Good Writing (was Why now?)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 110740

> dcgmck:
> Ah, but has Sirius indeed died in the sense that one normally 
 understands death, in a terminal, end-of-communications way?  
Is  further reference to that bit of mirror another red herring?  
What is  with that Veil?  (I do agree that we don't really know what 
killed  Sirius.)<

Pippin:
Well, he seems to have missed out on the foul, rotting corpse 
part, but yeah, I think he is conventionally dead, or as dead as 
anyone gets in the Potterverse, where the dead whom we love 
never truly leave us. 

dcmck:
> What I don't agree with is that his refusal to free Kreacher 
made his death inevitable.  In fact, didn't Sirius want to send 
Kreacher  forever from GP, along with all the other memorabilia 
of his  ancestors?  It was, in fact, Dumbledore who said that 
Kreacher could  not be released because he knew too much.<

Pippin:
Did Dumbledore say that? I only remember Sirius saying it:
 
"If you could just set him free," said Hermione hopefully, 
"maybe--"

"We can't set him free, he knows too much about the Order," 
said Sirius curtly. "And anyway, the shock would kill him. You 
suggest to him that he leave this house, see how he takes it."  -- 
OOP ch6

How Kreacher was supposed to betray anybody if he was dead 
of shock, Sirius didn't explain. You can see he didn't really put 
much thought into it...typical Sirius, I must say.

and later..
"[Hermione] was quite right, Harry," said Dumbledore. "I warned 
Sirius when we adopted twelve Grimmauld Place as our 
headquarters that Kreacher must be treated with kindness and 
respect. I also told him that Kreacher could be dangerous to us.  
I do not think that Sirius took me very seriously, or that he ever 
saw Kreacher as a being with feelings as acute as a human's--"
[...]
"Sirius did not hate Kreacher," said Dumbledore. "He regarded 
him as a servant unworthy of much interest or notice. 
Indifference and neglect often do more damage than outright 
dislike."

--OOP ch 37

Maybe no amount of kindness and respect would have made 
any difference to Kreacher, but we don't know, because Sirius 
never gave him the choice. It's horribly ironic that Sirius, who of 
all people ought to feel some empathy with a captive, wasn't able 
to do so.

Pippin