Kreacher & The Prophecy (was Re: Kreacher)

[cubfanbudwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 91992

Siriusly Snapey Susan wrote:
> > "I may be wrong, but I'm not uncertain."  Ahhhh, a noble creed,
> > Kneasy.  I'm such an over-cautious, don't-want-to-offend-anyone-
> > with-my-views kind of person that I could take a lesson or two 
> > from you in this. ;-)

Kneasy replied:
> Don't want to offend anyone? Hells teeth! Why not? I always 
> remember my dear old dad saying "If you can induce a myocardial 
> infarct, then you've won the argument." Wise words.

Susan again:
I have two kids yammering in my ear, so I shouldn't be trying to 
reply to this just now...but I can't resist. :-)  Love the "if you 
cause an MI, you've won"...but, alas, my superego is overdeveloped 
and, as selfish as I am, I still can't quit being a worrywart, too.

Siriusly Snapey Susan wrote:
> > So, Kneasy, since you like us Siriophiles to come out & play, 
> > I'll have to ask you to weigh in on this one.  Should Sirius 
> > have been more forward-thinking in regards to Kreacher?  Should 
> > he have known the danger of having him about and dismissed him, 
> > consequences to Kreacher be damned?  Was this more arrogance on 
> > Sirius' part, his rash belief that he could control Kreacher?  
> > Or is Pippin right, that Sirius kept Kreacher out of a sense of 
> > obligation...displaying, perhaps, a bit of the NOBLE Black?

Kneasy:
> OK. Sirius. First a question from me that may be difficult to
> answer accurately.  While you were reading OoP what was your 
> reaction to Sirius' behaviour? Not in retrospect mind, but while 
> you were reading the relevant passages for the first time.
> 
> Did you think "Oh, that's just Sirius and anyway he's reacting 
> against the family ethic." Or did you think "Silly sod. Pompous 
> oaf. You'll regret that."? After the event it's easy to see which 
> was the correct analysis. Yes, he was being pompous, unthinking, 
> arrogant. That, among other attributes is what constitutes Sirius. 
> The 100%, copper-bottomed, old-fashioned, genuine pure-blood 
> article.

Susan: 
How did I read Sirius on the FIRST reading?  Well, I am rather a 
Sirius apologist, and I had that cornball romantic notion of Harry & 
parent-substitute-Sirius beginning a happy, adventure-filled life 
together, so I tended to not be very critical of him.  Most of the 
time I simply thought he was acting as Harry's protector and as a 
man extremely frustrated & depressed about being locked away.  I 
didn't think of him as arrogant or pompous or a silly sod.

Kneasy:
> Having any obligation to the family House Elf would be an alien 
> concept. A House Elf is there *to do* and *to obey*. They don't 
> have feelings; or if they do, then they are very low on the list 
> of priorities. <snip>  What  Sirius should have done is 
> irrelevent. JKR wrote him as he is, with a personality that makes 
> his actions ineluctable. <snip>

Susan:
As for the Keacher issue, you make the right point, of course, in 
that there is no "should have" because JKR wrote Sirius as she 
elected to write him.  Perhaps a "what if" question would have been 
more appropriate.  But I think your read of Sirius' thoughts about 
Kreacher are very much in line w/ his true personality.

Kneasy: 
> In the final analysis Sirius has lost just about everything - his 
> family, his good name, his freedom, his authority, his friends. No 
> wonder he clings to Harry like a drowning man. Harry gives him 
> what little credibility he has left among decent people. What 
> effect would it have on him if he thought that he might lose 
> Harry's respect too? It'd be the traditional glass of whisky
> and an AK in the library. "He must have been cleaning his wand 
> when it went off." What an epitaph. 
> 
> But there's a better way. In the forefront of the battle. <snip> 
> He's a danger to the Order, to Harry and to himself. "He'd have 
> wanted it that way." A much better epitaph.

Susan:
Am I reading your "Sirius has lost just about everything" paragraph 
correctly?  It seems almost a sympathetic portrait...from YOU?!  But 
are you saying that if Sirius gave IN to that, he'd have killed 
himself, and that wasn't Sirius?  Are you saying that others knew he 
needed to be eliminated?  I confess to being a little confused by 
that last statement of yours.

Siriusly Snapey Susan...who apologizes for this rather disjointed 
response. :-|