A theory regarding the "innocence" of Sirius Black and the Redemption of Pet

[Steve <bboy_mn@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 50745

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "webba28 <jrwajw at g...>"
<jrwajw at g...> wrote:
> ...edited...
> PoA:
> 
> quote:
>
> -------------------------------------------------------

> The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. 
> His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight before 
> midnight...will break free and set out to rejoin his master...
> --------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
> Does it seem odd to anyone else that the word "chained" is written 
> here? Wormtail was never chained in the truest sense of the word. 
> Is it meant to be symbolic? However, one other person was chained, 
> and that was Sirius Black. Yes, Wormtail did "break free" before 
> midnight but one other person broke free as well--Sirius Black.
...edited...
> 
> In other words, two people "chained"--one literally and one not 
> broke free. 
> -end this part-

bboy_mn:
Well... strike one. At least in my ballgame, strike one.

I don't recall reading anything that indicated Sirius was kept in
chains. In a cell, yes; but literally in chains, no.

Sirius and Peter were both imprisoned. Sirius was imprisoned in a
cell, and Peter was imprisoned in the body of a rat. For Peter,
abandoning his rat body carried a high probability of death, so he was
stuck with it.

So, no one was literally kept in chains for (approx) 15 years.

-bboy_mn-end this part-



>  webba continues:
> ...edited... I  have a hard time believing that Peter would 
> willingly try and tie himself to a person who held no power 
> whatsoever for several years. ...edited...
> -end this part-

bboy_mn:
Strike two. There is one small problem with rich and powerful people,
they rarely have rats for pets, and they virtually never pick up stray
rats wandering around for pets. So, no one of any significants was
going to take Rat!Peter in.

But, a poor family with a bunch of kids would very likely take a rat
in as a pet, if it hung around, acted friendly, and seemed clean. In
fact, the kids probably found it and made it a pet long before Molly
or Arthur found out about it. Once they found out, and the rat seemed
tame and clean, they probably accepted it as a new pet without
question. The Weasleys with a large pack of kids, has a high
probability that one among them will take pity of a hungry but
friendly rat. Also, they had a lot of kids that were going to go to
school over a long period of time, that would help Peter keep track of
what was going on at Hogwarts.

Arthur seems very well connect at the Ministry, he seems to know every
one and he seems to have a lot of friends. People come to him for
favors. He certainly has a likeable personality. True he hasn't
advanced much finacially, but that doesn't mean, he doesn't know his
way around, and indeed get around inside the working of the Ministry.
I would say, Peter took the best he could get, and that wasn't that
bad for a rat.

-boy_mn-end this part-


>  webba continues:
> 
> Later in PoA, Dumbledore states to Harry and Hermione that he
> himself  testified before the ministry: ...edited...
> 
> 
> quote:
> -------------------------------------------------------
> I myself gave evidence to the Ministry that Sirius had been the 
> Potters' Secret Keeper--PoA pg. 392
--------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Why does he say this? If indeed the plan to change Secret-Keepers 
> from Sirius to Peter were indeed true, as Sirius insists it was, why 
> wouldn't Dumbledore say that it was Peter? 
> 
> webba (who probably read waaaay too much into things)

bboy_mn:
Strike three. Dumbledore offerred to be the Secret Keeper. He may have
even offerred to perform the charm. But obviously he didn't, because
he doesn't know who the Secret Keeper is. As others have pointed out,
it was logical that James would use his best and most trusted friend,
and that indeed was the original plan. Dumbledore had no reason to
assume that plan had change.

The Secret Keeper Charm? Jame and Sirius were two brilliant students,
they figured out how to become animagus while still in school. I see
no reason to believe that two brilliant experienced adult wizards
couldn't perform the charm themselves, especially now that the charm
was going to be placed on a third party.

In conclusion, I agree that the 'has been chained' reference was an
attempt to not give away who she was talking about. I mean where is
the mystery if she says 'has been a rat for 12 years' or 'has been in
Azakban for 12 years'? The statement at this stage of the story needs
to have a degree of ambiguity until later when more of the details are
revealed. That ambiguity still exists to some degree as is apparent by
us having this conversation, however, generally speaking, it seems to
be resolved at this point. Although, not so resolved that it couldn't
come back to bite us in the future.

Just my opinion.

bboy_mn