Sirius and the Witch's Hump

[elfundeb]

No: HPFGUIDX 36065

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "cindysphynx" <cindysphynx at h...> wrote:
> This is one of those questions that has probably been discussed 
> before, but I can't remember the answer, so here it is again. :-)
> 
> In PoA, Sirius gains entry to the castle twice.  He does this (I've 
> always thought) by entering Honeydukes and entering and exiting the 
> castle through the witch's hump.
> 
> In Snape's Grudge, Harry sprints through the Honeydukes tunnel to 
> get back to the castle quickly.  He "reached the inside of the 
> witch's hump, tapped it with his wand, stuck his head through, and 
> hoisted himself out; the hump closed . . ."
> 
> If a wand is required to open the witch's hump from the outside or 
> the inside, then how is Sirius managing this?  Sirius clearly 
> doesn't have a wand, as he spends the last chapters of the book 
> using other people's wands.  If a wand is not required to open the 
> witch's hump from the inside, then why does Harry do it when he is 
> in such a hurry to get back to the castle?
> 
> Similarly, once Sirius is inside the castle, how does he get out if 
> the witch's hump closes automatically?
> 
> So . . . how is Sirius getting into the castle?
> 
> Cindy

Two thoughts on this:  The first time he entered the castle, he may 
have been so animated by his anger and desire for revenge against 
Pettigrew that he was able to open the witch's hump without a wand, 
similarly to what Harry does on occasion when he's angry.  As for 
getting out and getting in thereafter, Sirius became acquainted with 
Crookshanks at some point in his wanderings at Hogwarts (almost 
certainly at some time before Harry saw them together outside his 
dormitory window), who would have been able to assist him in entering 
(assuming Sirius could communicate with Crookshanks somehow, a 
question that) and escaping through the Whomping Willow.  After all, 
they had a common mission and Crookshanks seems to have been quite 
able to escape the girls dormitory to do what he wanted to.  One also 
cannot discount the idea that Sirius was so desperate to get into 
Hogwarts to get at Pettigrew that he was willing to brave the blows 
of the Whomping Willow, or that he used it to escape on Halloween.

Debbie (On an unrelated note, I sent a response earlier to Eloise's 
post on Molly's parenting that apparently got lost on its way to the 
board, and while most of it is no great loss, I do want to reiterate 
my comment that Eloise's protestations notwithstanding, she sounds 
like an exceptional parent)