[HPforGrownups] Peter and Death Sentences

[Monika Huebner]

No: HPFGUIDX 37122


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Angela Burgess [mailto:MmeBurgess at msn.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, March 27, 2002 7:29 PM

> However, I am of the belief that Sirius was not out to kill Peter 
> based on what he believed Peter *might* do.  He was out to kill him 
> because he wanted to.  Not to save society, not to save himself, not 
> to save Harry, but because he felt Peter deserved to die.  There is 
> no indication to the contrary (that I can remember), therefore 
> applying more ethical goals to the actions of Remus and Sirius is 
> simply wishful thinking.

No, it isn't. Sirius actually escaped from Azkaban because he thought
Harry was in danger, after he saw the picture of Wormtail the rat on
Ron's shoulder. 

"... ready to strike the moment he could be sure of allies... to deliver the
last Potter to them. If he gave them Harry, who'd dare say he'd betrayed
Lord Voldemort? He'd be welcomed back with honours...
So you see, I had to do something. I was the only one who knew Peter
was still alive..." (page 400 of the Bloomsbury paperback of PoA)

Sirius accuses himself of having underestimated Peter, of not having realized
that he was the traitor. Of course he thinks that Peter deserves to die,
for what he has already done, but also for what he is supposedly going
to do. *And* Sirius was the only one who knew that Peter was still alive,
and he had *no* reason to believe that anyone would believe him that
that was the case. No one had believed him when he was imprisoned,
not even Dumbledore, at least that's how I understand it, so why should
anyone believe him now? Yes, he wanted to get rid of Peter once and
for all, and I can somehow understand this. Don't forget he had just
spent 12 years in solitary confinement in one of the most horrible 
dungeons I have ever heard of. That is enough to unbalance anyone
to a certain degree, so you shouldn't expect any wise or philanthropic
decisions from him. He saw Peter as a danger for Harry in the first
place, and this finally gave him the strength to escape which he could
have done years before, but didn't.

Monika
who hasn't posted in a long time but just couldn't resist to reply to
this thread.