How would Harry have killed Sirius in PoA?

[annemehr <annemehr@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 49727

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Steve <bboy_mn at y...>" 
<bboy_mn at y...> wrote:
 
> Harry was angry enought to kill, but he hesitated. Partly for moral
> reasons, reason of conscience, but partly because the only spell 
that
> could have done any real damage he didn't learn until the next book. 
I
> think to some extent, he was dazed in his anger. The boiling intent
> was there but so was the hesitation, and he didn't know why. He 
wanted
> to utter a curse to destory this person, but no curse came, because
> there was not curse there to come. Certainly, jelly-legs, and tickle
> charm were out. So I think his mind was blank. He had intent by
> nothing to back it up. Then other people arrive and distractions 
came,
> and it was too late.
> 
<snip>
> 
> So, I think the ulitmate answer is he didn't use a deadly curse
> because he didn't know any, but in the heat of the moment, it didn't
> consciously come to him that he didn't know any.
> 
> Did that make sense?
> 
> Just a few thoughts.
> 
> bboy_mn

Okay, I am going to quibble with this.  When Harry was standing over 
Sirius, he certainly seems to have felt that he could kill him.  The 
only thoughts we see in his mind are "do it now, do it now."  Even 
when Crookshanks leaps protectively onto Sirius' chest, Harry only 
thinks, well, he'll just have to kill the cat, too.  We never see him 
reach the point where he is casting about in his mind for what spell 
to use.  Personally, I believe that the combination of Harry's fury 
with his innate magical power would have at least ennabled him to 
render Sirius unconscious so that he could then have throttled him or 
something.

I think the ultimate answer is that Harry has for the first time found 
himself in a postion to kill the man he thinks has betrayed his mother 
and father.  He is standing over this "traitor" who is unarmed and 
lying on the floor before him, and Harry has his wand aimed straight 
at his heart with intent to kill.  Unexpectedly, he is suddenly in a 
battle with himself.  He tells himself over and over to kill this man 
who so deserves to die, but he just can't do it.  He comes to the 
unspoken realization that this would be murder, just to kill Sirius 
like that, however guilty he may be.

Harry has just learned something very important himself -- that 
killing a defenseless (at that moment) murderer without recourse to 
the law, is in itself murder.  He has internalized this so well, even 
though his immediate reaction to the arrival of Lupin is to be 
disappointed in not having avenged his parents' deaths, that he is 
able to recognize the need to stop the murder of Pettigrew.  He is now 
able to intuitively realize that, "-- I don't reckon my dad would have 
wanted them to become killers -- just for you [Pettigrew]."  And later 
on, Dumbledore, who knew James quite well, was able to confirm to 
Harry that his instincts were right, even though they resulted in the 
opportunity for Pettigrew to escape.

Harry of course now knows that the man he might have killed is his 
godfather and still truly his father's best friend.  I'm not sure 
whether he yet believes Dumbledore that it was best that he prevented 
Wormtail's death.  However, I think we can be sure that in VWII, if 
anyone is going to authorize the use of unforgivable curses against 
Death Eaters, Harry will be with Dumbledore in refraining from ever 
doing so.  In fact, I sincerely believe he will never learn how to 
cast any of them.

Wow, I took this pretty far, didn't I?  But in this post, at least, I 
feel very sure of my conclusions.

Annemehr