Sirius Black

[katzefan at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 24358

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Alfredo Ramírez <bonds0097 at y...> 
wrote:
> I apologize if any of this has been brought up before. I just 
finished
> reading PoA for the second time, and noticed a few interesting 
things that I
> had not seen before.
> 
> A)      "I was Junior Minister in the Department of Magical 
Catastrophes at
> the time, and I was one of the first on the scene after Black 
murdered all
> of those people. I – I will never forget it. I still dream about it
> sometimes. A crater in the middle of the street, so deep it had 
cracked the
> sewer below. Bodies everywhere. Muggles screaming. And 
_Black standing there
> laughing_, with what was left of Pettigrew in front of him
 a 
heap of
> bloodstained robes and a few – a few fragments –
> 
> – PoA, Page 208, American Hardcover edition.
> 
> Ok
 if Sirius was innocent, why the hell was he laughing like a 
maniac when
> they dragged him off to Azkaban? I mean, if he'd been in shock 
or something,
> that's understandable, but laughing? Was this ever explained 
or should I
> just ignore it?
> 
> B)      But Black's free hand had found Harry's throat –
> "No," he hissed, "I've waited too long – "
> The fingers tightened, Harry choked, his glasses askew.
> -          PoA, Page 340, American Hardcover edition.
> 
> Uhm, common sense tells me that if you want to show 
someone you're not
> responsible for their parents' deaths, you _don_ strangle 
them. I understand
> that Sirius is a bit off-balance; years in Azkaban can do that to 
you, but
> strangling Harry? That doesn't seem like a good idea.
> 
> Those are pretty much the two things I don't really understand. 
Any
> explanation?
> 
> JB
> 
> 
>1) People in shock don't always react rationally. He may have 
been covered with grue and gore (an explosion that can kill a 
dozen or so people can usually spew debris for quite some 
distance) - combined with shock and horror - and, as Elspeth 
suggests, the sudden realization that this wimpy little hanger-on 
has plotted all this, carried it out and left him hanging off a very 
thin branch in a very high wind.

2) Good question. That's hardly the best way to convince 
somebody to listen to you. I'm wondering if he intended to grab 
Harry's arm or shoulder and got him by the throat by accident, 
and was sufficiently agitated that he really didn't notice.