Why did Harry get such a liking of Sirius to start with ?

[kiricat2001]

No: HPFGUIDX 74629

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Doriane" <delwynmarch at y...> 
wrote:
> "sarcasticmuppet" wrote:
> 
> > I think Harry's mindset in PoA wasn't so much "I love Sirius" as 
it 
> > was "After watching Ron's rat turn into a dead guy and finding 
out 
> > Lupin is a werewolf I realize that Sirius is really innocent and 
I 
> > have to keep him from getting kissed by the dementors so maybe in 
> > the future I can get away from my evil extended family and live 
> > with him."

Now, Del:
> I don't quite see it that way. When Sirius tells Harry that he can 
> come and live with him if he wants to, it's not just relief Harry 
is 
> feeling, it's more like happiness, and it doesn't make too much 
sense 
> to me. Yes the Dursleys are awful, but look at what Sirius is 
> offering him  : holidays all alone with a half-mad man who spent 12 
> years in Azkaban, can turn into a big black sinister dog, and looks 
> like a walking nightmare (even Snape must look like a model next to 
> Sirius at that time). Not my definition of paradise. So why should 
> Harry be so happy ?

Well, he's got that wedding picture with a handsome, laughing Sirius 
so Harry knows he can clean up nicely. ;-).  I agree with one of the 
other recent posters who spoke about Harry's empathy for Sirius, 
which came with the realization that Sirius had suffered, as had 
Harry, because of the same incident.  

> And as for the Dementors : his concern is more than just "I must 
save 
> him so I can get away from the Dursleys". He truly loves that guy. 
> He's even more worried about Sirius being killed than Hermione ! I 
> know the Dementors are after Sirius, not Hermione, but if horrible 
> baddies were after one of my best friends, a teacher I hate and the 
> scary old friend of my parents' I've just met, I would be much more 
> concerned about my own friend.

But, Harry knows Sirius is the Dementors' target.  If he can protect 
Sirius by driving the Dementors off, by default he's also protecting 
Hermione and Snape. It's not like this was a case of Harry having to 
choose one of the three to protect, and leaving the other two to have 
their souls sucked out.

Sarcasticmuppet:
> > I don't think love kicked in until GoF, when Harry had a 
> > decent correspondance with Sirius and realized how much Sirius 
> > cares about him.

Del:
> Except that they have a correspondance precisely because Harry 
> chooses to. He's the one who chooses to turn to Sirius instead of 
> *anyone else*. 

Me:
But, Sirius has already told Harry to contact him if he needs to do 
so in the note Harry receives on the train home.  "If ever you need 
me, let me know. Your owl will find me."  Or words to that effect. 
Sirius already had opened that door.

Del:
Again, I don't see why. If I had to choose between my 
> best friends, the Headmaster who's always listened to me and who is 
> so wise, that old friend of my parents' who was such a good teacher 
> and a good help last year, and the old friend of my parents' who 
just 
> spent 12 years in prison and is on the run again and showed signs 
of 
> not being completely right in his head, I don't think I would 
choose 
> the last one...

Me:
At the beginning of GoF, Harry doesn't want to write to his friends 
about his scar hurting because he knows they won't have the answers.  
He considers writing to Dumbledore, but can't find a way to phrase 
the letter without, he thinks, sounding like an idiot. He never 
thinks of Lupin, IIRC.  Maybe he can't get past the teacher-student 
relationship, maybe he figures that Lupin has enough problems of his 
own, who knows? Maybe JKR is simply manipulating the characters to 
build evidence of a bond between Harry and Sirius for future plot 
purposes.  

And, again, Sirius made the offer at the end of PoA. Harry took him 
up on it.

> 
> Not to mention that their correspondance is pretty sporadic and 
quite 
> bland. Sirius doesn't go much further than the much-
> expected : "Ooohh, be careful, stay out of troubles, and let the 
> adults take care of everything".
> 
> But he *does* come back from hiding to help protect Harry, I grant 
> you that. Though usually Harry doesn't care much about what others 
do 
> for him, unless they are called Sirius or Hagrid...
> 
> Del

If the relationship between Harry and Sirius doesn't ring true to you 
from what you read in canon, then nothing I say will change your 
opinion.  And, I know the feeling.  There are some things that I just 
can't buy, no matter how passionately or logically people can argue 
them.  The evidence as presented in canon requires me to make a leap 
of faith that consists of "JKR wrote it this way, therefore I must 
accept it."  And, sometimes it just doesn't add up.

Marianne