McGonagall and Sirius / Snape's Task

[Zarleycat at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 23645

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., hfakhro at n... wrote:
> 
> Luke wrote:
> 'I think McGonagall probably would eventually be accepting of the 
> fact that Sirius Black is innocent.  She does seem like the type to 
> be very stubborn, but she also seems to have a deep-seated enough 
> respect of Dumbledore to believe what he says.  However, I'm not 
sure 
> this would be the best way to go about it even if he did intend to 
> tell McGonagall.  It'd probably be better to sit her down and talk 
to  her, not just spring it on her.'

snip

> This is brilliant! Dumbledore's pressing need is to get Snape and 
> Sirius to meet as allies, but why? Perhaps this is the key to 
> predicting what Snape's task actually is. Forgive me if this has 
been 
> used as evidence, but I haven't seen it before. Perhaps Sirius' 
task 
> of alerting the old crowd and whatever Snape's task is overlap, and 
> for that reason they *must* meet at that time (it is Dumbledore's 
> pressing need, after all). I really like this, but I still have no 
> idea what Snape's task could be that makes it so urgent for him to 
> see Sirius. If even McGonagall who is officially Dumbledore's 
second, 
> and who has unswerving faith in him, couldn't be trusted by 
> Dumbledore to see Sirius, there must be something *very* urgent 
about 
> Sirius and Snape meeting as allies. So to anyone who is more 
creative 
> than me, it would be interesting to hear your ideas as to why these 
> two needed to meet and why they needed to shake hands at that 
moment 
> in time.


First, I agree with the idea that should Dumbledore tell McGonagall 
about Sirius, she would accept it as the truth.  I think Dumbledore 
may have already told her, off-screen where we don't witness it.  If 
that's the case, she doesn't need to stay with the group around Harry 
in the hospital - she already knows what's going on.  Another reason 
that I think Dumbledore may have already spoken to McGonagall about 
Sirius is that he also has to make that story known to the people 
that Sirius has been sent to alert.  At the very least, Dumbledore 
has to say, "Look, I'm sending you a messenger who you think is a 
mass murder.  Trust me, he's innocent."  Without some sort of message 
from someone they trust, why would Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher, 
etal, sit down and talk with Sirius, rather than try to turn him over 
to the MoM?

Second, I don't know if it's important for Snape and Sirius to get 
along because their current tasks overlap.  I think it more likely 
that Dumbledore is looking down the road and realizes that since the 
history between these two is so corrosive, he's got to take steps now 
to ensure they will be able to put aside their antagonism for the 
greater good.  Asking Sirius to transform back to his human form in 
front of Snape sends a message to both of them.  It says to 
Sirius, "I trust Snape enough to reveal your secret Animagus identity 
to him - you can trust him, too."  And it says to Snape, "I've given 
the vital secret of Sirius' disguise and I trust you will not use it 
against him or reveal this to the wrong people."

Although, I'd love to see a scene with Severus and Sirius acting in 
concert to do something great together, sniping at each other the 
entire time.

Marianne