[HPforGrownups] Re: Sirius revisited

[Jocelyn Grunow]

No: HPFGUIDX 104145

I have been thinking a lot about what everyone has posted about Sirius.  I
don't have the original posts to refer back to, as I didn't realise that
this thread was going to linger in my mind.

I agree that James moved on & grew up and Sirius didn't.  But if you think
about it, Sirius was only in his early 20s when Harry was born.  James may
well have assumed that Sirius WOULD grow up, when he found a reason to.
Lily and Harry were probably his own reason to grow up, and it would be
natural to assume that a foster-brother who appeared to dote on his godson
would grow to meet the demands of guardianship.

And in fact he may have done so under more normal conditions.

I read a scientific article recently which said that there is a region of
the brain which engages when considering consequences.  This develops at
different rates in different people, but generally is finished developing in
most young women by their late teens, however in many males it may not
develop until the late 20s.  Obviously there is a spread in individual
development which you may imagine finishes later in the male population.

So there is Sirius, still immature in his early 20s, thrust into Azkaban
with nothing to do but dwell on the past.  In fact he remained suspended in
time, fixated on his school-days, his school-friends and the evils of the
past for TEN YEARS.  Isn't that what the dementors DO?  He was continually
thrust by them into his darkest days, with no opportunity to move forward or
develop perspective.

Even after his escape, he was unable to assist in the grown-up tasks around
him, to use his strength and skills and to form more normal relationships;
to succeed in something and build for the future.  Instead he was locked in
a house he hated, with all around him infused with a mighty purpose he
wasn't able to assist....  No one had the time, or perhaps the will and
insight, to counsel him, and he would have needed a LOT of that.  No one
loved him enough.

Someone said that people who came back from the wars moved on, but there
were a lot who didn't: veterans who had rages, who shunned the world, who
ate their guns or cried in locked rooms.  There were a lot of veterans who
went on a binge of frivolity to recover their missed years, which didn't
prevent them having nightmares and jumping at loud noises.

I see Sirius as a tragically stunted figure.  The life he led magnified his
flaws.  He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Jocelyn