Questions for parents...(Sirius)

[mkaliz]

No: HPFGUIDX 73583

Mela said:

> But I think that the fact that
> Sirius went to the Department of Mysteries actually
> showed how much he loved Harry.  If he had not died in
> it..the truth is we wouldn't be calling it
> irresponsible at all.

I agree with you that Sirius went to the Dept. of Mysteries (mostly)
out of love for Harry. I even believe that, no matter how nicely
anyone suggested that he wait behind for Dumbledore, he would *still*
have wanted to go to Harry.

However, doing something out of love doesn't preclude the possibility
that he acted irresponsibly. The two things aren't mutually exlusive. 

Take another example: the fact that during PoA Lupin didn't inform
Dumbledore that Sirius was an animagus (presumably out of love
for/loyalty to Sirius). As it turned out, Sirius *wasn't* trying to
kill Harry, so it all worked out in the end. Nonetheless, Lupin
behaved (IMO) irresponsibly by not informing Dumbledore of a
potentially deadly security problem. 

In the case of Sirius' departure for the Dept. of Mysteries...I
completely understand why he went. If faced with a similar situation,
I think that most parents/guardians would do the exact same thing. But
those compelling reasons didn't make the choice a *wise* one, as both
Harry and Sirius unfortunately discovered. 

I don't have an opinion as to if Sirius' decision was responsible or
not, but I don't think it can be argued that it turned out to be a
very poor choice. 

--kai