Lilly, James and Sirius

[B Arrowsmith]

No: HPFGUIDX 74368

At the outset, let me cheerfully admit that I have been totally 
indifferent to Sirius. So far as I can recall he has never engaged my 
interest, dislike or sympathy. I was disappointed at his death, mostly 
because I felt cheated. JKR had promised 'a horrible death for a major 
character'. I gleefully imagined disembowelment, exploding heads and at 
the least eyeballs turning to green slime. And what happens? He falls 
through a bloody curtain! Huh! Not as advertised, in my opinion.

But because I'm indifferent doesn't mean that I'm averse to rattling a 
few cages, stirring up the Siriophiles, poking holes in their world 
view. After all, he's a fictional character in a damn good series. So 
let's enjoy ourselves without becoming too ridiculous or obsessive.

Sirius fits into the 'damaged hero' category; heir to the likes of 
Heathcliffe and Rochester. Such types have a fascination to the 
romantics, the 'and they lived happy ever after' tendency. Probably 
that's why they've all donned mourning garb.The vulnerable, anguished, 
tortured individual did not live happily ever after. Shock horror! The 
stereotype has been denied his rightful place in the epilogue.

Now, it seems, the (un)happy crew of the USS DENIAL and their dejected 
band of supporters are living the name of their TBAY construction. From 
"why did he have to die?" to "did he die?" to "yes, dammit! but what a 
wonderful, noble character!" to "how dare you malign such perfection!" 
Wonderful entertainment on the postings.

Sadly, this perfection depends on the interpretation of the beholder, 
and even more sadly, I think  the grieving acolytes of the icon that is 
Sirius are starting to stretch it a bit too far. Wishful thinking is 
beginning to rear it's heretical head.

Below is a clip from a posting from Lorrie (74304)


But, let's look at a few things.
1- Lilly who knew about the Snape "torture" (poor, poor Snape fans.
Remind me to feel sorry for Snape in my next lifetime someone), still
agreed with James to make Sirius Harry's Godfather.
2- Lilly, who knew Sirius, I can imagine as close as he and the other
Marauders were in school, they maintained that relationship after
school, agreed for Sirius to be their Secret Keeper.
3- Lilly agreed with James to secretly switch to Peter, as Sirius
assumed that Voldemort would come after him. That, I'm sorry is true
love and bravery. Knowin that the biggest baddie in the WW is gonna
come for you. hmmm. Wonder how many could do that?

Now, there will be those who say that that's why they made Sirius
Harry's Godfather, they knew Voldemort WOULD be coming after Sirius,
so let the poor guy *think* he's Mr. High and Mighty, he's gonna get
killed anyway. The thing tho that bothers me about that, is *knowing*
he and Peter switched, Lilly and James never appointed ANOTHER
Guardian for Harry, *just* in case the unthinkable happened.

All this rambling is leading to one thing I swear, and that is, that
as much as a loose-cannon as Sirius has been made out to be, two
people, who had everything to lose trusted him. Originally with their
lives, then they trusted his judgement, and then, above all else they
trusted their son's future to him.

Makes one think just what they knew about Sirius that we don't huh?

Me again:
Wow!

Now, purely as an exercise and as a service to the public, let's have 
another look at this, with feet firmly on the ground. No, I'm not going 
to be nasty, just a bit more objective. (If you hear a grating sound, 
it's probably Lorrie grinding her teeth.)

Lily was estranged from whatever family she had. Any Godfather was 
therefore bound to be an associate of James'.

Godfather and Guardian are not the same thing. In the UK, Godfather is 
an honourary position, with little or no responsibility. A Guardian has 
defined legal duties and must be identified in appropriate legal 
documents. Otherwise the child generally goes to the next of kin - 
which is what happened to Harry. Remember, at this time Sirius had not 
had the confrontation with Pettigrew and could have claimed Harry if 
that had been the Potters wish. He did not. Nor, apparently, did he 
raise any objections to Dumbledores decision to send Harry to the 
Dursleys.

The relationship maintained after school? Possible. James and Sirius, 
certainly. Lily and Sirius; hmmm, in abeyance. Many a wife has little 
time for her husbands friends from his bachelor days - I speak from 
experience. I've been Best Man five times. On three of those occasions 
the Bride was not enthusiastic and only tolerated me because otherwise 
the Groom would have been upset. Maybe because I'm so horrible. Again, 
what choice  did they have for Secret Keeper? What alternatives were 
available? James' friends seem to be a very small group.

Lily agreed (willingly? we don't know) with James to switch to Peter 
because Sirius assumed that Voldy would  come after him. Strange logic. 
Yes, Voldemort would come after Sirius, he would still come after 
Sirius unless he placed an ad in the paper declaring he had no 
knowledge of the Potters whereabouts. Voldy was after information, not 
assassination. If Sirius could not resist V as Secret Keeper, then he 
wouldn't be able to resist telling Voldie who was the  new Secret 
Keeper. Sirius would then disappear and Pettigrew would be next in line 
with no warning. But this didn't happen. Because Pettigrew was a 
traitor. In suggesting Pettigrew as alternative Secret Keeper all that 
Sirius achieved was his own survival, when otherwise he would have died 
along with his friends. I agree, this was not his intention, but it was 
the end result.

What it boils down to is that it is likely that Sirius recognised this 
and ever since had been driven by two emotions - revenge against 
Pettigrew and survivors guilt. This is the prime rationale for the way 
he treated Harry. Through his actions his friends had died and he 
hadn't. He was seeking absolution and forgiveness.
Nobility had little to do with it.

There you go!  Not so much pink glow as forensic lamp.
Wasn't all that unfair after all, was it? Still makes  him interesting 
if you're into that sort of thing.


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