Harry and Sirius /processing death

[susanbones2003]

No: HPFGUIDX 69965

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "annemehr" <annemehr at y...> 
wrote:
> 
> What I *don't* understand, however, is his wishing to egg Harry on 
> into recklessness all of a sudden.  Granted, in GoF, Harry was the 
> target whereas in OoP the whole country is under threat; yet surely 
> Sirius knows that Harry is still in a more particular danger than 
> anyone else?  It makes me wonder if Sirius' mind wasn't actually 
> being gradually destroyed by the pain and the pressure, so that he 
> actually did begin to confuse Harry's role with James'.  He was 
not, 
> IMO, actually insane but he was certainly having trouble.  I 
wonder, 
> too, if Kreacher (the hugely overlooked) had anything to do with 
> it.  I believe there is something significant in his activities in 
> that house that were never really looked into (but then, I believe 
> there is more in the Chamber of Secrets than Basilisk bones, but 
> noone seems to want to look into that, either, do they?).
> 
> Whatever happened to Sirius, it was a tragedy, and I am *not* 
laying 
> any blame at his feet.
> 
> Annemehr
> who can't understand anyone wanting Sirius, Harry, Molly or anyone 
> else to act like the wisest of angels under the weight of pain and 
> worry they've just been put under.  Working out how to deal with 
all this takes *time*!

Annemehr,
You hit some nails on the head. The man we got to know in GOF was not 
the same man in OOP. But so much happens in that month that we are 
not around, it seems ridiculously abrupt. I remember him with his 
hands on Harry's shoulders as Harry tells the story of the graveyard 
and I think, that's the most contact they had other than shaking 
hands a few times. I feel so cheated, that I never saw him pull Harry 
into a one-armed hug or ruffle his hair or anything. At his mother's 
hated house Sirius just seemed to turn into a different person. I 
know he was good, he comforted the Weasleys and cared for everyone 
and bustled about and all but something seemed to go out of him and 
you pointed out that he may have just been ready to crack after so 
much pressure. That makes more sense than anything I have heard so 
far. I know this is going off thread, but I don't see how Harry can 
just shake off this death. Knowing in your head that your parents 
have been murdered but not remembering it, except for a flash of 
light is much different than loosing the person you could write to 
when you were embarrassed to tell anyone else, or the person you knew 
would risk life and limb to come to your aid. He knows there are 
plenty of adults who care about him but Sirius was different. How is 
Harry going to process this first real loss he can feel without 
becoming very hard or very mean? This worries me.
Jennifer