Sins of his parents?

[oh have faith]

No: HPFGUIDX 70042

Tigerqueen says;

> Sirius too, i think place too much comparison on Harry with 
regards 
> to James. Harry would never just attack someone without reason 
like 
> James or do something really dangerous for kicks.
> Harry in my opinion is seen too much as his parents, but not 
enough 
> as his own person.
> 

*Faith's Girl climbs shakily aboard her soapbox and replies;

To be fair to Sirius though (and this is not something I often do!), 
if he compares Harry to James a little too much, it may just be 
because he really doesn't know Harry that well.  As godfather, it
is 
his obligation to look after James' son.  James is really what
they 
have in common - he's the only frame of reference they have for 
relating to each other.  The actual number of times Sirius and Harry 
even meet before OOP can be counted on the fingers of one hand.  
Only in OOP do they finally get to spend any actual time together, 
and then, BOOM! 

*Faith's Girl resists temptation for a long, Slytherin cackle at 
this point, as she has a feeling it won't go down well with the 
audience*  ^_^ 

And Harry didn't really know Sirius either; he just totally
idolized 
the guy because he was the answer to all his prayers – that he
might 
have a *nice* family member somewhere who would come and take him 
away from his horrible life with the Dursleys – so he'd kind
of act 
James-like to please him.  Even minor criticism from Sirius on this 
point really crushes him.  And I don't think Sirius would say
that 
in order to be like James, Harry must be a sadistic rule-breaker, 
because Sirius wouldn't see him like that.  Both Lupin and Sirius 
remember James' faults with fond indulgence – it's easy
to love the 
dead because they're not around to bug you anymore! 

 Sirius probably also remembers their days at Hogwarts through rose-
tinted glasses – he was so unhappy at home that he ran away at 
sixteen, and he was in prison for most of his adult life.  Hogwarts 
would have been the only place he was happy, that felt like a home 
to him.  It's again natural that he would just gloss over the 
negative of breaking rules and taking risks because thinking about 
Hogwarts gives him warm, fluffy feelings inside.  He's
remembering 
it as all midnight feasts and jolly japes a la Enid Blyton, because 
he's not going to be lying in Azkaban, desperately clinging onto
his 
happy thoughts and thinking; "Actually, that was gosh dammed 
irresponsible of us!"

  Besides, it seems like the Marauder's little escapades usually 
went uncaught or unpunished – having never been made to pay for
his 
past irresponsibility, it seems to be a lesson that he just never 
learned.  Although he claims not to be proud of their treatment of 
Snape, he's not sorry enough to be slightly civil to him, or to
not 
throw a cruel childhood nickname back at him at the first 
opportunity.  As such, I don't think he really repents of the 
attitude that Snape was "fair game".  

Essentially – and I'm almost feeling sorry for old Padfoot at
this 
point – he had a huge chunk of his life stolen from him and he
never 
really got the chance to grow up or live an adult life.  If he 
clings onto an idolized memory of his best friend and can't quite 
manage to relate properly to a real, complicated fifteen year old 
who looks so much like him but isn't – well, it's
understandable.

I do agree with you on most points, though – it seems that 
bloodlines are of paramount importance in the wizarding world even 
among those who aren't pure-blood elitists.  Harry is still
fumbling 
to find his own identity in the world; hopefully now he has learned 
that his parents were flawed human beings, he can accept that and do 
the learn and grow thing. And I suppose the plan is, he'll grow
out 
of their shadow by learning from their mistakes and becoming kinder, 
wiser, stronger as a result.  His sympathy for Luna Lovegood at the 
end of OOP – because people hide her things for no better reason 
than she's a bit odd- is the first sign I've seen of him
learning 
something about humanity for himself without having Hermione or 
Dumbledore beat him repeatedly over the head with it first.  So
he's 
on the way!

*Faith's Girl falls off soap box*