Order of the Phoenix, Sirius Black and Azkaban

[Briony Coote]

No: HPFGUIDX 55080

I believe that OOTP will bring the matter of proving (successfully or
otherwise) Sirius' innocence to the fore, for three good reasons:
 
1.	Sirius Black will be of more use to the Light Side if he is a
free man, so proving his innocence will be one priority.
 
2.	While he remains a fugitive, Sirius will be the weak link in the
chain of the "old crowd."  Voldemort could well try something (through
Pettigrew and/or Skeeter) to have Sirius recaptured. And if word gets
out that Dumbledore & Co. are protecting Sirius, they will be in big
trouble and this would deal a death blow to the Light Side.
 
3.	There is the matter of whether Azkaban will be broken open.
Voldemort could engineer the recapture of Sirius Black as part of his
plan to do this - especially if those Dementors get secretly removed.
If the Dementors stay, then breaking Azkaban open will be much simpler.
 
I also believe that the Dementors would be more of a threat than the
imprisoned Deatheaters, so it will be more urgent to remove the
Dementors than the imprisoned Deatheaters.  We know that the Lestranges
are alive (Voldemort said so), but goodness knows what their mental
state is like.  The Lestranges & Co. may have clung to some thought or
other to keep them sane, as Sirius did.  But one must also remember that
Sirius also used his animagus form to give some relief from the
Dementors' torture.  To the best of my knowledge, the Lestranges & Co.
are not animagi, so they would not have the extra edge that Sirius did.
The Dementors, on the other hand "are Voldemort's natural allies" so
they pose the greater of two evils.
 
Briony


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