Sirius & the Fat Lady

[msl at fc.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 12293


> 
> > >Why did Sirius slash the picture of the Fat Lady?
> >

My assumption has always been that when he arrived at Hogwarts the 
first time he was in his canine form and still pretty mentally 
unstable from his time in Azkaban.  I think that the same aspect of 
his canine form that saved him from his dementors made him a bit dull-
witted on the subject of figuring out how to get access to Harry.

So instead of thinking things out ahead of time (if he had, he would 
have remembered how the portraits work), he made a bee-line for 
Gryffindor and, once thwarted, had a fit in which he slashed the 
picture with his claws.  Only then did he come to his senses, return 
to human form in order to evaluate the situation, and then skedaddle.

marvin