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[dicentra_spectabilis_alba]

No: HPFGUIDX 36692

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "catlady_de_los_angeles" <catlady at w...>  
> 
> Elkins wrote:
> 
> > Hmmm. Lupin's reaction? Do you mean his charming "You should have
> > realized if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would?" Or were you 
> > thinking more of Sirius' "you should have died rather than betray 
> > your friends" statement?  (snip) That line of Sirius' has never
> > made me feel too good either. I mean... <Elkins squirms 
> > uncomfortably> I mean, of course we all like to *believe* that 
> > we'd die rather than betray our friends, don't we? But...well...
> > I mean...
> 
> That line of Lupin's is (to me) just fine. It's true and all. But I 
> completely agree with you about Sirius's statement. He has no right 
> to assert how he WOULD die, not having done so yet. Did Heinlein have 
> Lazarus Long say somewhere, no man should criticise another for not 
> dying well until he has died himself? 

I think that Sirius really would have died to save James, and letting
everyone believe he was the Secret-Keeper is proof.  He knew that
becoming the Potters' Secret-Keeper made him Voldemort's prime target.
 Sirius probably thought that Voldemort would go after him, try to pry
the secret out of him, eventually killing him in the process. By
making someone else Secret-Keeper, Voldemort's killing or torturing
Sirius would not put James in danger.  Sirius's primary driving force
is loyalty. It's loyalty to his promise to look after Harry that
drives him to escape from Azkaban and risk capture and the Kiss.
Heinlien's line is a good one, but I don't think it applies to this case.
> 
> Besides that moral issue, there is a little nitpick of logic, similar 
> to the man who offered his friend first pick of the cookies and the 
> friend chose the biggest one and the man said: "That's rude! If I'd 
> picked first, I would have picked the other one" and the friend said: 
> "The one you would have picked is the one you got, so why are you 
> complaining?" Peter should have died to save James, just as James 
> would have died to save Peter. Well, James did die to save Peter, so 
> why are you complaining?

I hope that was tongue-in-cheek. But just in case... 

James died, but Peter's life wasn't in danger, so James didn't save
it.  James died needlessly.  That's what sticks in Sirius's craw.  If
James had died trying to save Peter, Sirius could accept it, but James
died because Peter wanted to ingratiate himself to Voldemort.  Hardly
a fair trade.

--Dicentra