How Sirius found Harry (was Quick Question)

[Cindy C.]

No: HPFGUIDX 28058

Cindy wrote:

> > Early in PoA, Sirius finds Harry near Privet Drive, and later he 
> > reveals that he knows Harry lives with his aunt and uncle.  How 
does 
> > he learn this?  Does Crookshanks tell him?  Does he learn it the 
> > night Harry's parents died, and if so, why would he know this if 
> > MacGonagall didn't know until Dumbledore told her?  Does it have 
> > something to do with the missing 24-hours?
> 
Amy wrote:
> Good question, and I don't remember it being asked on here 
> either, though I do remember wondering myself.  I have four 
theories:

Thank goodness for that, because I was starting to think I had missed 
something obvious.

> 
Amy wrote:

> (1) He picked up this info sometime during the year of PA, either 
from 
> Crookshanks (doubtful, it seems to me) or from spying around.  
> 
> However, he knew enough to look for him in Little Whinging, though, 
so 
> he must've known at least enough to make an educated guess at the 
> start of PA.   

I'm not sure about this theory, either, because Sirius knows enough 
to find Harry even though Harry is several streets away after having 
fled the Dursleys.  Sirius says, I think, that he deliberately sought 
Harry out before journeying north to Hogwarts.  So he had some good 
information from somewhere.  

But then again, Harry mentioned on the Hogwarts Express while 
Crookshanks was present that he lived with his aunt and uncle 
(calling them the "Dursleys"), because they discussed the Hogsmead 
form.  (I guess that also solves the mystery of how Sirius knew that 
Harry needed a Hogsmeade form).

> 
> (2) He could easily have learned where Lily's only sister lived 
from 
> years of friendship with L.  

Well, maybe, I guess.  It's a pretty tangential connection, really, 
because there's not much reason to think Lily talked about Petunia 
any more than Petunia talked about Lily.  And Sirius was close 
friends with the Potters primarily through James, not Lily.  In any 
event, he would at most learn the town, not the address or street.

> 
> (3) He learned it from Hagrid the night James and Lily died.  He 
asked 
> Hagrid to give him Harry, Hagrid said no, he had orders from 
> Dumbledore--Hagrid could easily have added that he was taking Harry 
to 
> Lily's sister's.  It's the kind of unnecessary information Hagrid 
> would spill, especially since he felt terrible for Sirius and had 
no 
> suspicion of him at the time.

Yes, maybe this is the best theory.  Sirius did give Hagrid the 
motorbike, and at that point, Hagrid knew where he was going.  Why 
Hagrid would be more forthcoming with Sirius than MacGonagal is 
anyone's guess.  Perhaps Sirius was saying, "Give him to me, as I'm 
the godfather," and Hagrid replied that he had to take Harry.  To his 
aunt and uncle.  In Little Whinging.  On Privet Drive.  Which is just 
a few streets from Magnolia Crescent.


> (4) Maybe there's even a magical way he can detect Harry (e.g., 
> relatives can find him and Sirius counts?), though Dumbledore would 
> surely have closed this loophole if he'd known about it.

OK, then.  How about a totally wild theory?  Sirius gave Hagrid the 
flying motorbike, which Hagrid flew to Privet Drive.  Maybe Sirius 
equipped the bike with anti-theft equipment so Sirius would always 
know where it was.  So when he magically saw the bike go to Privet 
Drive, he worked out that Harry must be there.

I told you it was wild.  :-)

Oh, and I guess there is another possibility.  Perhaps when Hagrid 
went to Azkaban in CoS, he yelled things in his sleep and Sirius 
heard it.  One of Hagrid's more painful memories could have been the 
night he delivered Harry to Privet Drive.  If Hagrid has "loose lips" 
under normal circumstances, imagine how much he would say with 
dementors swarming around him.

Cindy (deciding that it may be Crookshanks that has loose lips)