[HPforGrownups] Some questions about Sirius Black (some FF)

[Patricia Bullington-McGuire]

No: HPFGUIDX 54120

On Sat, 22 Mar 2003, Briony Coote wrote:

> Hello Everybody!
>  
> My name is Briony Coote and I live in New Zealand!  I became a fan of
> the Harry Potter books through the movies.  I have finished all four
> books and placed my reservation for the fifth. My favourite character is
> Sirius Black and I have a hunch that the fifth book will deal with the
> crusade to clear his name.  Why?  Because Azkaban will certainly feature
> very strongly since Voldemort plans to break it open, and because the
> Ministry will probably make Black a scapegoat for any nasty activity.

On the other hand, my feeling is that Black won't be cleared until Book 7.  
At the end of GoF, Dumbledore and his followers have broken away from the
Ministry.  The Minister of Magic is not interested in hearing that
Voldemort lives or that events 13 years ago did not go the way he
believes.  He may even be an agent (witting or unwitting) of Voldemort.  
Since this situation was just set up at the end of book 4, I expect it to
continue to develop through book 5 at least.  I expect things to get worse
and worse for Harry (and by extension, Sirius) through books 5 and 6,
until finally being resolved in book 7.  Given the state of relations with
the Ministry and with Fudge at the start of OotP, it seems unlikely to me
that any evidence in Black's favor would be heard by a fair court at this
time.

> Speaking of Sirius Black, I have come up with some more questions about
> him, so here we go:
>  
> 1 - At the end of GoF, why does Dumbledore tell Sirius to resume his
> human form while Snape and Mrs Weasley are in the hospital ward?  Is it
> more than just to let them know the truth about Sirius?  Could
> Dumbledore have some plan to clear Sirius?

My feeling was that Dumbledore wanted to clear the air so his agents 
wouldn't be working at cross-purposes.  After all, if Snape were still 
desperately trying to get Sirius sent back to Azkaban that could easily 
get in the way of whatever Sirius is trying to accomplish for Dumbledore.  
But there could be a hidden motive as well.  We'll have to wait and see.
  
> 2 - Now that Mrs Weasley knows about Sirius, what is she going to do
> with this piece of information?  How do we know she doesn't go to the
> Ministry?

I think this is mostly a matter of Molly Weasley's character.  She
believes in people, and especially in Dumbledore.  Once she has given her
word to help Dumbledore, she's not going to betray his trust by turning
against another of his helpers.  

We have seen that, in the absence of proof, she can be swayed by public
opinion, as when she believed Rita Skeeter's lies about Hermione.  
However, once the situation was explained by someone she trusts (Harry, in
that case), she took Hermione back with open arms.  Sirius is now in much
the same position.  The general public thinks he is guilty, but
Dumbledore, whom Molly trusts, says he is innocent and that's good enough
for her.


> 3 - Rita Skeeter must also know, since she was in the ward at the time
> (Hermoine caught her on the window sill).  What's to stop her from
> blabbing (apart from Hermoine's blackmail)?

Yes, this worries me, too.  Blackmail could be enough to keep her in line 
if she is just an ambitious reporter out to serve herself.  However, she 
could also be an agent of the DEs, and in that case she now has extremely 
valuable information to pass on to them.  She could even turn to the DEs 
to get revenge against Hermione, even if she hadn't been on their side 
before.

>  
> 4 - Could Mad-Eye Moody testify that Pettigrew is alive, and a DE?
> Remember, Pettigrew was with Crouch Jnr when they surprised him and
> stuffed him into that trunk.  

Possibly.  We won't know exactly what Moody saw until he gets a chance to
speak for himself.  He could have seen Pettigrew, or he could have been
knocked out before he got the chance.  However, as I said above, I don't
think he'll get a chance to testify about anything anytime soon as the
Ministry of Magic is not interested in hearing uncomfortable truths right
now.

>  
> 5 - If word gets out that Dumbledore and Harry are protecting Sirius,
> what could happen to them, and Sirius?

Conceivably, the Ministry could try to lock them all up in Azkaban,
although I doubt they would be able to enforce that as long as Dumbledore
stays at Hogwarts.  Certainly their reputations would be ruined, which
would make it much harder for Dumbledore to rally the WW against
Voldemort.  I could also see masses of parents pulling their students out
of Hogwarts, futher depriving Harry of allies.

>  
> 6 - What could the ramifications of Voldemort's raid on Azkaban be for
> the campaign to clear Sirius? 

Hmm, I'm not sure about that one.  I don't see how it could help Sirius.  
But if it were alleged that Sirius, a supposed DE, was involved in the
raid, that would only make things worse for him.  As an escaped prisoner
(the only one, supposedly, though we know better than that) he would have
the most intimate knowledge of the prison and could even be portrayed as
the ringleader of a breakout attempt.

>  <snip>
>  
> 7 - Doesn't Sirius have the right to any form of appeal, especially
> since he didn't have a trial?  They must have an appeal system since
> Buckbeak got one.

My assumption was that he didn't get a trial because he "confessed."  That 
could possibly negate the right to an appeal.  I would love it if we got 
to see a wizarding attorney explain the wizarding legal system and 
Sirius's legal rights.

>  
> 8 - Finally, have those imprisoned DEs been given some sort of special
> power that would enable them to survive Azkaban with their minds and
> powers intact?  The Lestranges could not apparate to Voldemort's side
> because they were locked in Azkaban, but this also means that they can
> still apparate.  In other words, they still have the powers they should
> have lost while being exposed to Dementors. 

It's not clear whether the loss of powers is permanent or only lasts as
long as the imprisonment does.  I presume the Lestranges' powers can
return, or else they would be worthless to Voldemort and he wouldn't care
about returning them to his flock.

>  And what of their minds?  Have they gone mad or what?  If they are
> insane, what use would insane DEs be to Voldemort?  But Karkaroff and
> Crouch Jnr. were still sane after a year or so in Azkaban, while "most
> go mad within weeks."  
>  
> So do the DEs have some special capability that would enable them to
> withstand Azkaban?  

Like the loss of powers, it's not clear if the insanity is permanent in
all cases.  Once a prisoner is removed from the presence of the Dementors,
their faculties could return to them, at least enough to make them useful
again.

Also, there's insanity and then there is insanity.  If the Lestranges can 
only sit in the corner rocking back and forth and gibbering incoherently, 
they are pretty useless.  But if they are irrationally obsessed with 
getting revenge on those who imprisoned them, they may well be clinically 
mentally ill but could still be very valuable to the Dark Lord.

Furthermore, the Lestranges seem to have been "true believers."  As such,
they may not believe they are "guilty" of anything -- in their own minds,
they were serving the righteous cause and are unjustly imprisoned.  So
they could possibly receive the same sort of protection that Sirius's
knowledge of his own innocence provided to him.

----
Patricia Bullington-McGuire	<patricia at obscure.org>

The brilliant Cerebron, attacking the problem analytically, discovered
three distinct kinds of dragon: the mythical, the chimerical, and the
purely hypothetical.  They were all, one might say, nonexistent, but each
nonexisted in an entirely different way ... 
                -- Stanislaw Lem, "Cyberiad"