Poor Old Kreacher

Harry was startled by the sudden noise,

Ivan wasn't surprised to see a house-elf standing on the stairs.

It was very old, with a wrinkled face and a dirty rag around its waist. It looked as if it had not bathed in days, and its large bat-like ears were covered in white hair.

"Kreacher! Why don't you clean this room when no one's around?" Sirius scolded the house-elf when he saw it, his face red and angry.

The house-elf, Kreacher, did not reply, but looked down at his toes and muttered to himself.

"Oh, poor old Kreacher, his mistress dead, the noble Blacks in prison, the old Kreacher thinking they would never come back … that he would die with the house.

"But why did it have to be like this? A wastrel who was expelled from the family tree actually had the cheek to bring his nasty children into this place after so many years… If the coffin of the mistress was placed here, she might be so angry that it would come alive…"

Before Kreacher could finish, Sirius snapped, "That's enough! Shut up… Kreacher! I forbid you to insult my friends!"

"As per the rules, I am now your new master, and I command you to treat my friends with respect and to greet them with courtesy when you see them in the future! Also… clean this house immediately! I want to see three clean beds before I go to bed today, or you will be disowned!"

Sirius was shouting, almost growling.

Kreacher's body trembled, and his face contorted in panic when Sirius threatened to disown him.

"Yes, Master… Kreacher's only purpose in life is to serve the noble House of Black—" Kreacher hesitated, then reluctantly snapped his fingers and disappeared.

However, the faint murmur of Kreacher's voice before he left could still be heard. "It should be the Prodigal Son and his unpleasant friends who get out…"

Sirius's face darkened. He wanted to call Kreacher back and give him a good thrashing, but he resisted. He turned to Ivan and the others and spoke to them in a resigned tone.

"I'm sorry to have embarrassed myself in front of you. I'll discipline it well in the future…"

'Come on, Sirius, that house-elf looks very old, maybe just a bit confused, we shouldn't be so strict with him…' Harry said, thinking of Kreacher's old, dirty face and feeling sorry for him.

"You don't understand, Harry, that Kreacher was corrupted by my mother and absorbed a lot of ugly, pure-blood theories from her … whatever, they only make it worse!"

Sirius shook his head; he knew all too well about the pure-blood theories of the Black family that had led to their downfall.

"Well, let's go clean up, shall we? Kreacher alone would take days, and I don't want to live in a place full of dust and cobwebs!" Lupin laughed, changing the subject.

"Well, let's start with the first floor." Sirius nodded, then patted Harry on the shoulder. "Harry, you're with me!"

After the discussion, they split up, and Ivan joined them in the first-floor kitchen.

It was even dirtier than he had expected. The walls were covered in grease, the cookware was covered in a thick layer of dust, the bin was lying on the floor, and the entire kitchen smelled disgusting.

When he opened the door, the smell almost killed Ivan…

"Clean it up!" Ivan chanted, covering his nose as he tried to sweep away the filth on the walls. However, it was too filthy, and even when the magic swept through the kitchen like a brush, it was unable to remove the filth.

Instead, it caused a large number of strange little things to crawl out of the cupboards and tables in a panic. Ivan even saw a creature that looked like a silver snuffbox being pushed out of the cupboard and into the ground, where it rolled away and hid in a corner.

Ivan, of course, knew exactly what these creatures were; they were as nasty as the cockroaches and mice of the Muggle world, hiding in every nook and cranny of the room to steal food and spread germs, and they were strange-looking but of little research value…

It took Ivan a good hour to catch and burn every last one of them.

However, according to the book, this was not enough. The appropriate potion would have to be sprayed to destroy the nest and drive them away completely.

Otherwise, these pesky creatures would pop up again within days.

Of course, Ivan couldn't care less now. That was something Kreacher would have to do in the future. He was only responsible for cleaning the kitchen.

The Sirius mansion was so large that cleaning the ground floor alone took several hours, and by early evening everyone had gathered for a rough supper.

Without the proper ingredients, Sirius had to ask Kreacher to buy some bread to fill his stomach.

Fortunately, this terrible situation would only last one night. After cleaning the kitchen, they would be able to eat a good meal tomorrow.

Therefore, after dinner, everyone enthusiastically cleaned the second floor.

As the study of the Cleaning Spell was not difficult, after several hours of study, Harry was able to perform the initial stages of the spell, occasionally being able to offer a little assistance in cleaning up loose corners.

Ivan, on the other hand, went into the room on the second floor to clean and look for Slytherin's Locket, which he vaguely remembered being kept in a room somewhere…

The house-elf followed Ivan around, staying at a discreet distance from him, perhaps thinking he looked suspicious as he looked around. It stood outside the door, staring at Ivan with its bulb-sized eyes.

This restricted Ivan's ability to search, and he had to pretend to drive away small creatures in order to get close enough to a hanger or cupboard to check for Horcruxes.

After casting the Cleaning Charm, Ivan couldn't take it anymore and turned around to ask.

"Kreacher! What are you always following me around for? Didn't Sirius tell you to clean the other rooms?"