Snape and McGonagall Re: Snape and Lupin's Character Arcs

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 119511


Lupinlore wrote: 
> I agree that Sirius is a very sad character.  I don't think there
was quite as much time as you suppose, only 2-3 years.  I'm also not
so sure his experiences after school would be all that great.  A lot
of people who have a great time at school because of looks and
charisma find that the "real" world isn't so amenable. It may well be
that Sirius was disappointed in what he found after Hogwarts and was
already developing a tendancy to try and hang on to the good old days,
even before going to Azkaban. <snip>

Carol responds:
While I very much disagree with Lupinlore's view of *Snape* as a
one-dimensional character whose worst memory stems from his teenage
years (that's Harry's perception as voiced by the narrator), I
actually agree with him here. 

When Sirius left Hogwarts, he was distanced from his own family and
had only the Potters, who had informally adopted him. Then James's
parents died or were murdered, and James himself got married and was
presumably less available for risky adventures than he had been as a
schoolboy. They were no longer inseparable companions, especially
after James became a father as well as a husband. Sirius must have
used the Order as a surrogate Hogwarts, a new source of adventures,
this time for a good cause but also at much greater risk.

But meantime there seems to have been some sort of distancing between
him and Remus Lupin, a mutual mistrust that probably had some relation
to Lupin's being a werewolf. And perhaps Lupin silently resented his
own inability to get (or keep) a paying job whereas Sirius (and James)
had no need for one. Their priorities were different, and they were no
longer roommates keeping their exciting secret from their schoolmates.
And Peter, too, was worm(tailing) his way between the Potters and both
Sirius and Remus, as indicated by the photograph of the Order.

It's interesting, however, that Sirius was best man at the Potter's
wedding (no indication that the other two were present although they
must have been) and that Sirius alone attended Harry's baptism, where
he served as godfather. The group was clearly disintegrating at that
point.

In addition, Sirius must have known that as members of the Order, if
for no other reason, he and James and the others were in grave danger.
It was no longer a matter of hexing for entertainment and playing
deadly pranks on schoolboy rivals. They were engaged in a real war
against deadly enemies, Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

So to me it's no wonder that Sirius in OoP focuses on his carefree
schooldays, when the worst consequence of his recklessness (in his
mind) was detention (I really don't think he really considered the
potential consequences of the so-called Prank for anyone, including
himself, and particularly not for Remus Lupin). There was nothing fun
about the years that followed: the disintegration of a four-way
friendship, the deadly serious business of being an Order member, the
death of the Potters, his own idiotic mistake in proposing Peter as
Secret Keeper, his rash pursuit of Peter after Godric's Hollow and the
horrible consequences. . . . It makes perfect sense for Sirius to
focus on his schooldays, the only happy time in his short life.

Carol, who thinks that most of Sirius's problems can be traced to his
own errors in judgment but nevertheless sees him as a tragic character
whose rashness is his hamartia (tragic flaw)