The real Sirius

[rja.carnegie at excite.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 19227

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., devika261 at a... wrote:
>
> According to Hagrid in PoA, Sirius wanted to take 
> care of Harry after James and Lily were killed, and he argued
> against sending Harry to the Dursleys.  As far as Sirius knew,
> the Dursleys were perfectly decent people who would take good
> care of their nephew, but he was still quite adamant about taking
> Harry.  I think the fact that he was willing to take care of his
> young godson even though Harry had other family shows that 
> he was rather mature at that time.  Loyal, too.

Well, we're given the information when we are in order to make
Sirius look _worse_, at that point.  And Sirius is probably
pretty upset.

However, I think it's significant that Sirius _is_ Harry's godfather -
that James and Lily invited him to stand as his moral guardian.
It's a Christian thing, actually (e.g. a certain movie), but
one that isn't done much in Scotland to my knowledge (at least
I don't _think_ I have godparents) - the godparent promises at
the child's baptism to help to bring the child up in good religion,
I think.  In practice it isn't necessarily a serious or religious
relationship, but a para-family one: an extra uncle or aunt, perhaps.
There may well be other godparents - Dumbledore himself might have
been...?

Since all I really know about this is from BBC Radio's _The Archers_
maybe Jane Austen, and an amusing book _Bad Form_ by Simon Brett
(e-mail me to see the pre-godfathering contract - I suppose I
oughtn't, it's copyright but it's only a _little_ copyright) -
I may be wrong, but AFAIK a non-churchgoing godparent who only
turns up in church for the christening ceremony is still supposed
to be (1) powerful or (2) rich, see 1, or (3) responsible.

I presume it's been noticed and discussed that Hogwarts celebrates
Christmas and Hallowe'en, but has a multi-ethnic intake and
no one up to POA is actually seen practising religion - unless the
dreadlocks worn by one boy boarding the train in PS are meaningful - ?
If our friend who was looking for HP books on disc found some, perhaps
s/he could search for the word "pray" anywhere, and whether details
are given.

In the Dursleys fanfic I started writing (still needs, e.g., a plot),
I send them to church, but not very often.  They're that sort of
people, I think.

Robert Carnegie
Glasgow, Scotland

"I read them all when I was seven and I hated them" - unnamed American
office worker on the Harry Potter books (www.dilbert.com, List of
Stupid Things Overheard)