Why it had to be Sirius

[sofdog_2000]

No: HPFGUIDX 75672

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "mhershey2001" 
<mhersheybar at h...> wrote:
> In the weeks leading up to the release of OoP, after JKR revealed 
> that a major character died, there was a lot of speculation about 
who it would be, and if I remember correctly, Sirius was not high on 
> anyone's list.  Now that we know it was him, and now that we have 
had about six weeks to analyze every single 
word/theme/hint/prediction in > the book, I am wondering what 
people's theories are about why, in the name of the plot, Sirius had 
to die.  There are a lot of possibilities, some obvious, and some 
less so.  For example,
> 1.  To give Harry another loss of a parent figure, in order to 
> encourage some sort of internal emotional growth necessary for his 
> development into a person capable of killing LV.  (but you may 
argue that any of a number of other people could have died instead)
> 2.   To create difficulties for the OoP along the lines mentioned 
in the thread "inheritance" regarding who gets GP, how to deal with 
> Kreacher's knowledge, etc.  (this seems to me to be the most pure 
> theory for "why sirius" and not someone else)
 3.    To create a reason for Harry to travel "beyond the veil" to 
> gain some understanding he needs to defeat LV.
> 
> Any other ideas?  
> 
> Mhershey

Sof: 

Part of this is answered by Dumbledore who explains that Sirius is 
the person Harry would have gone the farthest for. Now we know Harry 
will go out of his way for almost anyone. But in OotP he chooses to 
leave the safety of the school grounds in order to rescue someone. 

In regard to the plotting, it boils down to the public confirmation 
of Voldemort's return. The entire novel, Harry is struggling with 
people refusing to believe it and the hampered attempts to mount a 
counteroffensive. The Order is trying but they're only a few people, 
and they keep the kids largely in the dark about their machinations. 

Sirius' death is sufficiently devastating to Harry so that he is 
driven almost over the edge. Harry is so furious that he pursues 
Bellatrix Lestrange out of vengeance. If not for the confrontation in 
the Ministry lobby, Voldemort would not have been detained long 
enough to be sighted by Ministry Officials. 

Not only does Harry pursue Bellatrix, he actually utters an 
Unforgivable Curse. I think this is another critical issue to the 
overall story. In PoA, Harry raises his wand to kill Sirius Black, 
but he can't follow through on it. It seems quite telling that he 
should now find himself able to utter a curse. Not only because it's 
heinous and pretty near the point of no return, but also because it 
is illegal. Throughout PoA, Harry is heavily concerned with the law. 
>From the moment he blows up Aunt Marge and decides to go on the run 
from the Ministry, considering the worst possible punishments that 
could come his way, we know that laws are a whole different thing to 
Harry from school rules. 

Those two things - revealing Voldemort and thereby setting the Second 
War in motion, and pushing Harry to the precipice between good and 
evil - seem like the critical reasons for killing off Sirius.