OotP Spoilers (surprise)--Chapter 35

[curly_of_oster]

No: HPFGUIDX 62537

Okay, so I recognize the symbolism of the veil between life and
death (or between the living and the dead), but clearly Harry & Co. 
don't (okay, maybe Luna, but she doesn't say that much about it, and 
not until later on).  So does anyone else find it strange that it 
didn't come up in Harry's conversation with Dumbledore?  Harry 
doesn't ask about the room or the archway, even though when he and 
the others come through that room the first time some of them are 
clearly drawn to the arch.  Maybe he's feeling too much anger and 
grief.  And Dumbledore doesn't offer any explanations either.  It's 
clearly not very clear to Harry (or necessarily the reader) exactly 
what happened to Sirius, and Dumbledore makes no effort to explain 
the purpose of the room itself, or to really define what the archway 
is.  Maybe he's too busy with all of the rest of his admissions of 
guilt and revelations about the prophecy.  In any case, it's not 
until Harry is later talking to Luna that he gets a hint about the 
whole thing.  And next thing you know, he's off to the Dursley's 
again.  

I know a lot of people feel that the 'point' of Sirius' death was 
that there wasn't any point (or that it was some abstract 
requirement in the 'development of the hero).  Maybe that's true.  
But I can't help but wonder if Harry isn't eventually going to start 
thinking about the 'how' of Sirius dying, and want to know just what 
was up with that particular room in the Dept. of Mysteries.  And why 
spend so much time describing all the different rooms, and dwelling 
on the students' reactions to the veiled archway, then have Sirius 
conveniently fall through it (rather than just being cursed dead), 
followed by *zero* explanation of any of it (Dumbledore refers to it 
as the Death Room, and Luna mentions it in the context of seeing her 
dead mother again, but there isn't any solid explanation to be 
found).  Frankly, after all that setup if it's just a big red 
herring, I think I'll be rather annoyed.

Lisa