Sirius - who is right?

[Wanda Sherratt]

No: HPFGUIDX 73468

There are lots of opposing opinions on Sirius among readers, but I'm 
intrested in the one that occurs at the end of OotP.  Harry states 
that Sirius was hurt by Snape continually twitting him on being 
stuck at HQ, and Dumbledore immediately replies that that was not 
true; that Sirius was too mature to be hurt by something so 
insignificant.  Now, just who is right here?  One must be wrong. I 
think we're meant to think at first that this is another one of 
Dumbledore's mistakes, that Harry knows Sirius better and has a 
clearer idea of what he was going through.  But on reflection, I 
think that Dumbledore was right.  At the beginning of the book, 
Sirius is telling Harry that his month with the Dursleys was better 
than Sirius's time at GP: "Personally, I'd have welcomed a Dementor 
attack.  A deadly struggle for my soul would have broken the 
monotony nicely.  You think you've had it bad, at least you've been 
able to get out and about, stretch your legs, get into a few 
fights...I've been stuck inside for a month."  Once again, boredom 
is his biggest complaint.  I think Dumbledore knows that most of 
Sirius's conflict with Snape didn't come out of anything more 
serious than that; he was *bored*, and welcomed his chances to pick 
a fight with Snape.  It was a welcome diversion.  I don't think he 
really was hurt by anything Snape said; how could he be?  Snape is 
nothing as far as Sirius is concerned, just like Kreacher.  One 
doesn't get upset by the taunts of a nobody.

Wanda