Let Me Be Your Voice

Part 4

Harry was secretly relieved to have George with him when he climbed the steps of number 12. He hadn’t returned to the house since Yaxley had got in and he wasn’t sure what sort of state it would be in when he arrived.

“Need a hand with anything?” George asked once they crossed the threshold into the hall. The jinxes Moody had put up against Snape had apparently broken, and nothing stirred in the dust on the floor.

“I think I can manage,” Harry said, turning to look at the disarray. The drawing room had been ransacked, and furniture lay overturned, cushions ripped open; feathered down blanketed piles of random objects like a fluffy layer of snow. “I just need to check… Er, Kreacher?” he called.

Kreacher appeared before him in an instant with the customary loud crack. It woke the portrait of Sirius’s mother.

The hall rang with her shrieks. “Mudbloods, filth, stain on the house of my fathers!”

“On that note,” George said, offering Harry a salute. “I’m off. See ya at Hogwarts, mate.”

He left as Harry forced her curtains closed with his wand.

“What can Kreacher be doing for Master Harry?” Kreacher asked, his bullfrog voice croaking as he bowed low.

Harry was pleased to see that he had continued with his improved hygiene. The fake Horcrux locket gleamed with fresh polish on Kreacher’s thin chest.

“How are you, Kreacher?” Harry asked fondly. “I’m sorry I haven’t had time for a chat since the battle.”

Kreacher gave Harry an appraising look, his heavily wrinkled forehead creasing further. “Kreacher is well, Master,” he said. “Kreacher wants to know if Master Harry has come home to stay this time.”

“I have,” Harry answered. “I was hoping you could help me tidy up a bit,” he said, glancing quickly again at the travesty that had been the drawing room. “Is the entire house as bad as it is in here?”

Kreacher nodded his head heavily. “The Death Eaters came in while Kreacher was cooking in the kitchen,” Kreacher explained. “Kreacher heard them, and Kreacher watched as they destroyed my mistress’s house. But when Kreacher realised Master Harry and his friends were not in immediate danger, Kreacher returned to Hogwarts. Kreacher fought the Death Eaters with the Hogwarts house-elves for what they did to the noble house of Black, and Kreacher was proud of his master when he defeated the Dark Lord once and for all.”

Kreacher stopped talking and wandered away from Harry to examine the state of the room up close. He turned back. “Master Harry, Kreacher wonders if Master would allow Kreacher to ask for some assistance from the Hogwarts house-elves. This job is too much for Kreacher to do alone at his age.”

“Of course, Kreacher. I don’t want to put you out, and I’m planning on doing my own share of the work.”

Kreacher reached out and took Harry’s hand in his own small one. His skin was paper-thin and saggy, though he was warm to the touch.

“Master Harry is not to be doing any of the work,” Kreacher said insistently. “Master needs his rest for the restoration of Hogwarts.”

Another loud crack rang through the room like a gunshot, but fortunately Harry had thought to close the drawing-room door, so the portrait of Sirius’s mother didn’t awaken again.

Another small elf bowed low before Harry, wearing a starched white tea towel emblazoned with the Hogwarts crest. He looked to be barely an adult, though Harry really didn’t know much about the life cycles of house-elves. He spoke with a squeaky voice.