"Thank you all, Kreacher, Dobby, and Winky; could you please stay for a few minutes" With their dismissal, everyone exited the room minus the three elves, Ginny, Harry and Albus whom Harry motioned to stay behind. Harry walked over to a small seating area where he waited for the others to sit. Once it was done, Harry got straight to business.
"Ok, first, Kreacher. I am turning this house over to the Order of the Phoenix to use; I am no longer planning on living here. Kreacher I know that you have changed quite a bit since we first met so I will give you three options.
"Option 1 is that I give you clothes and freedom and release you from your service. If you take this option, we you have to swear a magical oath swearing to never reveal what you have learned here.
"Option 2 is that you may remain here in this house and serve the Order of the Phoenix faithfully.
"Option 3 is that you continue to willingly serve my family and come with us to Potter Manor. Which do you choose?"
Harry looked the elf in the eye before he turned and looked at Dobby and Winky for moment. Kreacher then stood up from his seat and stood tall and proud in front of his master.
"Master Harry, Kreacher has never been given a choice before. Kreacher knows Kreacher has treated his master and family very badly, including helping kill Master Sirius. Kreacher is very sorry for that, but bad magic made Kreacher very sick.
"Kreacher chooses to remain with his Master and his family but Kreacher has a list of…demands." Kreacher froze for a moment before starting to beat his head against the coffee table. Albus, Ginny, Harry, Dobby, and Winky all reached for the elf at the same time, but Harry also shouted. "KREACHER I ORDER YOU TO NOT HURT YOURSELF OR PUNISH YOURSELF!!"
The elf froze instantly and retuned to stand at attention. "Now Kreacher, what are you demands? If they are reasonable, then I would love to have you remain with us."
"Thank you Master Harry. Dobby has often spoken about your greatness and kindness, but I now have seen that you are the greatest wizard ever. Even better then Headmaster Professor Dumbledore.
"Kreacher requests to remain bound to the House of Black, but also be bound to all of Master's families. Kreacher also requests that he remains in the new uniform that Kreacher has been given. Kreacher demands that he will not replace any of Master's other house elves to allow Kreacher to serve you. Kreacher also demands that Master not leave the Headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix without anyone to care for it."
Harry almost laughed out loud at Kreacher's 'Demands.' They were pretty simple and straight forward and nothing that he hadn't already thought of. With a second thought, Harry removed his wand and pointed it at Kreacher.
"I, Lord Gryffindor, Harry James Potter, Head of the Houses of Gryffindor, Potter, Black, Slytherin, Azkaban, and Flamel do hereby bind Kreacher, the house elf, to my families as a servant, friend, confidant, and member. You are hereby promoted to Senior Elf and a member of my personal staff."
With a flash of blinding blue light, a blue aura formed around Harry and Kreacher. When the aura faded, Harry almost couldn't recognize the elf. Kreacher's white hair was now shorter and cleaner with flecks of black. His eyes held the looks of respect and wisdom. His skin was tighter and healthier looking.
Kreacher had been wearing a plain butler's outfit since Harry returned to Grimmauld Place; now he wore an even nicer set of butler's clothing. By the look of the style, it was something from the 1920's, which was about when Kreacher was born Harry guessed. To top off the entire look, Kreacher was wearing an elf size pair of glasses and carried and formal cane, cloak, and top hat. Over his heart were the crests of his families as well on the clasps and accessories he wore. Over all, Kreacher looked rather refined and dignified.
"Kreacher, as you can tell, I accept your demands whole heartedly. As one of my Senior Elves, you will accept spending money of 1 galleon a week for whatever you wish to buy for yourself. You may not under any circumstances attempt to give me my money back and you are not allowed to ever hurt or punish yourself.
"Now to your first official task as one of my Senior Elves; after you have assisted Mum Weasley, you are to enquire about finding four elves to serve here at Headquarters. When you have found the four you trust, contact Master Griphook and give him the details of the purchase, then report directly to me.
"Your day-to-day duties we will discuss in detail later, I would like you to check on all of the Black Family holdings and give me a detailed report. You may use your phoenix pendant to do so."
"Thank you Master Harry, I will serve you and your bloodline for as long as I am able. May I be dismissed?"
"Not yet Kreacher, I want you here to see what I am about to do. Dobby, Winky, do you both have the same demands that Kreacher did?"
Both elves nodded their heads enthusiastically. "Very well then; I, Lord Gryffindor, Harry James Potter, Head of the Houses of Gryffindor, Potter, Black, Slytherin, Azkaban, and Flamel do hereby bind Dobby and Winky, free house elves, to my families as a servant, friend, confidant, and member. May your children know freedom of choice and love. You are hereby promoted to Senior Elves and members of my personal staff."
With a flash of blinding blue light, a blue aura formed around Harry and the two elves.
Dobby old uniform, which was very similar to Kreacher's, was no more. Dobby now wore a uniform much like Kreacher's, but it was in amore modern style, instead of a cloak, Dobby wore a trench coat/cloak hybrid.
Winky also wore a newer style uniform similar to what a senior maid would wear, though she did have her apron in her hand.
"Dobby, Winky you will be paid 1 galleon a week for whatever you wish to buy for yourself. You may not under any circumstances attempt to give me my money back and you are not allowed to ever hurt or punish yourself. Winky, when you become pregnant, you are to relax your duties to ¼ of what you normally do; I do not wish to have the first free house elf in generations to have anything happen to him or her.
"Dobby, I will be honored to make you my Senior Chief House Elf and leader of my Family's Elf Council. As my Senior Chief, you will be tasked with overseeing all my elves, including the ones at Hogwarts. Winky, you too will be a Senior House Elf and serve as Ginny's personal elf. I wish both of you to meet with the house elves from all of my properties and give me detailed reports.
"Now, my final orders to the three of you; from now on, you will eat all your meals with the family in the dining room, there is to be no exceptions; also have you all been trained in proper table etiquette?"
The three elves nodded their heads yes. "Good, I also want the three of you to review your reading and writing including spelling and grammar. You are allowed to learn and in fact I encourage you to learn as much you can.
"You are all dismissed."
The three elves hugged Harry and Ginny tightly before disappearing to begin their work.
Harry looked over at Albus and saw the man had tears of joy, "Harry what made you do what you did, if I may ask?"
"It's simple Albus. Each of the Signet Rings holds not only power over the properties, wards, etc, but also knowledge. I now know everything about my families and holdings including Hogwarts. That reminds me, the castle is still in lockdown because I want Bill to check out the anchoring stones for the wards. Those stones are over a thousand years old and might need to be repaired or replaced."
With a simple nod, the three of them left the conference room and headed off towards their assignments.