Living With Sirius

[Cindy C.]

No: HPFGUIDX 28289

Amber, I had some of the same reservation you and others are 
expressing.  I'll just quickly state how I decided to reconcile it 
all.

> 
Sirius asks Harry if he will live with him since it looks like 
> his name will be cleared. Harry, without even thinking about it, 
says yes. I 
> will say that the first time reading it, it bothered me.
> 
> Why? Because a scarce couple of hours before, Harry had thought 
Sirius Black 
> was out to kill him. Furthermore, Harry had a BURNING HATRED for 
Sirius (as 
> is evidence in Chapter 11 - The Firebolt). And Sirius has 
frightened and 
> hurt his dearest friends, even choked Harry a bit. Yet, in the 
course of a 
> couple of hours, Harry was able to completely turn about his 
perception of 
> the man.
> 

It helps to think about these things from Harry's POV.  Yes, he had a 
burning hatred for Sirius after learning the details of how his 
parents were betrayed.  That was at a time when Sirius wasn't really 
personalized to Harry.  In other words, Sirius was just a picture in 
the paper, a picture in a photo album.  Once Harry has the chance to 
kill Sirius, perhaps because by then Sirius is a person to Harry.  
That could be partially because Harry never wanted to believe (and 
maybe deep down never did believe) that Sirius betrayed James and 
Lily.

The core of it, really, is that once Harry believes Sirius' version 
of events, he sees that everything Sirius has done since before Harry 
was born was done out of friendship and loyalty to James and a desire 
to protect Harry.  The secret keeper blunder was a misguided attempt 
to protect James and Lily.  Breaking out of Azkaban and all of the 
risks Sirius subjected himself to were to protect Harry.  Not once 
does Sirius protest that Pettigrew should die for the wrongs he 
committed against Sirius personally.  It's all about Harry.  There's 
no better way to demonstrate one's devotion than doing the sorts of 
things Sirius did for Harry and his parents. 


Amber wrote:
If I were Sirius, I would've waited 
> until my name was cleared. If I were been Harry, I would've asked 
to think 
> about it (even if just for an hour!). 

I think it makes sense that Sirius makes this offer straight away.  
First, Sirius is, um, sometimes a bit rash.  So he wouldn't think 
things over and rationally conclude that he ought to offer Harry a 
home.  No, he'd just go ahead and do it, no matter the consequences 
or risk of rejection.  

As for Harry, he has never lived in the non-Hogwarts wizarding world 
other than a few days with the Weasleys and in Diagon Alley.  And 
look how much he enjoyed both places.  Harry is a fish out of water 
in the muggle world of Privet drive, so it would be advisable to 
accept Sirius' offer quickly before he changes his mind.


Jaykay wrote:

I find it
> disturbing that no one seems at all concerned by the
> fact that he blithely sent Snape off to the Shrieking
> Shack where Snape would have ended up dead or a
> werewolf himself, and Remus would have had to live
> with the guilt of killing or afflicting Snape for the
> rest of *his* life as well. But no, they brush it off
> as a "prank."   
> 
> Either Sirius is so thoughtlessly impulsive and
> completely oblivious to the possible consequences of
> his actions, or he's so emotionally unstable that he's
> capable of killing Snape in cold blood simply because
> Snape followed him and his friends around. Yeah,
> that's a "crime" really deserving of death or
> lycanthropy, Sirius. 
> 

Yes, that Sirius is definitely our resident hot-head, isn't he?  
These things bothered me a great deal when I reflected on them.  But 
I've decided it works after all.

Sirius did a dreadful thing with the prank, abusing his friendship 
with Lupin for personal reasons, putting his friend at risk, risking 
Snape's life, all without receiving any significant consequences for 
his conduct.  On the other hand, he has been the victim of a dreadful 
betrayal at the hand of his friend Pettigrew, which cost him 12 years 
in Azkaban and a lifetime of guilt.  Sirius badly abused a 
friendship, and he was badly abused by a friend.  

It kind of evens out when you look at it that way, so I figure Sirius 
has more than paid for what he tried to do to Snape.

Cindy