Sirius revisited

[demetra1225]

No: HPFGUIDX 104067

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Barry Arrowsmith 
<arrowsmithbt at b...> wrote:
{snip}
Wherever he goes, whatever he does, he's a disaster waiting to happen.
> 
> The Siriophile excuses keep rolling out of course;
> "He's spent 12 years suffering in Azkaban! What do you expect!"
> "He's never recovered from his childhood with that horrible family 
of his! We must make allowances!"
> "But he loves Harry, so he must be good!"
> 
> Yeah, sure.
> Whenever I consider Sirius an old quote springs to mind:
> "The more he protested his honour, the faster we counted the 
spoons."  {snip)

Demetra:
Kneasy, no matter if I agree with you or not, your posts always make 
me laugh.  

Kneasy: {snip}
> So in the spirit of performing a public service, once again it's 
time to delve into the dossier of S. Black Esq. and see what we can 
see, fully conscious that rewards will  be slight and may consist 
solely of vituperation or worse. {snip}

Demetra:
Allow me to join in, if you will.

I too have been thinking about Sirius and his story for a while, 
probably since I read Kneasy's post #79808.  

Just to qualify where I'm coming from – I like Snape (would probably 
qualify as a Snape apologist), I like Harry (yes it is possible to 
like both Snape and Harry) and I was puzzled by Sirius in PoA, liked 
him in GoF and didn't like him at all in OotP.  However, I was 
convinced that he was being slipped a confusement and befuddlement 
draft in OotP and that was what caused his seeming personality 
change.  I also thought that perhaps his passing through the veil was 
a heroic and necessary act that he volunteered for (see Talisman's 
Tactics&Prescience thread starting with post 66983 and my response 
76111).  I'm less convinced of that now, although I do think that 
Sirius may play a future role as a conduit between those living and 
those who have moved on to the next great adventure.    

Most recently though, I started viewing Sirius in an altogether 
different light.  I was trying to compose a post on Snape and his 
behaviour, comparing it to my father and his experiences in WWII.  
I've yet to finish that post, it started to get too long and the 
Snape thread appears to have died a merciful death so I'll save that 
one for another time.  But I was reminded of another of Dad's war 
stories that in turn reminded me of Sirius.  

Dad was an American soldier – a tank driver in Germany during the 
last two years of WWII.  There was another guy in his division who 
was an excellent soldier, was a sharp-shooter and was totally 
committed to wiping out the Nazis.  He was also vain, condescending, 
prickly and extremely bigoted.  He was not a team player at all, 
something that all good soldiers need to be.  But, he was tolerated 
because he had excellent skills.  One day while the division had 
stopped and were out of the tanks taking a break, he pulled out his 
gun, aimed it towards my dad, told him "I never liked greasy Greeks" 
and fired a shot that went to the left of my dad's head by about a 
foot.  Nobody thought that he really wanted to shoot my dad – if he 
had wanted to hit him, there is no way he would have missed.  
Nonetheless, he was court martialed and received a dishonorable 
discharge.  That guy reminds me of Sirius.  No question what side he 
was on, smart, some valuable skills.  But a danger to his own side 
because of an inability to suppress his own impulses and act rashly.  
I'm starting to wonder if Sirius was kept in Grimmauld Place 
primarily to protect himself or to protect the other members of the 
Order.  

Because there is no doubt in my mind that Sirius is an impulsive man 
who doesn't think things through and never grew up.  And I can't buy 
the argument that he couldn't mature because he was in Azkaban for 12 
years.  Why hadn't he matured before then?  He had to have been at 
least 21 years old when he was thrown in Azkaban.  He had been out of 
school for at least 2 years.  Sorry, I might be able to make some 
allowances for a teenaged boy, but by that age he should have matured 
beyond the level of a 15 year old.  Hell, Harry is 15 and far 
surpassess Sirius in the maturity department.  James apparently had 
matured enough to get married, have a child, make an attempt to 
protect his wife and child from Voldemort.  So why hasn't Sirius 
grown up?  

Kneasy: 
{snip} Once  again he has one aim. Kill Peter. After 12 years of 
sitting around, claiming that it was only the knowledge that he was 
innocent that kept him sane, his preferred first action is to kill 
the one person who could actually *prove* his innocence. {snip}


Demetra:
Here's another part I have a hard time with.  
Ron was sitting up in bed, the hangings torn from one side, a look of 
utmost terror on his face.
"Black!  Sirius Black!  With a knife!"
"What?"
"Here! Just now!  Slashed the curtains!  Woke me up!"  (PoA, page 266)
So, Sirius decides he needs to exact revenge on PP, so he goes after 
Scabbers, and by default Ron, when they are asleep.  What did he 
intend to do with/to Ron?  Do you really think he was planning to 
carefully isolate the rat and stab it while causing no harm to Ron?  
Or did Sirius think that any harm that came to Ron was incidental to 
his need to get revenge?  Great Godfather he is – willing to 
kill/harm Harry's best friend.  But he sent Harry a firebolt, so that 
probably would make it even in Sirius' mind.  

Or how about this, when they were in the Shreiking Shack

But Black's free hand had found Harry's throat –
"No," he hissed, "I've waited too long ---"
The fingers tightened, Harry choked, his glasses askew.  (PoA, page 
340)
Yep, he loves Harry all right.  Just has a strange way of showing 
it.  


I know there are a lot of folks out there who think there was a 
special (maybe even slashy) relationship between Sirius and Lupin.  
Although canon certainly shows that James and Sirius had a close 
friendship, I think that Sirius has shown disregard for Lupin and 
their friendship.  Look at how he treats Lupin in the Pensieve scene.

"I'm bored," said Sirius.  "Wish it was full moon."
"You might," said Lupin darkly from behind his book.  "We've still 
got transfiguration, if you're bored you could test me
..Here."  He 
held out the book.
Sirius snorted.  "I don't need to look at that rubbish.  I know it 
all."  (OotP, page 645)

Let's see, he talks about the full moon fondly to his werewolf 
friend, who suffers greatly because of what he is.  That's kind.  
Then he refuses to help his friend study because he knows everything 
already.  Never mind that his friend might need some help.  Not a 
concern of Sirius', who acts as though the world revolves around 
him.  
And why does he send Snape to the shreiking shack knowing harm will 
befall Lupin as well. Perhaps it is another example of Sirius acting 
without thinking.  Or, perhaps he was trying to kill two birds with 
one stone
.punish both Snape and Lupin.  I think the pensieve scene 
shows us a few things about the relationship of the Marauders.  James 
and Sirius are the central figures of the group.  Peter is the hero 
worshipper.  What about Lupin?  Seems to be kind of the fringe 
friend.  Could they have become animagi just because they thought it 
would be cool to run around with a dark creature rather than a deep 
concern for Lupin?  Do the others really care about Lupin as a 
person?  Sirius certainly dismisses him as unimportant in the above 
exchange.  
And Lupin has his nose buried in a book during most of the outside 
scene.  Who else in that scene acts the same way?  I'm convinced 
there is more to the Snape/Lupin dynamic than meets the eye.  Both 
seem to have been bookish when in school.  James and Sirius don't.  
Is it possible that Lupin and Snape ran across each other in the 
library – like Hermione and Krum?  Could a tentative friendship have 
started – something that Sirius felt a need to end, and if Snape ends 
up dead more's the better?  And if Lupin could tentatively befriend 
someone like Snape, couldn't you see Sirius taking that as evidence 
that Lupin was the one who was betraying the order later?  

Kneasy: 
{snip} Why would Sirius be terminated in book 5 of 7 - with strong 
hints that there will be further revelations to come regarding 
Sirius' place in the plot? "..learn much more about Sirius," is the 
phrase used IIRC. 
> What else  can we learn that we don't  know already? Nothing - 
unless he wasn't what he seemed to be.  {snip}

Demetra:
Entirely possible.  I find it easier to believe than ESE Lupin.  My 
only problem is that at the end of GoF Dumbledore says he trusts both 
Snape and Sirius.  So despite all my misgivings, I can concede that 
Sirus might be on the right side, although he is far from nice (IMHO 
anyway).  

Demetra (who belatedly realizes she has included a number of her hair-
brained theories in this post despite promising herself she would 
stick to the facts)

My favorite quote (makes me laugh every time):  
>From PoA
Ron (to Sir Cadogan)
"Yeah, we'll call you," muttered Ron as the knight disappeared, "if 
we ever need someone mental."