"Hiss..." Sirius Black rubbed his brow. "You're very obedient at a time like this!"
"As a House-elf of the Black Family..." Kreacher kept his bowing posture, his tone respectful and deferential. "Kreacher will of course obey the two young masters' words, and strictly abide by them."
Kreacher's attitude, on the contrary, left Sirius Black with no temper to lose. He could only give a slightly helpless and unwilling "tsk."
"Kreacher, you did absolutely nothing wrong, and you've already done very well," Regulus Black said expressionlessly, though the amusement in his voice could no longer be suppressed.
"That's true!" Nymphadora Tonks nodded in agreement. "He's also... hmm... pretty good!"
Kreacher's attitude had indeed changed a great deal recently. It was almost as if he had been put under the Imperius Curse. Toward everyone who entered Grimmauld Place, he had become far more respectful than before.
It was not the kind of respect that existed purely in tone, like calling out "Miss Tonks" in the voice one used for looking at rubbish, but calling her that sincerely.
Regulus Black said, "Kreacher, go and prepare some snacks for us."
"Kreacher was negligent, to have actually forgotten such a thing!" Kreacher turned and bowed to Regulus Black. "Master Regulus, Kreacher will prepare them at once!"
Sirius Black raised his eyebrows. This was the Kreacher he temporarily could not accept right now, the one that made him feel awkward.
If it had been the Kreacher from long ago, he probably would have said, "It is all because Master Sirius is too harsh, always making things difficult for Kreacher, that Kreacher forgot such an important matter."
Nymphadora Tonks still had no idea what was going on. She looked at Lupin, whose face was streaked with tears yet unable to hide his joy, and at Sirius Black,