Fidelius, Sirius and Dumbledore

[christi0469]

No: HPFGUIDX 33971

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Alexander <lav at t...> wrote:
>   Greetings!
> 
>   While re-reading Prisoner of Azkaban, a question had
> crossed my mind. There are many paradoxes in JKR texts that
> are mentioned in Steve's Lexicon, but I haven't found this
> one there, so I put it here for discussion.
> 
>   There were not many people who knew that Potters are going
> to hide by Fidelius Charm. Potters themselves, Sirius Black,
> probably Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and Dumbledore. Even more,
> Dumbledore was unaware of Peter Pettigrew participation, so
> he thought that it was Sirius who was the Secret Keeper.
> 
>   Now reading 1st chapter of SS/PS. Dumbledore knows that
> Secret has been broken due to treachery of Secret Keeper. He
> thinks that Sirius is the Keeper (and hence the traitor).
> But when Hagrid tells him that it was Sirius Black who gave
> the motorcycle to Hagrid, Dumbledore shows no surprise, or
> shock, or anything!
> 
>   How can Dumbledore be so ignorant about this news?
> 
>   Did he know _already_ that Sirius was innocent?
> 
 Dumbledore probably maintained a poker-face here, not wanting to 
reveal his knowledge of the Fidelius charm and Sirius Black's 
probable involvement. If he had mentioned that he suspected Sirius 
Hagrid might have gone of to catch (or kill) Sirius. Recent posts 
have pointed out Hagrid's tendency to act impulsively. Dumbledore 
may also have wanted to get more information before accusing Sirius. 
Dumbledore did seem to accept Sirius' story very quickly in PoA, so 
he may have had doubts about his guilt all along, just needing the 
Wormtail piece of the puzzle to make everything fit. IIRC Dumbledore 
gave testimony that to the best of his knowledge Sirius was the 
secret-keeper (I could be completely wrong here as I could not find 
the exact quote). My guess is that Dumbledore thought Sirius was 
guilty, but had reasonable doubt. It makes me wonder why Crouch sent 
Sirius to Azkaban without the benefit of a trial. Was he afraid 
Sirius would have been acquitted? Is reasonable doubt a concept that 
is relevant to the wizarding judicial system?

Christi (who is glad that Alexander is always willing to throw 
strange ideas into the community)