Sirius' House

[kiricat2001]

No: HPFGUIDX 63090

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Grey Wolf" <greywolf1 at j...> 
wrote:
> Marianne wrote:
> > The problem I have with this is these people know magic.  Why was 
> > Sirius forced to stay in the house?  I mentioned in another post 
that 
> > he could have Polyjuiced himself, if for no other reason than to 
take 
> > a stroll through London.
> 
> Beyond the technical difficulties of preparing him polyjuice (the 
> ingredients are uncommon, and I doubt Snape would collaborate), it 
is a 
> *security* risk. Dumbledore and the OoP can't afford to have Sirius 
> walking around London, disguised or not, simply because there is no 
> such thing as a foolproof plan. He could've been captured and 
killed 
> (the order of being kissed by a dementor is still valid). A lot of 
> resources have been put into protecting him, just like resources 
were 
> put into protecting Harry, and there is no reason for him to go 
walking 
> in the parks just because. He's suposed to be an adult, and staying 
at 
> home isn't *that* bad, in principle.

In principle, I'd agree with you, although I think the security 
resources would have been put on the house whether Sirius was there 
or not.

 I perhaps didn't make my underlying issue plain.  Sirius' behavior 
in most of OoP was very much different than the person we saw in GoF. 
In OoP he is moody, irritable, unkempt. He retreats from interactions 
with people to spend time with Buckbeak. Most of his contributions to 
cleaning the house centered on throwing his parents' possessions 
away.  I think JKR gave us clues in almost every scene in which he 
appeared that he was, if not actually unstable, then certainly 
nowhere near the rational person he was in GoF. 

The point of my rant was not to suggest that members of the Order be 
concerned with finding ways to send Sirius on a vacation to Aruba, 
rather than deal with the issues around the return of Voldemort. But, 
rather that Sirius struck me as someone who was having a great deal 
of trouble dealing with the situation in which he was stuck.  If we 
accept his characterization in GoF as accurate (and I know some 
people have found *that* to be troubling because he showed almost no 
visible effects of his prison trauma and it seemed like he 
had "recovered" from the behavior we saw in PoA), then the outward 
signs he exhibited in OoP showed, in my humble, lay-person's opinion, 
a marked deterioration in his mental and emotional state. And, if you 
grant that that's the case, saying that he should act like an adult 
and deal with it doesn't really address the problem. 

This was a person who felt he had nothing useful to contribute to the 
cause, which we know he believed in. Was he given assignments and 
didn't like them because they were not action-oriented like 
patrolling Privet Drive or guarding the Prophecy?  We have no canon 
to support that. Did he have nothing to do but act as greeter to 
people when they came to Headquarters?  Since he wasn't supposed to 
leave the house, he couldn't very well act on his own initiative to 
get things done.  Assignments, if there were any, would have to be 
delivered to him. Did we see any?


> > Remus supposedly lived somewhere.  Could Sirius not occasionally 
have 
> > gone there?  He had a wand.  Could he not have Apparated to a 
known 
> > safe place, just for a respite?  
> 
> I think you missed the point: Sirius's house *IS* the safe place. 
> That's the reason why Sirius's there. That's the HQ of the OoP. 

No, I got that point. I'm really not a complete idiot. It is a safe 
place for the Order to meet and conduct business. It was a prison for 
Sirius.  

> Besides, we have no canon for Sirius being able to apparate. Many 
> wizards never learn, and Sirius in particular has run across 
England in 
> dog form and later on Buckbeak rather than apparating, so it seems 
he 
> cannot (or couldn't).

I'm of the opinion one needs a wand to Apparate and Sirius didn't 
have one when he made his escape on Buckbeak.  Or in GoF, hence dog-
travel. When the group made their appearance in the Dept of Mysteries 
to rescue Harry, did all of them but Sirius Apparate there and wait 
for him to show up so they could all enter together? I'd suggest that 
they all Apparated because that would get them there quickly.  
 

> 
> >  This whole idea that he *had* to stay in the house just reeks of 
a 
> > set-up to provide a convenient way for JKR to play into his 
reckless 
> > streak to ensure he got killed. It's all too pat for me.
> 
> It may reek to you. To me it was obviously a security reason, just 
like 
> keeping Harry in the dark and forcing him to go to the Dursleys 
every 
> summer. I wonder if it's simply that you're itching to find 
plotholes 
> in JKRs books, instead of trying to see things from the characters 
> perspectives. 

I think JKR greatly changed Sirius' behavior from the previous book. 
And the purpose of that was to set up an opportunity for him to 
behave recklessly so she could plausibly set up the death. She didn't 
continue with the rational, clear-thinking, supportive person she 
presented in GoF. That person would have remained on a more even keel 
in OoP and I believe would have dealt with his house arrest in a much 
better way. But, if he did that, then he might have let Remus and 
Moody persuade him to remain in the house while they went off to 
rescue Harry.

Marianne