filthy animal dares speak to mistress's favorite servant?" He keeps wiping grime back onto the gleaming wood of the sofa. "It wants to speak to Kreacher. The dirty beast who dared touch him.."

Holly clears her throat, fighting back the urge to throttle the thing. It's tempting - the woman is not all-forgiving, despite the fact that she can be quite generous. "I'm standing right here," she mutters under her breath, not addressing the elf, really, but directing and venting her own irritation elsewhere. If he can talk to himself, Holly can, too. Having no idea how house elves think, or work, she can really only guess that he's so old or so mentaly damaged that he no longer thinks clearly. Still, it'll weigh better on her conscience if she says what she needs to say, even if Kreacher might not even know she's said anything at all. "Ah, yeah, about the touching thing. I came here to apologise for that. It was out of line. I'm sorry."

Kreacher has that effect on people. The elderly elf shuffles onward, nicking things as he walks. Namely a silver framed portrait of dear Miss Cissy and Bella. "It is still here, talking," he croaks, more to the portrait than anything. "The animal is apologizing for touching Kreacher?" he says, not looking up at Holly. "As well as it should, touching what it ought not be touching. Kreacher belongs to Mistress Black, oh yes he does. Mistress would be heartbroken to find out her favorite was soiled by it's touch."

She has to grit her teeth. How can one creature have so much hate in it, considering they've really only spoken a few times. And even then, she's never had any sort of heart-to-heart with the elf, because she didn't see the reason. It was vile, it was mean-spirited, and it stinks. And it's still talking about her as if she's not there. Disturbing; the 'animal' comments are mostly shrugged off, though there's some part of her that's still bothered deeply by them.

The Mistress Black seems to be a common theme with Kreacher. He keeps going back to her name - he's her favourite, what would she say, et cetera. "Did you love her, Kreacher?" Obvious question. She's hoping he at least looks at her when he answers it, though.

Kreacher is a product of the family he served. Mingled with the mindset of elves, it's created a rather warped individual. "Now it's asking impertinent questions.. Of course Kreacher lives to serve the ancient and noble House of Black." He clearly doesn't see things as humans do. Love, hate, these sort of emotions, he doesn't have, share or express as people do. "Kreacher serves, even if master is a selfish boy who broke his mother's heart."

She derives a little bit of accomplishment from the fact that she's now 'it' instead of 'filthy beast.' It's only a little, though, because Holly's sure it was just a lapse on Kreacher's part, and he won't make the same mistake again. Still…

She sits on a couch, not near the house elf, but at a comfortable distance from him. She's learned more from him in these few minutes than she's learned the entire time she's been here. For awhile, she considers quietly, allowing Kreacher to go about his dirtying of the clean furniture for awhile. "Will you tell me about her?"

Clinging to the framed picture, Kreacher shuffles through the room, then stops. He sort of looks at Holly, but mostly the floor. "The beast wants to know of Kreacher's mistress?" There's a wary sort of surprise in his bullfrog like voice. "It wants to know of her greatness?" Then Kreacher is croaking on about just how wonderful Walburga was. A fine woman, an upstanding witch of fine pedigree, exquisite bloodlines. She bore a fine son in the form of Master Regulus, who was a proper wizard!

Ah-ha, see? He can go for awhile without insulting her. Given what she's heard of the Blacks - most of them, anyway - she can't imagine that everything Kreacher says is true to the normal person, but it must have been true to him. Fondness, definitely, even if it couldn't be described as 'love.' It does actually surprise her that the elf goes on so, but not that she's back to 'beast' again. Maybe one day, he'll upgrade her to 'being.' Hah, that'll be the day.

It's probably a good idea to not push her luck today. After he's gone on for awhile, Holly stands, smoothing out her robes. "Well, I won't keep you any longer. I just came here to apologise, and I have." She turns toward the door, then looks back over her shoulder, and offers an awkward, "Take care, Kreacher."

Oh wait! Kreacher didn't really get to talk about how Master Regulus was the /perfect/ son and how Sirius was the ungrateful whelp! "The beast is now leaving? Kreacher's mistress will be relieved it is gone from her halls." Now he's back to mostly ignoring Holly as his long fingers swipe up Mistress's ink pot from the desk. Stamped with the Black family crest, it's a treasure that's sure to find its way to the rubbish bin soon enough.


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