[HPforGrownups] in defense of sirius black

[Margaret Dean]

No: HPFGUIDX 14401

Magda Grantwich wrote:
> 
> > Ok here's my take on the werewolf inciden.  Sirius is 16 (as is
> > Snape). Snape has been following the marauder's and is constantly
> > looking over their shoulders and threatening to turn them in and
> > get them expelled.
> >
> > Sirius has had it with Snape and says..."ok he wants to know where
> > Remus goes every month...I'll tell him where Remus goes every
> > month."  I really don't think he actually thought through the
> > implications of telling Snape.
> > He has shown that character trait (not thinking thoroughly about
> > his actions...and this is certainly typical of a 16 yo boy)
> 
> > I really don't see this incident as an indicator of a violent
> > streak in Sirius.
> 
> So Snape goes into the tunnel and is killed by Remus Lupin.
> 
> Let's say for the sake of argument that a Snapeless world would be a
> better place and that getting rid of Snape in and of itself is an
> acceptable goal.
> 
> But what was he going to say to Lupin when he resumed human form?
> "Hey, good going, you really mauled him!"  What kind of a friend sets
> up another friend to become a murderer when he's in no condition to
> stop himself?

Hmmmm, perhaps it was Sirius's "inner canid" sabotaging his
thought processes.  By this time he's so used to thinking of
Remus as "packmate" that he's forgotten (in a way) that he's
=dangerous= in wolf form.  After all, he's not dangerous to
Padfoot, is he?  (As a side note, I wonder if that isn't part of
why Remus =is= more under control when he's with his Animagus
friends.  Wolves are pack animals, so being with a "pack" is a
big stress reducer.)

James Potter, OTOH, is a lot less prone to this mistake.  I kind
of see him going dead white when Sirius tells him what's going
on.  "Sirius, are you MAD?" just before he goes bounding down the
stairs like a deer . . .  :)


--Margaret Dean
  <margdean at erols.com>