[HPforGrownups] An ironic Sirius quote

[Janet Anderson]

No: HPFGUIDX 96527

"JoAnna" <pt4ever at yahoo.com> said:

>"If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he
>treats his inferiors, not his equals." -Sirius Black, Chapter 27,
>"Padfoot Returns," page 525 (American Edition).

*snip*

>If we look at Sirius' treatment of Kreacher in OotP and judge him by
>Sirius' own standard, Sirius would not seem to be a very nice person
>at all.

Well, that depends on what the "inferiors" deserve. If Kreacher worked for 
me, he might be communing with his ancestors in the front hall by now.

Winky, as we all know (including Sirius), and as Crouch knew as well, was 
perfectly loyal and innocent of any wrongdoing.  Crouch's treatment of her 
was completely inappropriate.  Kreacher, on the other hand, was neither 
loyal (to Sirius) nor innocent, did no work (which for a house-elf is 
seriously bent behavior), undermined the work that the others did, and 
constantly insulted both Sirius and Sirius's friends.  And that's leaving 
out the events later in the book, where there's abundant evidence that he 
actively connived against Sirius, endangering his welfare and eventually his 
life.

Sirius's behavior toward Kreacher may not have been perfectly charitable, 
but it was not inappropriate given his provocation.  And if you think about 
it, he *was* treating Kreacher more like an equal than, for example, his 
mother (or Lucius Malfoy) would have.  If Kreacher had behaved toward either 
of them the way he did toward Sirius, they undoubtedly *would* have killed 
him without a second thought.



Janet Anderson
(who's not saying that a civilized person considers "I let you live" as good 
treatment of inferiors -- but Mrs. Black and Kreacher both probably did.  
Sort of like Voldemort and Wormtail.)

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