[HPforGrownups] Cat, Rat and Dog

[devika261 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 27148

In a message dated Thu, 4 Oct 2001 12:21:44 PM Eastern Daylight Time, cynthiaanncoe at home.com writes:

> I have more questions about the events in this Chapter, and I am 
> sincerely hoping the answers are not painfully obvious.  Apologies in 
> advance if they are.
> 
> At the beginning of the Shrieking Shack scene, Black disarms Harry 
> and Hermione and then says the following:
> 
> "I thought you'd come and help your friend."   <snip>  "Your father 
> would have done the same for me.  Brave of you, not to run for a 
> teacher.  I'm grateful . . . it will make everything much easier."
> 
> What does Black mean by "it will make everything much easier"?  I 
> would think the easiest thing for Black is to just have Ron and 
> Pettigrew there, force Pettigrew to transform, kill him, and take him 
> back to the castle.  I must be missing something.

I think you partly answered this question yourself.  Sirius wants to kill Peter Pettigrew and get it over with, and Harry's not going to get a teacher makes the situation less complicated.  There are less people to interfere.  I realize that it's already complicated since Harry is there at all, but I'll get to that next.

> 
> Second question:  Outside the Whomping Willow, Ron is lying on the 
> ground with Scabbers while Harry and Hermione are on their feet.  
> Sirius attacks Harry, then circles back and grabs Ron after Ron has 
> stood up.  Why doesn't Sirius just leave his godson alone and instead 
> grab Ron while he is on the ground and drag him off, and why doesn't 
> Harry or Hermione (especially Hermione) just use magic to overcome 
> Sirius before he drags Ron away?

Maybe Sirius was worried that if he didn't attack Harry, Harry would try to attack him before he could get Ron into the Whomping Willow.  Also, his attacking Harry adds to the general confusion, so Harry and Hermione may be too overwhelmed by the bizarre nature of the situation to try to put a spell on Sirius.  Harry and Hermione also might have been afraid that any spell they used against Sirius would hit Ron instead.

When I first read this question, I thought you were asking why Sirius seemed to want Harry involved in the whole business.  Upon another reading of the question, I realized that you probably weren't asking that, but I had an answer, so I'll say it anyway :)
Sirius's first priority here is to kill Pettigrew by any means necessary.  However, I'd say his next priority is to make sure that Harry understands the truth.  Sirius obviously does care about Harry; after all, he makes an extra effort to see Harry before starting his journey to Hogwarts (the incident in Magnolia Crecent).  I would bet that if Sirius had succeeded in getting Ron into the Shrieking Shack alone, and if he had killed Pettigrew right then and there, he would have come out afterwards, gone straight to Harry, and attempted to explain to him what had happened.  As it is in this scene, Sirius knows that Harry will follow Ron into the Whomping Willow ("your father would have done the same for me"), and that, IMO, is part of his plan and is why he doesn't mind having Harry there, even though it just makes for a more chaotic scene.  
> 
> Thanks.
You're welcome :)  I hope this all makes sense.  
> 
> Cindy (thinking that Mobiliarbus spell Hermione used to move the 
> Christmas Tree in Hogsmeade might have worked pretty well on the 
> Whomping Willow)
> 
Hmmm...I don't know about that one.  That Willow is a rather large tree.  Not to mention that it must be somewhat magical itself.


Devika :)