Why Sirius was Chosen as Godparent & Sirius' sacrifice

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 105189

Jen wrote:
> > Now back to Godric's Hollow. What if Sirius being willing to die 
> for 
> > Harry has more significance than previously thought? What if 
James 
> & 
> > Lily chose him for this specific reason? In other words, there's 
> > more to this guardian selection, some additional protection 
> conveyed 
> > onto Harry if Sirius does indeed die while attempting to protect 
> > him, similar to but not as powerful as Lily's sacrifice. Sort of 
> > a strengthening of Lily's sacrifice.


Demetra (quoting from her post # 76111):
> Perhaps Dumbledore didn't "kill" Sirius, maybe he volunteered.
> Here's why I think this is possible. I can recall Sirius on two
> occasions saying that sometimes one might have to die for the 
greater
> good. The first is in the Shreiking Shack incident in POA where he
> yells at Peter "THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED...".
> Again, in OOTP, he says (to F&G, I think, sorry don't have the 
books
> with me) something along the lines of "there are things that are 
worth
> dying for."
> He is, after all,from the "noble" Black family. What is more noble 
> than laying down your own life so that the ultimate evil can be 
> eliminated?

Jen: Thanks for more canon references, Demetra! And for reminding me 
of all the good threads last summer, right after OOTP. 

The two instances you cited above definitely give support for Sirius 
being willing to give up his life for Harry & the cause. And just to 
clarify, I don't really believe Sirius went into the DOM battle 
thinking, "OK, today's the day, I need to be killed in battle." I'm 
thinking about this more as a 'last resort' plan, like the one at 
Godric's Hollow, "We'll try the Secret Keeper charm and see how long 
that holds Voldemort off, but in the event he discovers our 
location..." And Plan B of course was Lily's sacrifice.

Demetra: 
> I could never really convince myself of it, (her theory above)
though, because I could 
> never come up with a reason *why* Sirius needed to be eliminated.  
> You have provided a very compelling reason.  I absolutely don't 
think 
> that it is coincidence that Sirius is the character that espouses 
the 
> nobility (there's that word again) of sacrificing one's life.  

Jen: I'm not certain I believe Sirius *had* to be eliminated. But I 
do think he took stock of his life while hanging out with Buckbeak, 
and realized his life wasn't going to get better anytime soon. 
Perhaps he was even thinking about this when he got word of Harry & 
Co. in the DOM and decided to throw caution to the wind. He probably 
figured it couldn't hurt anything--if he died, his death would work 
to Harry's benefit, and would help Harry more than Sirius was 
capable of while living.

JKR said this when asked why she killed Sirius: "I'm really, really 
sorry. I didn't want to do it, but there was a reason. If you think 
you can forgive me, keep reading, you'll find out."  (World Book Day 
chat, March 2004). 

Can't wait to hear more!

Jen