[HPforGrownups] Re: Apology - Sirius again...

Sat Jul 14 02:04:17 UTC 2001

No: HPFGUIDX 22524

Okay.  Where to start!  First off I never said Sirius wasn't a good 
guy (on the good side I should say).  I personally think he is.  
HOWEVER, I wouldn't put it past JKR to have him be truly evil.  He is 
the guy with the looks, the nice sense of humor, the brains, someone 
Harry now trusts.  On the other hand we have Snape, who seems to be 
just the opposite of Sirius with the exception of brain power.  You 
are suppose to hate Snape.  JKR has done her best to make sure we 
do.  She is setting us up for something much later down the line.  
This book is also about *trusting* and I can see where Harry will 
trust those who are not on the good side.  It's possible Sirius might 
be one of those people.

I do believe Sirius has a cruel side.  Does anyone remember the *The 
Map*?  

*Mr Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot 
like that ever became a Professor*

That is cruel.  It doesn't matter at what age he said it.

How about *Mr Prongs agrees with Mr Moony, and would like to add that 
Professor Snape is an ugly git*...and...*Mr Moony presents his 
compliments to Professor Snape, and begs him to keep his abnormally 
large nose out of other people's business*...and...Mr. Wormtail bids 
Professor Snape good day, and advises him to wash his hair, the 
slimeball*

Nice group of kids!

<<<  The key word in that statement is they were KIDS.  I'm not sure if you have ever worked with kids before *not to say that you haven't* but they can be very cruel.  Especially to kids they don't like.  I'm sure Snape and his crowd acted in the same manner.  I know I personally have said things very similar to that in my life and well, to be honest with ya I am a very nice person.  These were normal kids.  They were all just as cruel, I daresay, that includes Remus Lupin and James Potter.  I don't really see anybody attacking them.  However, I still maintain that3 of the 4 Marauders: James, Sirius and Remus are parallels to Harry=James (somewhat soft spoken, a little bit shy, has a bit of a temper, but can control it in some circumstances).  Ron=Sirius (not soft spoken at all, very easy tempered, not shy *however, Ron is insecure and he can be shy but only in some instances* Lupin=Hermione *very logical, doesn't jump to conclusions quickly, intelligent.  I also think that because of the fact Lupin and Hermione not really being *normal wizards* always feel a bit more compassion than the other 2 do for inferiors..I might be going a little too far with this but just my thoughts.  Also, I just don't see Sirius being evil.  I don't see JKR doing that to people,  I know I would be highly dissapointed if she did I daresay.  HE really hasn't been wrong about anybody, as far as personalities go.  Maybe Snape (but that's more of a school boy grudge, that an actual misjudgement of personality).  Sirius would not go to the extent that he has to protect Harry if he was evil.  He broke into a wizard home, broke into Hogwarts on two occassions.  I just find it very hard to believe that JKR would completely do a 180 in personalities and make Sirius evil.  There are just some people who you trust and some you don't, I am generaly correct in my vibes, this isn't to sound cocky I just have good vibes and I have bad vibes on characters likeable or unlikeable.  I for one never trusted "MOody", even though Sirius did I thought maybe he was like Ron with  Snape and was wrong.  I never liked Quirrel (I hated him from the beginning, always thougt there was something going on there), I always did get not so bad vibes from Sirius though.  I mean I always thought that perhaps we were wrong about him the whole book.  One character in particular though, that I believe *or atleast pray* that I am wrong about is Dumbledore, I never did get good vibes from him take that how you wish.  He is almost too perfect to me, I don't know it just seems like she's going somewhere with that.  However, my friend Tracy believes that Albus is like a God figure, meaning he is all good.  While Voldie represents the all evil which part of me wishes to believe that.  However, if that is the case then he can't die can he?  Unless, he's Jesus or something which is possible.  However, I be more inclined to believe that Harry is more of the Jesus element.  Human but yet very powerful and devine.  However, I daresay that Harry has sinned so I guess he is out of the running.  Okay, I'm not making any sense anymore so I'll just stop.   Oh and i never did dislike Snape not even in the first book, I thought he was too mean to be evil if that makes any sense.  Sirius however, is the perfect canidate for a "good" guy in this book, meaning, he is imperfect yet still does his best to do the right thing.  

Or how about Sirius as an adult telling Ron, Hermione, and Harry that 
Snape was a *slimy, oily, greasy-haired kid*.  That was a nice way 
for Sirius to talk about *Professor Snape* in front of the kids.  My 
point is that Sirius does have a cruel streak in him.

<<<  Cruel streak maybe, but not cruel hearted.  I think deep down even there Sirius knows Snape is not out to get them.  He seems to really not consider Ron's idea on Snape as valid.  However, Ron is on to something there Snape was a deatheater, a reformed on however.  That brings up a very good point though.  Wouldn't it be obvious who the death eaters are and who they are not by the presence of black mark on thier arms?  Didn't anybody ever wonder why Sirius never had the death eater mark on him?  What about Peter, did he possess this mark?  Has this ever been discussed, sorry if it has..

I don't think we can truly judge the actions of Snape or Sirius in 
POA until we know the full story of why they hate each other so much. 
I just get tired of people excusing Sirius behavior because he was 
young, or because he was a prisoner, or because it was all Snape's 
fault and so on......he was wrong on some things.  

<<<I agree with  this point.

I don't like the idea that we can't hold Sirius responsible for his 
actions because he was a prisoner.  I don't believe it was PTSD that 
made Sirius act the way he did while inside Hogwarts.  This is just 
the way he does things. I am not saying that he didn't suffer while 
at Azkaban or afterwards.  Of course he did.  What I object to is 
making excuses for people when they do wrong.  Voldemort suffers from 
a certain type of mental illness so we can't hold him responsible.  
Poor, poor Peter.  Surely he suffered some mental childhood abuse so 
we must understand why he became the way he did.  Barty Crouch Sr and 
Jr ---the same thing.  Good grief!  Everyone is suffering from some 
type of mental disorder. The fact is some people are just plain mean 
and some people just choose evil.

I know I am ranting but I just couldn't help myself ;-)  

I don't excuse Snape for his rudeness or cruelty.  I do believe that 
there is so much more to the man and why he is as he is.  What 
surprises me is that people are willing to excuse the actions of so 
many in the book but are not even willing to consider that Snape 
might have had a very nasty and unpleasant life himself.  Not that it 
would make his actions acceptable but it would help us to understand 
him more.

For those who think Snape is a bully....he is.  For those who think 
it is weakness to pick on those younger and weaker than you....it 
is.  But the guy isn't all bad.  He is a very brave man.  Spying on 
Voldemort is almost a certain death sentence. He is willing to put 
his life on the line in some way even now.  He is strong in many ways.
He better be.

As for Sirius, I have a feeling he was a bully while at school also.  
Not in the way Snape is but in his own way.  A cocky, can't do no 
wrong, popular bully. For some reason I still like him!

<<<  I don't think he was really, he might seem this way, but not really.  I think that the Marauders stuck to themselves, I think if we see ron in 13 years he will act the same way.  

Koinonia     

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