DEs DID Know - Fat Lady

[Schlobin at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 15964

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Amy Z" <aiz24 at h...> wrote:
> > Now, given his state of mind, he probably stormed up to her, 
demanded 
> that she let him in, and when she (unsurprisingly) refused, he lost 
> it.  However, I do like to imagine a slightly different scene, in 
> which an initially calm Sirius tries to sweet-talk the Fat Lady--if 
> teenage Sirius was at all the way 90% of fanfic imagines him, he 
> probably used to flirt with her*--and gets increasingly angry as 
she 
> won't give in to cajoling or threats, and as his precious window of 
> the feast shrinks.  THEN he loses it. 
> 
> I have a lot of sympathy for Sirius in this incident, either way 
(hi, 
> Andrea--welcome to "Bad Tempers Anonymous"!).  And I don't take 
> Dumbledore's "Sirius has not acted like an innocent man" as in any 
way 
> meaning that D himself doubts his innocence, but simply as a "this 
> really wouldn't look good to a jury."
> 
> Amy Z

There is no way that Dumbledore doubts Black's innocence. If he had a 
shadow of a doubt, he would have not arranged for Hermione and Harry 
to rescue him. Dumbledore is in constant contact with Sirius from 
then on.

Sirius did not act like an innocent man. I believe he was seriously 
affected by his time in Azkaban. By his own story, he became obsessed 
with Peter Pettigrew. He wanted to find and kill him. He didn't care 
what he had to do in order to do it. This was coupled by the fact 
that he was obsessed with saving Harry. Voldemort had killed Harry's 
parents...Sirius was James' best friend.. James Potter and Sirius 
Black.....Pettigrew had betrayed James and Lily, caused their death, 
escaped retribution and sent Sirius to Azkaban! The Dementors drain 
every happy thought.......they are poison.....they poison the 
spirit...

So Sirius was not being his "best self"...although his behavior is 
totally understandable. He was in an "any means necessary" mode and 
in that mode he slashed the Fat Lady and went looking for Peter with 
a knife. In many ways, Harry saved him and Remus from becoming 
killers.

Susan
> 
> *this assumes he was in Gryffindor, an unsettled question I am not 
> intending to re-open!
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------
>  Those who have been stung by a Billywig suffer 
>  giddiness followed by levitation.  Generations of 
>  young Australian witches and wizards have attempted 
>  to catch Billywigs and provoke them into stinging 
>  in order to enjoy these side effects . . . 
>            -Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
> -----------------------------------------------------