Fidelius swap was Re: The Sorting Hat

[arrowsmithbt]

No: HPFGUIDX 87499

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Kathryn Cawte" <kcawte at n...> wrote:
> 
> I don't understand why you dislike Sirius so much - please explain why you
> keep going to such convoluted lengths to claim he's stupid (which he doesn't
> seem to be) or cowardly or selfish or any of the other adjectives you keep
> applying to him. i do agree that post-Azkaban he acted erratically, but
> that's hardly surprising. And once he was back at Grimmauld Place he seems
> to exhibit most of the symptoms of clinical depression, along with some
> confusion concerning Harry - which again is understandable. He's never
> really had the time to adjust to James' death and now he is trying to
> replace his best friend with Harry. Having said that of course if people had
> listened to him and actually filled Harry in on what was happening OoP would
> have turned out very differently.
>

Kneasy:
No, I  don't particularly like him but he shares that distinction  with a few
other characters in canon, so nothing exceptional there. I've posited before
that he's the sort of 'damaged hero' figure that females tend to be sympathetic
towards. He is not such a heart-warming figure  to most men; he would be
considered weak, whiny, almost contemptible by many. Think of Sirius as a
role model for Harry. Would that be a cause for celebration? I'd rather Harry 
be like Snape than become the emotional prisioner that Sirius was turning 
him into. Yet that was the way it was going before he bowed out.

The interesting aspect of Sirius is that the closer you look, the more suspect
he becomes. You may  remember I posted a piece a few months back that
analysed one of the key passages in the tale  that is Sirius - post no. 79808
Sirius Reservations. His story (or at least the part I covered) just does not
have credibility -  as I said at  the time, it's got more holes than the local
golf  course. Either he's not what he appears on the surface or JKR was
having a really bad day at the typewriter. Since JK has not  let  us down
yet, I prefer to go with the former choice, especially as she readily admits
that the tale is full of red herrings and authorly sleight of hand.

So the HP saga is full of betrayals, twists and misdirection -  lovely!
Whenever there's something  that makes me stop and read the passage
again, I follow the precept of Capt. Renaud in Casablanca - "Round up the
usual suspects." And Sirius is usually top of the list vying only with DD. 
The fact that he has a multitude of defenders out there only increases the 
satisfaction in my black, twisted, devious little mind when I'm able to 
propose alternative, if mildly unpopular, solutions. 

You see, there're alternative explanations for almost everything. Much is 
made of Sirius being 'safe' in Grimmauld Place. Think of the alternative -
he's where DD can watch him. Almost a prisioner; that's the impression
given in the books. Protective custody or  House Arrest?  Think about it.
He's never left on his own, there's always someone there to keep an eye 
on him. DD  doesn't trust  him to keep his  word  and behave himself.
Maybe there's something else that makes him unsure about Sirius. 
Fantastic? Ridiculous? Perhaps. But until the  story has completely
unfolded I'm keeping all my options open and posting those that run
counter to the accepted interpretations. It's more fun that way.

I'm not too concerned if I'm right or if I'm wrong; that's not the object
of the exercise. I think it's boring when everyone agrees, so - stir 'em
up. If I can come up with a plot-line twist that turns things round 180
degrees and could still fit with what we know so far (allowing for a few
reasonably plausible conclusions and extrapolations) then I'll go for it. 
What adds to the enjoyment is that we probably won't know for years 
if we've been backing the wrong horse or not. 

K: 
> What I want to know is how long they were in hiding before Peter ratted (pun
> intended) them out? The prophesy was made, I thought, before Harry's birth,
> yet he is 15 months old when the Potters are killed. Does this mean they
> waited until then to go into hiding? And if so why? Why wasn't Voldemort a
> danger to them until then? And were the Longbottoms in hiding? They
> certainly weren't by the time the Lestranges came for them - but they could
> have come out of hiding after Voldemort's fall.
> 

Kneasy:
Very good questions. 
We are told that Peter was working for Voldy for two years before the event 
(and how did he manage that without wise old DD getting suspicious?).
Unfortunately there are too many  gaps for us to get a grip on the most
likely sequence of events.

Just give me some time; I'm sure I can come up with something outrageous.