Lilly, James and Sirius

[curly_of_oster]

No: HPFGUIDX 74428

Regarding Sirius objecting to Harry going to the Dursleys and/or 
Sirius trying to take Harry:

innermurk:
Ah but he DID protest. Hagrid tells us this in POA (US pb pg 
206) "an then he [Black] says, 'Give Harry ter me, Hagrid, I'm his 
godfather, I'll look after him -' Ha! But I'd had me orders from 
Dumbledore an' I told Black no, Dumbledore said Harry was ter go ter 
his aunt an' uncle's. Black argued, but in the end he gave in..."

I'd say objections and arguments were raised. But he was wasting 
time, so he probably thought he'd let Harry go, find Pettigrew, 
settle the whole Secret Keeper issue, and then get Harry.

Donna responds:
Isn't this another example of Sirius' rashness?  Lily and James have 
just been murdered. Sirius knows that Pettigrew must have given up 
their location, either willingly or under torture.  He must have 
been planning to search for an alive and healthy traitor or a dead 
mangled coward Pettigrew.  Why would he ask Hagrid for Harry when 
there was a possibility of him having to confront an alive and 
dangerous traitor?  Just picture the scene in the street, Harry in 
one arm and Sirius trying to go for his wand with the other.  

Like many on the list have pointed out, Sirius has never had a knack 
for thinking through the consequences of his actions.

Me(Lisa):
I agree that going off after Peter by himself may not have been the 
best plan (even as I can understand why he did it).  But can we 
really assume that even 'rash, reckless Sirius' would do something 
like bring baby Harry along while tracking down Peter?  According to 
Hagrid's description of events, Sirius tells Hagrid to give him 
Harry, since he's the boy's godfather, argues with Hagrid about it, 
but eventually gives in.  After that, he gives Hagrid his beloved 
motorbike, saying he won't need it anymore.  I submit that it is at 
least as likely (moreso, I suspect) that Sirius at first just wants 
to take Harry (whether or not he's entirely worked out the next 
step), but when it becomes clear that he isn't going to be able to, 
he *then* goes off on his hunt for Peter.  The fact that he tries to 
take custody of Harry and that when he can't what happens is that he 
ends up tracking Peter down doesn't of necessity mean that he 
intended to drag Harry along on the search *if* Hagrid had actually 
given him up.

Lisa