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On at least two occasions Harry just yells "Kreacher!" and the house-elf has to appear.

This happened once at Privet Drive, at the start of Half-Blood Prince, and once again at Hogwarts.

Why didn't Harry call Kreacher again when they were in trouble? After the Ministry break-in they decided to avoid contacting Kreacher, just because they were not sure how he would react. Still, at Malfoy Manor, they were already in deep trouble, so no more harm would have been caused if Harry had tried to summon Kreacher to help.

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    Imagine Hermione's reaction to such blatant abuse of a house elf... granted, she was busy getting tortured by Bella, but still... seriously though: two possibilties: 1) in their panic of being captured with Hermione being tortured upstairs, they just forgot they HAD that option - or 2) they thought of the option, but IF Kreacher was still loyal to Narcissa and/or Bellatrix (Black women after all), they wanted to prevent their jailers from realizing the fact that they had a way out. And elfs are loud when appearing, Dobby's arrival caused Lucius to send Wormtail downstairs to check, after all..
    – BMWurm
    Commented Feb 1, 2015 at 13:52
  • Probably just didn't think of it... House-elves are notoriously under-valued and unregarded. Remember that at first, no-one knew that they could bypass anti-apparition spells. So maybe in the heat of the moment, Harry just didn't think of calling Kreacher. Also, they hadn't seen Kreacher since before the Deathly Camping Trip so Harry didn't know where Kreacher was at that point.
    – Möoz
    Commented Feb 1, 2015 at 20:58

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At that point, they were sure Kreacher was loyal to them, but they were afraid he might bring a Death Eater with him to their cell in the Malfoy manor. That would have been a bit inconvenient as they wanted to escape unnoticed.

Relevant quote :

Harry wanted to believe that Kreacher had changed toward him in the past month, that he would be loyal now, but who knew what would happen? What if the Death Eaters tortured the elf? Sick images swarmed into Harry’s head and he tried to push these away too, for there was nothing he could do for Kreacher: He and Hermione had already decided against trying to summon him; what if someone from the Ministry came too? They could not count on elfish Apparition being free from the same flaw that had taken Yaxley to Grimmauld Place on the hem of Hermione's sleeve.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, chapter 14 - The Thief

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    Even though the Malfoy Manor event happens in chapter 23, this quote is extremely relevant. Good catch!
    – Alfredo Hernández
    Commented Feb 4, 2015 at 12:08
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Earlier they didn't call Kreacher because they thought someone from the Ministry might come along with Kreacher, not because they were not sure how Kreacher would react

They were sure Kreacher was loyal to them by then, but after breaking into the Ministry they thought they had brought Death Eaters into the Fidelius Charm around Grimmauld Place, so they didn't want to call Kreacher

In Malfoy Manor, up to the point when he called Dobby, the Death Eaters were still not sure whether they really captured Harry or not (or at least, even if they were sure, they were not sure enough to immediately call Voldemort). If Harry had called Kreacher, and the Ministry indeed came with him, then it would definitely give away Harry's location

In short, they didn't call Kreacher in Malfoy Manor for the same reason they didn't call him earlier.

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  • Can you support your answer with a quote from the books?
    – Alfredo Hernández
    Commented Feb 3, 2015 at 13:58
  • There is no quote, this is a logical extrapolation
    – user13267
    Commented Feb 3, 2015 at 14:07
  • Yeah, I know. But an answer is always prettier (and trustworthy) when it quotes canon info.
    – Alfredo Hernández
    Commented Feb 3, 2015 at 14:09
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    well the books don't have any, so this is the best we've got
    – user13267
    Commented Feb 3, 2015 at 14:12
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    There is actually a paragraph in the book, see my answer.
    – Stephane Mathis
    Commented Feb 4, 2015 at 10:09

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