Who trusted Sirius? (was: Sirius V's #2?)

[joym999 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 24326

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., monzaba at p... wrote:
> Actually, I think it's quite shocking that James and Lily seem to 
be 
> the *only* people who trusted Sirius. Everybody else, even those 
who 
> knew him really well: Remus, Hagrid, McGonagall - were certain he 
> betrayed his best friends and slaughtered the muggles. 
> 
> Still worse, it seems that Dumbledore shared their belief. I think 
he 
> didn't quite trust any of James's friends, because he volunteered 
to 
> be the Potters' Secret Keeper. He must have known that Sirius was 
> thrown to Azkaban without trial and he didn't do anything about it. 

It is possible that Dumbledore did not believe that Sirius was 
guilty, or at least had some doubts, and the MoM ignored his 
protests.  Dumbledore is clearly not universally popular; Fudge has 
shown his unwillingness to believe Dumbledore, and the Board of 
Governors of Hogwarts managed to fire him in CoS.  There are clearly 
a lot of behind-the-scenes political struggles going on in the MoM, 
so Dumbledore may have only a very limited ability to affect the day 
to day workings of the MoM.

It is also possible that everyone, including Dumbledore, assumed that 
Sirius was yet another victim of the Imperius Curse, and did not 
voluntarily go over to Voldys side, but was coerced because of the 
curse.  Remember, we dont really know all that much about Voldys 
Reign of Terror, but it sounds as if one of the horrors of it was 
that he was so powerful that he could put curses on seemingly 
powerful wizards.

--Joywitch, just speculating