PoA chapters 18-20 summary & discussion

[pigwidgeon37 at yahoo.it]

No: HPFGUIDX 21780

Thanks to Monika for the summary!!!

Questions:

1. Do you think it was all right that Lupin didn't tell Dumbledore 
about Sirius?

Well, not really all right, certainly, if you are referring to the 
fact that the Marauders became animagi, thus deceiving Dumbledore. 
OTOH, it is quite understandable he didn't when he was still a 
Hogwarts student. And, honestly, even if Lupin strikes me as one of 
the most mature and balanced characters of all, I can also understand 
that he didn't go and tell D. when he was assumed as a teacher. Later 
on, when he could have thought of the possibility of Sirius entering 
the school grounds as a dog, it would have been wiser to go to 
Dumbledore and inform him about everything. But then everything would 
have come out and so I think Lupin just closed his eyes at the 
possible danger for Harry and persuaded himself that the dementors 
were there anyway. 

2. Did you have any suspicions about Scabbers not being a rat? After 
all, we
already knew that he had been in the Weasley family for quite some 
time.

Nope, it didn't even seem strange to me that he had become that old, 
being only a rat. It really was more crookshanks I suspected.



3. What did you think when Harry, Ron and Hermione disarmed Snape? Do 
you think
they did the right thing or should they have waited for something 
actually to
happen?

I LOVED it!!! even if I'm quite a Snape-ist, it was so satisfying to 
see him being knocked out by the students he had always teated so 
unjustly.
What I'd really like to know is whether Snape *would* have killed 
Sirius. He is in exactly the same position as Harry will be some 
minutes later: He finally has the possibility of revenge after a very 
long time. Only that his hatred seems to me much colder and therefore 
much more dangerous than harry's, so I wouldn't exclude he might have 
done it. certainly, it wouldn't have been the thought of the shock he 
might cause to HRH, murdering somebody right under their eyes, that 
would have prevented him from killing Sirius.


4. When did you start to believe Sirius? When you heard that Scabbers 
was
actually an Animagus or did it take you as long as it took Harry?

I started to change my ideas about Sirius immediately when he didn't 
harm Harry or Hermione who had come after him and Ron.



6. Why do you think has Sirius waited so long before he escaped from 
Azkaban?
After all, he could have gotten away years ago, since it couldn't 
have taken him
twelve years to get thin enough to pass through the bars?

I've been wondering about that, too. He didn't know that Pettigrew 
was still alive and so, from his point of view, he didn't have any 
possibiltiy of being cleared of the "murder". OTOH, Azkaban doesn't 
appeal to me as a place where you stay if you have the possibility to 
escape. Even life as an outcast must be preferable to life at 
Azkaban. And he knew that Harry was out there, he would have been 
able to go and see him (as a dog, but anyway) from time to time.


7. When Sirius accused Pettigrew of having sold James and Lily to 
Voldemort, he
was shaking all over. Why do you think did he have this kind of 
reaction?

I think he was just re-living it all, and certainly the thought of 
his being in Azakban, while Pettigrew was, well, free, having on his 
conscience not only the killing of 13 people but also the deaths of 
James and Lily, was overwhelming. Moreover, it's hard to imagine the 
feeling and emotions of a person who for 13 years has not spoken to 
anybody, been completely lonely with his thoughts (who knows how many 
times poor Sirius turned his memories over and over again) and who 
now, for the first time, lets it all out. Considering this, I find 
him quite admirable. 


8. We know Lupin as a very kind and calm person. Why do you think was 
he almost
as eager to kill Pettigrew as Sirius was?

Kind and calm, but very determined. And certainly not "eager" to kill 
Peter, I wouldn't see it like that. IMHO, for Lupin, killing Peter is 
not in the least a matter of emotions, but the result of logical 
thinking: Putting together what he has already done and what he'd be 
able to do in the future, the logical result is: better kill him. No 
use putting him into Azakaban, he could escape as easily as Sirius. 
No possibility of calling the Dementors to finish him off, they would 
probably have a go at sirius first. so better kill him and keep his 
body as evidence to clean at least Sirius' reputation.


9. Now that you know what happened at the end of Book 4, do you think 
that Harry
would have been better off if he would have let Lupin and Black kill 
Pettigrew?

No way. There are very interesting possibilities with having Peter in 
debt with harry for saving his life.


10. Did you feel any kind of sympathy for Pettigrew?

Do we feel any sympathy for people who went and denounced hidden jews 
to the SS even if they hadn't to? I think what peter has done is not 
only beyond sympathy, but also beyond comprehension. Has he been 
tortured, menaced, I'd say OK, not everybody is a hero. But going to 
V. without any reason ??



12. Did you think that Harry really saw his father, or the ghost of 
his father
across the lake, or did you think someone else must have cast the 
Patronus?

I think it's absolutely clear that he saw himself!!


Susanna/pigwidgeon37