OOP: what was the point of...

[Diana]

No: HPFGUIDX 61993

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> > Was anyone else anguished each time Harry didn't think of what 
> Sirius had given him after last seeing him last at Grimmauld 
place? It was stated clearly that this object would prove to be a 
form of communication between the two. And seeing how the owls and 
fires were being patrolled at Hogwarts, and Scumbridge's fire being 
dangerous to get to, I remember several times when I was 
thinking, "Use what Sirius gave you, what are you thinking!" And at 
the end, it proves to  be something that would have been very useful 
indeed. Those mirrors would have been terribly useful to Harry, as 
the security of the school was getting out of hand and becoming 
nearly impossible for Harry to have contact with his godfather, not 
to mention it would have been way more reliable than the fire, 
because he would always have been able to talk to Sirius in person, 
and not just whoever happened to be in the Grimmauld place basement. 
Those mirrors could have saved pretty much everything. Why would 
they have even be put them in the story, if they weren't going to be 
used? They better serve a bigger purpose in one of the future books, 
because so far they just take up words and space in book 5, and I 
don't like waste like that. Maybe (hopefully) there WILL be a way to 
connect Harry with Sirius again, using those mirrors somehow? 
(Although I know he tried at the end, but it didn't work...)
> Yeah, am I the only one who smacked there head and went "Doh" when 
> Harry remembered the mirror?  I guess he didn't tell Hermione 
about it, because she surely would have reminded him of it.  
> 
> Tamara

I firmly believe that it was not Harry's fault that he didn't use 
the two-way mirror Sirius gave him.  I mostly blame Sirius himself 
for Harry not using the mirror.  Look back on the conversation Harry 
and Sirius had when Sirius gave it to him.  Here it is, straight 
from the book:
**********
"I want you to take this." he said quietly, thrusting a badly 
wrapped package roughly the size of a paperback book into Harry's 
hands.  
"What is it?" Harry asked.
"A way of letting me know if Snape's giving you a hard time.  No, 
don't open it here!" said Sirius, with a wary look at Mrs. Weasley, 
sho was trying to persuade the twins to wear hand-knitted 
mittens.  "I doubt Molly would approve - but I want you to use it if 
you need to, all right?"
"Okay." said Harry, stowing the package away in the inside pocket of 
his jacket, but he knew he would never use whatever it was.  It 
would not be he, Harry, who lured Sirius from his place of safety, 
no matter how foully Snape treated him in their forthcoming 
Occlumency classes.
*********

  Sirius made several errors when giving Harry the mirror.  First 
and foremost, he didn't do it in private so he could explain to 
Harry exactly what the mirror was - just a way to communicate 
between the two of them, privately and across a great distance.  He 
implied by his ill-chosen words that whatever the device was was 
designed solely to let Sirius know if Harry was being abused by 
Snape during their Occlumency lessons.  He never mentioned it could 
be used just to chat or even to check on each other's whereabouts or 
safety.  
  Unknowingly, Harry described in the last paragraph exactly what 
Voldemort did to Harry using the image of Sirius in the end.  
Voldemort lured Harry, and five others, out of the safety of the 
school into Voldemort's trap by projecting images of Sirius in grave 
danger into Harry's mind.  Images Harry might never have received if 
Snape had successfully taught Harry Occlumency.  But Snape's hatrid 
of Sirius, James and Harry's incursion into his memories prevented 
Harry's learning of Occlumency.  And Harry's intense desire to not 
learn anything from Snape and, I suspect, his desire to find out 
what's at the end of the dream with the corridors along with his 
feelings that knowing what Voldemort was up to through his dreams 
was a good thing, also prevented him from learning Occlumency. 
  In Harry's desire to protect Sirius from being his own worst enemy 
by being reckless and too eager to defend Harry from Snape (when 
Snape isn't the bad guy they need to worry about), Harry could see 
what Sirius could not - Sirius was too reckless for his own safety 
and maybe even dangerous to the Order of the Phoenix (though Harry 
may not have conciously formed that last thought willingly).  And 
what Harry did not see and Sirious *refused* to see, was that 
Sirius' rash behavior and arrogance were very dangerous to Harry 
himself as proved by Voldemort's use of Sirius to nearly kill Harry 
yet again and gain the prophecy for himself.  
  I may sound cruel, and Hermione would probably yell at me from now 
until the 6th book is released, but Sirius should have KILLED 
Kreacher (sound-alike for "creature", get it?) rather than risk what 
ended up happening.  Unfortunately, Sirius' arrogance and lack of 
sympathy for Kreacher prevented him from regarding Kreacher as a 
threat or even as a being with feelings, and the rest is history.  
So, Kreacher became a servant of Voldemort and helped get Harry 
within Voldemort's reach, yet again.  Good thing Voldemort has no 
luck when it comes to killing Harry.  Dumbledore had told Sirius 
that Kreacher was possibly dangerous to the Order, and that Sirius 
should treat him respectfully and kindly, but Sirius only saw 
Kreacher as non-human part of his old life with his horrible family -
 the life he hated and wanted to forget. 
  The more I think about it, I can see why Sirius ended up dying.  
While Sirius loved Harry and would gladly have died for him (did die 
for him, actually), Sirius's flaws might have ended up with Harry 
being killed by Voldemort.  The lesson I think Harry will eventually 
learn from Sirius and his death is that, personal flaws must be 
overcome, recklessness must be contained, and anger and grudges must 
be set aside to ensure the survival of, not only Harry, but the 
entire wizarding world.  A very painful and heart-wrenching way to 
learn a lesson, but one Harry must learn in order to survive and 
save the world.  Additionally, I must add that Dumbledore's calm 
demeanor and lack of shouting no matter the circumstances (with a 
few notable exceptions aside), is a way of Dumbledore trying to show 
Harry, and probably others, that containing one's feelings and not 
letting anger take control of you is a huge step toward defeating 
your enemies and just surviving life in general.  I hope Harry 
catches on to this subtle lesson eventually.  

Diana L.