Harry did not spare Sirius Black!

[dicentra63]

No: HPFGUIDX 46553

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "fun_n_games_2663" <fun_n_games_2663 at y...>
wrote:
> I've read a number of posts throughout this message board with the 
> argument that Harry spared Sirius' life in the Shrieking Shack 
> because he did not kill him.  Have you ever considered that Harry 
> hesitated with Sirius because he didn't know how to kill him?  

<snip>

Yes, this subject has been discussed before (but not recently), the
upshot being that we don't know how Harry thought he was going to kill
Sirius.  See threads beginning on messages 10800, 13425, 30206, and
32250 for some awfully gory speculation.
> 
> Now, I don't say this to actually argue that Harry had evil 
> intentions in the Shrieking Shack even though he did not have the 
> means to effect his evil intentions.  

I *would* argue that Harry had evil intentions while he had his wand
pointed at Sirius.  He desperately wanted to kill him, and had wanted
to ever since he overheard that conversation at the Three Broomsticks.
 Why he didn't kill Sirius is a matter of speculation, but ultimately
I think it's because Harry isn't a killer at heart.  But notice how
disappointed he is in himself when Lupin appears and the time to kill
Sirius disappears.

> I make this point only to 
> suggest that we cannot point to the Shrieking Shack and Sirius as 
> evidence of Harry's benevolence.  

I agree that Harry was not being benevolent at that moment.  He had
every intention of killing Sirius, but he just couldn't do it.  It
wasn't a conscious decision to be a good person that stopped him.

> Certainly we can point to Harry's 
> decision with regard to Pettigrew for this purpose, but not Sirius.

Ironically, we *can* point to Harry's sparing of Pettigrew as
benevolence, but *not* as benevolence toward Pettigrew--he was being
benevolent to Sirius and Lupin.  He didn't want *them* to have blood
on their hands on account of the snivelling little rat.  And yet only
a few minutes earlier, Harry wanted blood on his own hands.  Maybe
between the time Harry failed to kill Sirius and the time he stepped
in front of Pettigrew he realized that if he had killed Sirius, that
would make him a killer and he didn't want his father's friends to be
killers, either.  

Unfortunately, the narrator doesn't let us in on such a thought
process, if it occured.  It's more likely that Harry was acting on his
heroic instincts when he stopped Pettigrew's execution, not really
thinking about it.

--Dicentra, who would love to pick JKR's brain about that point