Character Summary - Sirius (is sexy) Black

[Carole Estes]

No: HPFGUIDX 13471

I've done this summary three time now...one with way too much detail, one
with way too little detail...then Randy's just made me laugh...OK I know
this is really late and it will probably run up against next weeks, but here
goes.

What to say about this delectable character.  I'll try to stay as close to
canon as possible and not stray into fanfic impressions (hmmm...this is
going to be difficult)

Sirius Black
AKA The Prisoner of Azkaban
AKA Padfoot
AKA Snuffles

Chronologically:

He attended Hogwarts and was best friends with James, Lily, and Remus.  We
think he must have been at Hogwarts sometime in the seventies.  While there
he was a trouble maker along with James but described as exceptionally
bright.  He proves this by becoming an unregistered Animagi in his 5th year
with James Potter and Peter Pettigrew in order to keep Remus company on the
full moon. He's a Marauder, and pulled a prank on Snape we still don't quite
know the
reason for or all the details of.  He and Snape despise each other.

He had a really cool motorcycle that he enchanted to fly. He was best man at
James and Lily's wedding.  He was described as handsome and full of laughter
in a wedding photo Harry has of his parents and Sirius.  He decided to
convince James and Lily to switch secret keepers for their Fidelius charm.
He saw the wreckage of their house and set out to find Peter.  They found
each other on a London street, Peter blew up the place and left him to not
only take the blame for that incident, but for James and Lily's betrayal and
death as well.

He's spent 12 years in Azkaban, but the dementors didn't drive him insane.

He's the only prisoner to have escaped from Azkaban without assistance (we
learn Crouch, Jr. was removed by his father).  And spends the better part of
his first year of freedom lurking about Hogwarts waiting for an opportunity
to seek revenge on Scabbers.  He nearly gets caught, gets away and goes
someplace tropical on Buckbeak.

He's Harry's godfather.  It seems to be a responsibility he takes very
seriously.  We see a lot of letters from him to Harry and he makes three
appearances in GoF.  He's looking and behaving better in GoF, although near
the end he's back to living in caves with a hippogriff and eating rats.

So who is he.  He's universally feared in the wizard community.  He seems to
care very deeply about and is loyal to his friends.  Despite being thought
to have gone to the dark side he is very much against the Dark Arts and
those that practice them.

A short personal interpretation based on canon:

Monika and I have spent reams of emails discussing Sirius' character and
picking up details about his behavior from the books.  We believe a lot of
the volatility he displays in PoA is not necessarily a character trait but
can be attributed to a latent and rather severe case of post-traumatic
stress disorder.  This is not to say that his behavior in some parts of PoA,
such as slashing the fat lady, and slashing Ron's bed hangings, should be
excused because of this. However, this perspective instead gives a different
light to his core personality, if volatility is not a trait he had before
the trauma.

Okay so now for the questions:

1. How did he survive with his brain intact in Azkaban all those years?

2. Do you think volatility is a character trait or a symptom?

3. Would he really make a good parent to Harry or would that relationship
falter if it was too close (so far Sirius has been there for advice but
hasn't had to play an authority figure to Harry yet)?

4.  Why do a large part of the HP fandom think he's sexy (besides the fact
that JKR said so...actually when asked if he was supposed to be dead sexy,
JKR said yes.)?  What is it about his personality that is or is not
attractive?

5. With apologies to Monika, who just wrote to me and asked this question
this morning and I thought it was so good I included it....don't you think
it's a bit weird that Dumbledore sends Sirius to alert everyone? What will
they think when the escaped murderer knocks at their door?