Regulus Black: naive or evil

[Wanda Sherratt]

No: HPFGUIDX 72774

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "m_warren17" <m_warren17 at y...> 
wrote:
> What struck me was that Sirius seemed to be almost dismissive of 
> Regulus when he was speaking about him. He sounded contemptous but 
I 
> had the feeling that the animosity that he harboured towards his 
> Regulus was not on the same level that he displayed towards his 
> parents and Voldemort's other supporters. Also, the fact that he 
> tried to back out of being Death Eater once he found out what was 
> involved (and was killed as a result) seems to indicate that he 
had 
> an aversion to killing (unlike the more hard-core Voldemort 
> supporters). What are people's opinions on this?

I think it throws a bit more light on Sirius, too.  Isn't this a bit 
the same attitude Dumbledore describes when talking about the way 
Sirius regards Kreacher?  He doesn't *hate* him, he just dismisses 
him as a being of little worth.  He's not consciously cruel, but 
there is something lacking there - he really has very little 
empathy. It's the same with Snape - he understands that his actions 
as a 15-year old bully were wrong, but he doesn't *feel* for Snape.  
Unlike Harry, he can't put himself in the position of the humiliated 
victim, because he has decided that Snape is a lesser person, not as 
deserving of respect or consideration as those he values.  It's 
interesting that he tells Harry that the world isn't divided into 
good people and Death Eaters, but in his own way, he sees the world 
divided into two camps too.  There are those few he values, and 
those who don't count.  At the far end of that second group are the 
Death Eaters, but in between the extremes there is a big bunch of 
people whom Sirius just discounts as people of less value.

Wanda