[HPforGrownups] Change in Hagrid's Disposition of Sirius' Motorbike (WAS: UK CoS Changes)

[Barb P]

No: HPFGUIDX 43706


 --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "erisedstraeh2002" <bdmorrp at b...> wrote:
> When Dumbledore asks Hagrid where he got the bike, Hagrid says 
> he "borrowed it...Sirius Black lent it to me" (actually, I just 
> noticed that the UK edition leaves out the "to", so it reads 
> awkwardly "Black lent it me.").  
 
LOL!  You have to remember that JKR wrote the books in British, not 'Merican.  The "to" was ADDED to the American version.  It's not awkward without it; it's just British.  I wish this hadn't been changed for the US editions, though, as it's dialogue, and Hagrid's dialogue in particular, which is in dialect, so changes really don't make sense, if we're really to hear how he speaks in our heads.
 
> But then at the Three Broomsticks in PoA, Hagrid says Black "told 
> me ter take his motorbike ter get Harry there.  'I won' need it 
> any more,' he says...He loved that motorbike, what was he givin' 
> it ter me for?" 
> (SS, Ch. 10, p. 207; PS, Ch. 10, p. 154).  So it's borrowed in 
> SS/PS but given in PoA.
 
Actually, it's both in PS, since he still says "borrowed it," and, in the newer UK version (which I'm looking at right now) he says, "I'd best get this bike away."
 
> I'm wondering if JKR initially planned to have someone other than 
> Sirius be the original secret-keeper for the Potters (Lupin, 
> perhaps?).  This would explain the problems with the references to 
> the bike in PS/SS, and would also explain why Dumbledore shows no 
> surprise when Hagrid tells him in PS/SS that he borrowed the bike 
> from Sirius (at this point, Dumbledore still thinks Sirius was the 
> Potters' secret-keeper, so wouldn't he have had been startled that 
> Hagrid used a betrayer's bike to transport Harry to Privet Dr.?).
 
I think it's possible that JKR didn't even have the Secret Keeper concept in her mind at all when she wrote PS.  It would have been quite possible for her to have mapped out the books with the intention of Sirius Black being held responsible, in the wizarding world, for the Potters' deaths, just by dint of having been their friend.  I believe she DID have in mind Sirius thinking Peter was the spy, and his going to prison for supposedly killing Peter and then escaping and being an unseen threat all during PoA before we find out he's one of the good guys.  I think this is why Sirius' name is mentioned very early in the first book (just as Nicolas Flame's name is mentioned early).  JKR gives us these throwaway lines, and they turn out to be important later.
 
As you noted, Dumbledore didn't bat an eye at Hagrid's mention of Sirius.  If JKR had had the Secret Keeper concept in mind at the beginning of the series--which I believe she came up with later--Dumbledore SHOULD have been alarmed about Hagrid mentioning him.  I believe you've hit on something here.
 
The change from Hagrid returning the bike to something that is more in line with PoA (Sirius saying he wouldn't need it any more) really says to me that she hadn't thought about the Secret Keeper concept at that early time.  She likely had a general idea of someone betraying the Potters (probably Peter) but the details of that betrayal were perhaps less well-developed than other aspects of the story.  (Or, another possibility, she didn't like her first ideas and changed her mind.)
 
> I also find it perplexing that the Potters didn't use Dumbledore 
> as their secret-keeper.  If they were concerned about a spy in 
> their midst, why not switch from Sirius to Dumbledore?  
> Particularly if Dumbledore was the only wizard Voldemort ever 
> feared?  It makes me wonder if there was some concern about 
> Dumbledore being ever-so evil (heaven forbid!).
 
Well, it's possible that Dumbledore, in a battle with Voldemort, would opt to sacrifice himself, so that would mean the secret of the Potters' location would die with him and no one would ever be able to find them (unless the spell would be broken with the death of the Secret Keeper, another bad possibility).
--Barb


 


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