Sirius death

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 100670

Sherry:
> 
> After reading all the exchanges concerning who's to blame for this 
or that,
> over the last couple days, I thought I'd add something about 
Sirius death.
> I don't think that anything would have changed the final outcome.  
Even if
> Harry had truly understood the danger of possibly being tricked by
> Voldemort, even if he'd understood all the ramifications and the 
complete
> reasons why he would have to work on his occlumency, he would have 
still
> acted the same way.  

Jen: Harry did have a basic understanding from Snape, and through 
his own dreams/visions/feelings, that Voldemort was infiltrating his 
mind. Maybe he didn't grasp the complexity of the situation, and 
that led to him believing his vision of Sirius was real. But, like 
you said, it wouldn't have mattered if Harry had a very complex 
understanding of the situation, once he had the vision he couldn't 
*not* act on it. I doubt even Dumbledore telling Harry the vision 
was a hoax, and he was *not to leave Hogwarts*, would have kept him 
there.

Sherry:
> Sirius would have gone after
> Harry, his godson and the one he is guardian to.  He loves Harry, 
and he
> wouldn't have stayed behind if Harry was in danger.  So, in some 
ways,
> nobody really is to blame for Sirius death, except Voldemort.  And 
maybe,
> fate and their love for each other.  

Jen: Well said! This sums up what I think about the situation. 
Sometimes our internal patterns and struggles are SO strong, we 
can't resist acting, even when we know from experience there will be 
a price to pay. And truthfully, Harry didn't grasp there would be a 
price. Prior to watching Cedric die, which was totally out of 
Harry's control, he had succeeded in all his adventures with little-
to-no negative repurcussions. 

Sherry:
> I wish, every time I read OOTP, that somehow
> the ending will magically change, and Sirius won't die, but I don't
> seriously blame anyone for it.  Given the circumstances, it was 
almost
> inevitable.

Jen: I feel the same way. I watched an interview with JKR last week 
on A&E Biography and she said this: "Death is tough on the living, 
but...you just *have* to get past it. We're all going to die and 
characters are going to die in these books. It just has to be." The 
look on her face when she said that--the intensity--told me she 
strongly believes in facing death square-on, and coming to terms 
with it. Feeling grief over Sirius' death, and bargaining with the 
outcome, shows me her gift as a writer. She has a great ability to 
write her feelings & beliefs into the charaters, without forcing her 
POV on anyone.