[HPforGrownups] Re: Sirius

[Horst or Rebecca J. Bohner]

No: HPFGUIDX 13619

>> I still don't quite understand the slashing of the Fat Lady and Ron's bed
hangings... So I practically ignore those incidents, for all intents and
purposes, when thinking of Sirius's character. <<

> Well, I think it is important for the understanding of his character *not*
to ignore those incidents. [much good stuff about PTSD snipped] <

Sorry, I didn't make myself clear.  I agree with you completely:  in fact,
the longest fic I've ever written centres around an ordinarily resilient and
strong character who has been emotionally and physically shattered by a
traumatic experience (shameless plug:  my Eleventh Doctor/Thea story
"Communion", at
http://www.members.fanfiction.net:88/index.fic?action=story-read&storyid=213
953 -- though for full impact you should really read at least the preceding
story, "Sacrifice", first).

So I have no difficulty believing that Sirius is suffering from some serious
aftereffects of his ordeal, including sudden bursts of rage that might
indeed lead him to act in irrational and destructive ways.  However, what I
*didn't* understand, up until this morning, was why Sirius was trying so
hard to get into the Gryffindor dormitory, or why he would be carrying a
knife on his way to the dormitory in the first place, since he had never
intended to hurt Harry.  Especially, I couldn't figure why he would scare
the pants off Ron and slash up his bed hangings, if he was just looking for
Harry to try and talk to him.  These actions seemed to me not to fit at all
with Sirius's agenda, and I could only think that JKR had put them in there
just to make Sirius seem more scary and the case against him all the more
strong -- even though they made no sense.

Of course, it has now occurred to me that Sirius wasn't really planning to
*talk* to Harry at all, at least not yet.  He was trying to get into the
dormitory so he could find and kill Scabbers.  That's why he looked at Ron's
bed instead of Harry's and why he was so furious when he couldn't find or
get at Scabbers that he slashed up Ron's bed hangings.  Under those
circumstances, it's very natural that he would get furious and take out his
frustrations on the nearest inanimate object -- an over-reaction caused by
his PTSD.

So never mind.
--
The Marauder's Map
rebeccaj at pobox.com