Snape vs. Sirius, round 2 cont'd

[serenadust]

No: HPFGUIDX 34824

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "siriusgeologist" <lrcjestes at e...> wrote:


> Weeeeel, it seems JKR states pretty explicitly that Harry's 
> protection is Sirius' motivating factor for his escape from 
Azkaban.  
> I don't have the books at work with me so I can't quote chapter 
and 
> verse, but Sirius states his motivations in the shrieking shack.  
Can 
> anyone back me up on this?  I'll look when I get home, but as 
Penny 
> pointed out while preserving Harry is his primary motivation (why 
> should we doubt what JKR wrote), clearing his name is certainly a 
> strong secondary motivation.  Eating Pettigrew on the spot would 
not 
> have been helpful in that regard. Furthermore remember that Black 
and 
> Lupin were ready to kill him in the shrieking shack (I assume they 
> would have carried the body to dumbledore in order to clear 
> Sirius... )

I happened to have PoA in the room with me and in Chapter 19, 
American edition p362-363  Lupin asks Black how he knew where 
Pettigrew was, and Sirius tells him about seeing the picture of the 
Weasley family in the Daily Prophet he got from Fudge while in 
Azkaban.  He recognizes that Ron's rat is Peter because of the 
missing toe (visible in the photo).  Then, on p.371, in response to 
Hermione's questioning how he escaped from Azkaban, he talks about 
transforming into a dog when things got to be too much for him and 
then says:
"But then I saw Peter in that picture...I realized he was at 
Hogwarts with Harry...perfectly positioned to act, if one hint 
reached his ears that the Dark Side was gathering strength again..."
....."...ready to strike at the moment he could be sure of 
allies...and to deliver the last Potter to them.  If he gave them 
Harry, who'd dare say he's betrayed Lord Voldemort?  He'd be 
welcomed back with honors..."
"So you see, I had to do something.  I was the only one who knew 
Peter was still alive..."
He goes on to say that this knowledge was the thing that gave him 
the will and the strength to escape Azkaban.
So, it's clear in canon that protecting Harry was really his sole 
motivation for escaping Azkaban because the knowledge that he was 
innocent didn't seem to be enough motivation for him to escape for 
the entire 12 years prior to this point (although, now that he's 
out, clearing his name would sure make it easier for him to protect 
Harry).


Jo Serenadust, always happy to back Carole up in defending Sirius