Interview w/ JKR [Sirius]

[kiricat2001]

No: HPFGUIDX 72473

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dublinaaireland" 
<fashionmenu at h...> wrote:
>   
> ereturtle18 wrote:
> <snip>Is there anyone here 
> who didn't cry when they read about his death?
> Just thought I'd put my two cents in.
> ereturtle18  
> --------------------------------------
>  
> ME:  Actually, I did *not* cry when I read about Sirius's death, 
and 
> reading this list makes me wonder why not, since it seems that just 
> about everyone else *did*.  <snip>
> Elle

No, lots of people didn't.  Either they were not Sirius fans, or they 
were simply happy that the death wasn't their favorite character or  
the death itself was portrayed as so nebulous - unknown curse, no 
body, veil thing, etc. - that it didn't really hit them right away.

So, no, you are not alone in not being terribly affected by this 
death.

> Dublina: Elle, I was actually the same as you.  I knew that he was 
> the one to die, (couldn't resist reading what my HP cyber family 
> thoughts were), and had only just read his death last night and 
> thought, 'is that it'?  No offence to all the Sirius fans out 
there...

I was devastated for days, but that's because Sirius was my favorite 
character.  So, the final two books have lost a lot of their 
potential allure for me.

> I've just finished the book this morning, and had a bit of a lump 
in 
> my throat at reading the last page where all his 'extended' family 
> had met the Dursleys to warn them that HP better be treated well 
and 
> then HP turns his back and walks away with them. 

Interesting reaction, as that left me cold. I found the entire end of 
the book from the Harry/Dumbledore discussion onward as very 
unsatisfying.  I felt that Harry was pretty much left out there on 
his own. There was no evidence of any adult coming forward to offer 
him any support at all.  Simply having a bunch of oddly dressed 
wizards at the train station to threaten Vernon about Harry's well 
being was completely unsatisfactory to me. Did any of them say, "Gee, 
Harry we know you're going through a bad time. Let us know if we can 
help you, if you want to talk, if you need a shoulder to cry on..." 

All of the adult wizards - the Weasleys, Dumbledore, the professors, 
Lupin...all of them...have offered Harry absolutely nothing. Now, you 
can say, well, they don't want to intrude, but, of course, they'd be 
there for Harry if he wanted them.  But, we know from all of the 
books that Harry is not prone to going to any adult for support 
because that's not how he sees the world.  Adults, to Harry, do not 
offer comfort. And, all of these wonderful wizards treat him barely 
any better than the Dursleys. And that, to me, is almost 
unforgivable. At least we know that the Dursleys hate magic and 
wizards and everything assoicated with them. The wizards in Harry's 
life should make an effort to connect with him and help him. And they 
don't.


 I know why now he 
> has to go back to the Durselys but at least he'll be checked up on 
> every 3 days....but I considered that to be my 'sad' moment in the 
> book.  
> 

Oh, big deal. They'll show up if they haven't heard from Harry every 
3 days.  Well, that should let them sleep at night. Just as long as 
they don't have to deal with Harry as an emotional human being. Harry 
doesn't know how to ask adults for help for his own emotional well-
being. And these wand-waving idiots are not offering him anything 
that he needs as a young adult who has just suffered a grievous loss. 
The lack of empathy from the adults in Harry's life makes me want to 
scream.

Marianne