[HPforGrownups] Re: Ron/Sirius parallels

[Carole Estes]

No: HPFGUIDX 11639


----- Original Message -----
From: "Kimberly" <moongirlk at yahoo.com>




> But then we go back to the thing that I've been trying to explain.
> I'm not interested in the least in who was the wronged party, only in
> what may or may not have motivated Sirius, and the facts we have are:
>
> -Snape did not get along with James/Sirius et al
> -Lupin was in werewolf mode.
> -Sirius told Snape how to get past the Womping Willow to where Lupin
> was.
> -By all accounts the above was a prank, but nobody makes motivation
> 100% clear.
> -James saw the danger in what was happening and stopped Snape from
> getting hurt.
> All of the above points seem to be accepted by all parties involved.
> What I was trying to do was extrapolate possible reasons for what
> Sirius did.  I came up with the options I mentioned previously, and
> of all of them I chose anger/hot-headedness as (in my opinion) the
> most reasonable and least heinous of the possibilities.  I wasn't
> trying to say poor defenseless Snape was attacked by horrible Sirius,
> just that the act of sending Snape after Lupin occurred, by all
> accounts, and the most reasonable explanation I could come up with
> was a rash or angry decision.

My take on the Snape / Sirius prank was that Snape had been nosing around
trying to find out where Lupin went every month and what James, Sirius, and
Peter were doing with him. In my mind at some point Sirius said to
himself...ok, Snape wants to know where Lupin goes, I'll tell him where
Lupin goes.  In Sirius' addled teenage mind it was Snapes fault he almost
got himself wolved.  Sirius simply gave him the information.  No one forced
Snape to *do* anything with the information.  Sirius wasn't virulently angry
with Snape.  It was an ill considered act for sure.  Sirius knew full well
(way down in the back of his brain) that Snape would use the information and
continue to nose around where he wasn't welcome.  I don't think Sirius
really thought through the consequences of that decision.  Just like he
didn't really think through the consequences of his decision not to be a
secret keeper.

Its like the kids who decide to throw rocks off an overpass onto cars that
pass underneath.  They start small and its harmless, then they get a bit
bigger and a bit bigger roock and before they think about it someone is
killed by a rock smashing into their car.  The kids did not set out to kill
anyone, they just didn't think all the way through their actions to the
ultimate consequence.  Isn't this a prime characteristic of adolescent boys
in particular?

I missed the post that listed the possible motivations, but it doesn't seem
to me that the motivation was particularly heinous or that the prank
necessarliy was a rash or angry action.  More of a malicious challenge.
Sirius is challenging Snape to continue to nose around in their business and
suffer the consequences of his nosiness.



>
> I said:
> > > I may be remembering wrong, but I'm pretty sure he says in PoA
> that
> > > he went looking for him, and that he wanted to kill him, but that
> > > Peter was too quick for him.  Can anyone tell me if I've made > >
> > >that up in my head?  It wouldn't be the first time, I admit.  But
> > >even if I got that wrong, as I understand it Sirius wasn't much of
> > >a suspect before Pettigrew created the scene, cried out that he'd
> > >betrayed James and Lily and then was 'killed' by him.
> >
>
> Penny:
> > Well, I think it's reasonable to assume that he *would* have been a
> > prime suspect, even absent that scene with Pettigrew & the murders
> of
> > the muggles.  At *that* point, Dumbledore and Remus (and presumably
> most
> > anyone else with any knowledge of the situation) thinks Black was
> the
> > Secret-Keeper.
>
> Ok, but what about my primary point?  I leant out my books, so I'm
> relying on my memory, which tends to get 'creative' on me all the
> time.  Did I imagine the part about Sirius saying he wanted/intended
> to kill Pettigrew?
>

>From what I could find Sirius does say he meant to kill Pettigrew after
Pettigrew betrayed James and Lily.  This fits with Remus and Sirius'
statement that if V didn't kill Pettigrew they would.  So I don't think this
is necessarily a piece of eveidence that Sirius is an irrationally
hot-tempered guy.  He may very well be, but he has quite a number of reasons
for wanting Pettigrew dead that night.  #1 Pettigrew betrayed James and Lily
(vengence) and Sirius, #2 He was framed as the secret-keeper  (justice,
although if he thinks about it, it would be better for Sirius if he kept
Pettigrew alive) #3 Pettigrew was a spy for V...which was enough to qualify
Pettigrew as a target for Remus *and* Sirius (bit of vigilante).  While all
of this points to some not so great personality traits of Sirius, keep in
mind that Sirius was in a state of shock after seeing the Potter house in
rubble and probably was not significantly more mentally healthy after a 12
years of imposed depression and 1 year of barely surviving in the outside
world.

I know I'm jumping into the middle of this thread, but thought I'd add my 2
knuts.

carole