House elves were quite uncommon in the magic realm. Astor had heard of them, how they served wealthy and noble wizarding families and were unusually subservient. He did not know, until now, that they would only perform magic when asked to and could do this without needing a wand. Astor was also surprised by the stature of Kreacher. He was barely three feet off the ground and hunched his back as if to accentuate his lack of height. He could also see Kreacher was covered in filth and wore only tattered rags with no footwear to cover his gangrenous-looking feet.