Who stuns Sirius? (was Re: The Veil)

[cdayr]

No: HPFGUIDX 111044


> Entropy wrote:
> I've believed for quite some time that Sirius is not dead (JKR's 
tears
> to the contrary notwithstanding).  In fact, I believe that DD was
> looking for a way to get rid of Sirius for a while, and faking 
Sirius'
> death turned out to be a viable option.  In fact, you can find lots 
of
> good discussion about it under a thread entitled "Faking 
Sirius's Death?".
> 

CDR:
Apologies if this has been previously discussed ad nauseum- 
and if so let me know what posts to read! I searched all I could 
stand, even to find the posts you referred to, and couldn't find 
`em. Any specific #s? 

I've been thinking a lot about ol' Sirius lately, and this
last post 
got me going


Like you, I'm convinced Bellatrix did not kill Sirius. Unlike
you, I 
do think he is dead, and I think he may have been killed by a 
member of the Order. Here's why:

1) The moment of death
"Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light: He was 
laughing at her. "Come on, you can do better than that!" he 
yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room. 
The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest.
The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes 
widened in shock." (OotP, 35)

We do not see Bella send this second jet of light, neither does 
Harry or Sirius. It comes out of nowhere. She was no longer on 
the attack, his defenses were lowered, and someone else 
stunned him with that second jet. He is surprised and shocked- 
perhaps he saw who did it?

2) Bella tells Harry she didn't do it
"'Come out, come out, little Harry!' she called in her
mock-baby 
voice, which echoed off the polished wooden floors. `What did 
you come after me for, then? I thought you were here to avenge 
my dear cousin!'" (OotP, 36)

Bella implies that she did not kill Sirius- she doesn't
understand 
why Harry is chasing her when the real killer is still downstairs. 
Why wouldn't she be gloating about her victory? Which brings 
me to


3) Bella doesn't brag 
Bella has the chance to tell LV that she killed Sirius, but she 
doesn't:
"'Master, I am sorry, I knew not, I was fighting the Animagus 
Black!' sobbed Bellatrix, flinging herself down at
Voldemort's feet 
as he paced slowly nearer."
"Fighting", not "killing." Seeing as she is in serious peril, you 
would think she would announce her latest success at defeating 
one of LV's enemies to him, but she doesn't. 

Okay, so if Bella didn't do it, who did it, and why?

There are only a few suspects who were not busy, injured, or tied 
up when Sirius is stunned. 
Most of the DE's are being held in Dumbledore's spells.
Tonks and Moody are both seriously injured, Tonks is out cold.
Neville cannot articulate a spell.
That leaves Lupin, Kingsley, Harry, Dumbledore, and maybe a 
stray DE free to secretly send a stunner at Sirius.

I feel pretty sure it wasn't Harry. Although all you ESE!Lupin 
theorists might wanna grab this one as further proof for your 
arguments, why would Lupin have been spending all that time 
with Sirius at GP, alone, tons of chances to do him in in some 
logical way, and then suddenly act now. Nope, not Lupin. 
(Please, JKR, not Lupin) 

I don't know what to say about Kingsley. We know from the 
Marietta incident that he is quite capable of sending a sneaky 
spell through a crowd undetected. He does face huge personal 
and professional problems if it is revealed that he has known 
where Sirius is all this time and has been lying to the ministry. 
And today his name, KINGsley, has been on my mind in 
connection with royalty and the HBP. But really, I just don't
think it 
was him either. But maybe?

I think it was Dumbledore. I think the big realization that DD 
comes to at the end of OotP has huge implications for how he is 
going to deal with Harry in the future. He will no longer be able to 
protect him from the harsh reality of the war and of his role in this 
epic struggle. In effect, he believes that by caring too deeply for 
Harry, he has created incredibly risky situations. He needs to 
stop putting Harry's feelings first and do what has to be done. He 
also realizes that Sirius is a big liability to the security of the 
Order. He takes too many risks. More importantly, LV now knows 
that he has a huge weapon against Harry, the person he cares 
about as "father and brother." DD realizes that he must separate 
Harry from Sirius, both for the safety of the order and the success 
of the fight.

By killing Sirius, DD actually dredges up in Harry the intensity of 
emotion that makes it possible for him to defend himself against 
LV's possession. It is only when Harry starts thinking about 
Sirius ("And I'll see Sirius again
" (OotP, 36)) that
Voldemort 
can no longer possess him and has to flee. Later DD says to 
Harry, "On the contrary
the fact that you can feel pain like this
is 
your greatest strength." (OotP, 37)

IMO, Dumbledore sees that by protecting Harry, he has lessened 
his ability to feel the deep pain and love that will eventually be 
LV's downfall. DD kills Sirius in a very painless and easy 
manner, but a manner in which he activates Harry's "greatest 
strength." 

I don't think DD is ESE- I just think that he realized Sirius had
to 
be a sacrifice to raise Harry's love/heart/passion to a new,
higher 
level. 

Harsh, eh? But what do you all think?

CDR – Who has lurked for months but only posted once before, 
and still wants to talk about Hagrid, Riddle, and "the traveler" in 
CoS if anyone wants to (106761)!