Chapter 12 an overdue ribbon
Creature popped back into the Potter house and spun in a half circle trying to decide where to start. Should he deep clean the entry way so her first step in was perfect or the kitchens where they would do so much work together?
The old elf mentally tried to get a hold of himself. Dottie had shown her commitment to him, but was leery of the vague offer of work Creature had received for her from Master Harry. Even with the to'vee touch, he was not sure that she was ready to leave her former home for his. In many ways the female elf was like Dobby, the Malfoy's former house elf; she had an odd outlook on what she could and could not do and of all oddities she owned things.
Creature didn't see the things he salvaged from his former masters as possessions; they were just artifacts of respect for the original owner. Accept the cleaver. His mistress had passed the cleaver on to him after his mother had lost her head to it when she got too old to keep up. "One day you will retire and pass it on to your child." She told him that a few years before she lost her son and went mad. Until Master Harry released him, her last order had kept him from his chosen mate. "You will only get into trouble with that elf. Your place is here with me and I forbid you to see her ever again."
Always the dutiful elf, Creature had swallowed the desperate hopeless feeling that was suddenly choking him. "Of course mistress." He had managed with his voice failing to give much volume. He rested his wrinkled hand on the table inside his new Room close to the heavy blade he had received so long ago
That statement had caused him to punish himself more than any two other rules and had him caressing the cleaver with a longing that aged him in his face and twice so in his heart. He could visit Dottie with such punishment, but knew that she could never be his. So why was he still holding a candle for the witch that had forbade him what should have been his right? Wizard kind often took the devotion of a house elf, not just for granted but to the point of insult, yet this witch had made the simple life of an elf unbearable. Wrong as she was; Creatures family had served the noble house of Black for several generations. What would those elves say about what he was considering at this very moment? What would his mother think? Compared to his love, these things were less than they once were. Not much less, he still felt like he should twist his ears off, but enough to go forward with it.
Creature slid the heavy cleaver off the table, it's pitted, and tarnished surface making a ringing noise as it clumsily left the surface. As he ascended the stairs he nodded to the severed heads of his ancestors. He stopped before his mothers and rested his forehead on the dusty glass cover. "It is not against a master of the house mum, it is against a monster." He wanted to say more, but had spent far too long calling this particular monster master. He propped the cleaver on his shoulder so he could run a hand over her cover; leaving it mostly clear of the dust he wiped on his toga and gave her a brief kiss.
His eyes were dark as they looked threw his eyebrows towards the shadowy covered portrait of his former mistress. With a building roar Creature swung the cleaver like an axe and smacked it into the curtain where he thought her face would be. When the curtains tried to pull aside part of it remained firm; held there by the cleaver which had pressed the unbreakable painting into the wall behind it.
Mistress Black glanced at the blade that was pressed to her hair, inches from her left eye. "You dare defile my portrait?" Her voice was low with danger.
Creature was sure that would change and was not about to let her build up to her normal bellow. "You have had your last word." He felt horror at speaking so to his mistress. He was a house elf after all and knew his place, but this was not his mistress. His voice lost its shaky tone and he went on firmly as he dragged the cleaver along the curtain. "She will be Creature's and Creature hers." He tore the strip free and folded it over three times and spelled it into place over her mouth as her eyes burned with indignation. "This is the Potter house; former masters will hold their tongues from now on." Creature let his eyes travel to all the other portraits of former masters and did not twitch them downward. None of them objected.
