[HPforGrownups] Sirius

[Horst or Rebecca J. Bohner]

No: HPFGUIDX 13576

> My point is, maybe I'm not attracted to Sirius at this point in time
> because I *don't* think he'd be a good parent, and that's my modus
> operandi at the moment. Other moms of small children on the list? Do I
> just have no life, or do you think this holds any water? Ordinarily he's
> just my type. I raised my hand for Alan Rickman, after all....

I have a nine-month-old son, and I like Sirius just fine, though as of the
end of GoF my heart belongs to Snape.

I can see why Sirius is attractive, and I don't even think that he would
make a bad parent (I'd love to see Harry go to live with him rather than the
Dursleys, for sure!).  I honestly didn't think of him as a "bad boy" when I
read PoA -- I guessed quite soon that he was really not the villain he was
made out to be, and that he would be somehow vindicated, and I was pleased
to find that I was right.  I still don't quite understand the slashing of
the Fat Lady and Ron's bed hangings (other than that JKR felt this was
necessary to keep up the dramatic tension, of course) because it just didn't
seem in character, and still doesn't.  So I practically ignore those
incidents, for all intents and purposes, when thinking of Sirius's
character.

And although I was first bedazzled by Alan Rickman when I saw him playing
the villain in DIE HARD (the only thing worth watching in that movie, IMO),
I actually found him most appealing in TRULY, MADLY, DEEPLY, a movie in
which his role was not even remotely sinister.  Nevertheless, I think that I
first started to like Snape because he reminded me of Alan Rickman playing a
villain -- he always seemed to steal the scenes he was in, and always seemed
to have much more to him than met the eye.  Finding out that AR was actually
*going* to play Snape was pure serendipity, but I have to say it didn't
actually increase my fascination with Snape, merely cemented it.

I am not interested in Snape because he is a "bad boy".  I'm interested in
Snape because I think he is actually a good boy with a phenomenal amount of
courage and resolution who is willing to be regarded as -- and indeed to
pretend very convincingly to be -- a bad boy in the service of Dumbledore
and of the greater good.  Although his feelings of resentment and bitterness
toward James Potter and the other Marauders were very real and to some
extent are still there (making it not too much of a stretch for Snape to act
harshly toward Harry, who is after all the spitting image of his father), I
believe that Snape's behaviour to date has been largely a theatrical
performance.  I don't think we've ever yet seen the real Snape, and I look
forward to meeting him soon.  If my theory is right, I think he has the
potential to fulfill a sort of fatherly role in Harry's life, and indeed may
have to do so when Dumbledore is taken out of the picture.
--
Rebecca