Sirius and Dumbledore (Was: Pensieves objectivity & Dumbledore's integrity)

[jwcpgh]

No: HPFGUIDX 79745

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "abigailnus" <abigailnus at y...> 
wrote:
  There seems to be a consensus 
> on the group that Sirius is dead because Dumbledore forced him to 
> stay at Grimmauld place.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  
> This is the tragedy of Sirius' death.
> 
> Sirius gives Harry the mirror when Harry returns to Hogwarts after 
> Christmas break, in a chapter so loaded with gloomy foreshadowing 
that 
> I spent the rest of the book convinced that JKR would never do 
something 
> as obvious as killing Sirius.  Harry decides never to use the 
mirror 
> because he fears that if he causes Sirius to leave Grimmauld, 
Sirius could 
> be caught and killed.
> 
> Sirius does indeed end up leaving Grimmauld Place, and he is 
killed, but 
> not because he was caught.  Sirius' death in fact has nothing to do 
with the 
> reason he was hiding.  <snip> 
  Dumbledore's failing is not 
> towards Sirius but towards Harry - by not giving him complete 
information 
> Dumbledore allowed Harry to be manipulated by Voldemort, and that 
was 
> the cause of Sirius' death.  If someone else - Tonks, or Moody, who 
were 
> always going to be in the rescue party - had died instead of 
Sirius, it still 
> would have been Dumbledore's fault for the same reason.
> 
Laura:

Gee, a consensus among this group?  <g>

I suggest that your statement that Sirius's death didn't have 
anything to do with the reason he was hiding is incomplete.  It was 
where and how he was hiding that was the problem. Sirius was in 
hiding because he would have had a very difficult time proving his 
innocence without Peter around to give evidence.  But while he was in 
hiding abroad, he was calm, rational, thoughtful and helpful.  Even 
when he came back to Britain, his advice was so reliable that 
Hermione continually insisted that Harry keep him informed.  So it 
wasn't hiding itself that was making Sirius crazy (speaking 
colloquially).  It was being in hiding *at Grimmauld Place*. 

 Sirius was completely committed to the Order.  So Sirius offered his 
house.  It was big enough, it was close to the MoM and it was well-
protected.  I'm sure that Sirius never thought that DD would make him 
stay in the wretched place 24/7.  He could have hidden somewhere else 
or he could have lived at Grimmauld and had freedom of movement, and 
in either case he would have been the Sirius we saw in GoF.  But the 
combination was a sure recipe for emotional disaster.  Someone 
pointed out a few days ago that there had to be lots of ways for 
Sirius to get out of the house-Invisibility Cloaks, Polyjuice Potion, 
you name it.  And this was a very smart, clever man-couldn't DD have 
used his mind in some way?  Granted that the Order wasn't hugely busy-
they were still underground and the full-scale war hadn't broken out 
yet.  But it was only a matter of time, and there had to be planning 
and strategy that DD could have used help with.  Having Sirius do 
*nothing* was not only stupid and cruel, it was shortsighted.

 Harry needed the Sirius of GoF, the person who could think coolly 
and clearly.  He needed his godfather.  But DD's decision to keep 
Sirius shut up in Grimmauld eroded Sirius's ability to find that part 
of himself.  When Harry went to Sirius's at Christmas, he ended up 
anxious enough about Sirius's state of mind to decide to protect 
Sirius, even if it cost him his closest advisor.  If Sirius had been 
doing something useful with his time, I doubt that Snape's taunts 
would have had the effect on him they did.  So it was the 
circumstances under which the mirror was given to Harry that made him 
refuse to use it.  What if Sirius had said, "Harry, this mirror will 
allow us to talk privately any time we want to, and it can't be 
compromised like owls or fireplaces.  I want to hear from you at 
least once a week."  But instead, Sirius had nothing better to think 
about than how useless he was being and how much Snape was enjoying 
baiting him about it.

Sure, anyone could have died at the MoM, but everyone else went into 
the battle with a clear mind and a full understanding of the 
situation.  By letting Sirius get to the state he was in, DD may as 
well have put the wand in Bellatrix's hand.