Why DID Sirius laugh? (was: Peter Pettigrew, questions)

[Wanda Sherratt]

No: HPFGUIDX 101474

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" <: 
> 
> Personally I always read his laugh as kind of hysterical one. As 
if 
> he could not believe the absurdity of what was happening and that 
is 
> why he was laughing.

Same here.  I remember reading an account of the Salem Witch Trials, 
where one of the accused (quite a feisty woman) just started 
laughing as the "evidence" was being presented against her.  And 
even when she was told to shut up, and it was obvious that this was 
making a very bad impression and getting her in a lot of trouble, 
she just kept on and even said that she couldn't stop.  I think of 
Sirius' laugh as a kind of emotional explosion after all the drama 
of the past day or two, coupled with the nightmarish experience of 
being accused of having engineered it all.

Wanda