Trusting characters Re: bullies? twins, padfoot and prongs

[cubfanbudwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 118960


SSSusan:
> > But off the hook for WHAT? For reacting as most people would? Or 
> > is that the crux of it -- that you *don't* believe most people 
> > would have reacted this way and so he's at fault somehow?
 
Az's reply:
> Actually, I think most people in Sirius' situation probably would 
> freak out and want to verify the safety of their friends.  However, 
> Sirius isn't most people.  Sirius is supposed to a soldier in a 
> *war*.  And in *war*, there are rules.  At the very least, Sirius 
> needed to tell someone what he was doing and where he was going   
> He behaved really irresponsibly – first by passing off the SK 
> position to Peter without telling DD, second by not staying away 
> from Peter to help keep him safe, and third by blundering off to GH 
> without warning.
> 
> And the fact is that if he'd contacted DD, he would have learned 
> what had happened – Sirius was at GH at the *same time* as Hagrid, 
> who had been sent there by DD.  Dumbledore would have listened to 
> Sirius and might have been able to circumvent Sirius from going 
> after Peter, thus saving him from 12 years in Azkaban.


SSSusan:
I confess that this thread is going off in so many directions now 
that I'm having trouble figuring out just what's being argued.  So 
I'm going to stick to just a couple of small points that I was trying 
to make.

Again, I don't argue that the *wiser* course for Sirius would have 
been to let DD or someone know he was rushing off to GH.  The only 
possible concern with that is the consideration of their having to 
set up the SK/FC scheme all over again if it had turned out no one 
was in trouble.  

But I noticed I didn't get a response to my question about double-
standards here.  You'd earlier suggested that Peter might have missed 
his meeting w/ Sirius because he'd been called away and didn't have 
time to contact Sirius, but then you're saying Sirius should have 
taken the time to contact someone before going to GH.  To me, they're 
the same issue.  It's a time of war for *both* soldiers, their 
closest friends' lives are in danger, and EVERYONE should be being 
cautious and careful to communicate important pieces of info.  If 
Sirius should have let DD know before going off to GH, so should 
Peter have let Sirius know if he'd been called away.  The fact that 
Peter did NOT contact Sirius is part of what MAKES Sirius' rush off 
to GH more understandable, imo.

[This has nothing to do with your position, really, but the last 
comment of yours that I included raises that darn question again:  
HOW did DD know to send Hagrid?  Grrrr!]  Anyhoo... you say if Sirius 
had contacted DD, DD would have listened to him.  I hope this would 
have been true, but at this point DD seems to believe that Sirius was 
the one who betrayed Lily & James.  I mean, DD didn't contact 
*Sirius* after the attack, did he?  It's a two-way street of failure 
to communicate.  *Understandable* in both cases, I'd argue [DD 
assuming Sirius as betrayer; Sirius frantic about Peter's absence and 
worried about Lily & James], but with tragic consequences in both 
cases as well.

Siriusly Snapey Susan