[HPforGrownups] Re: Confusing and Befuddlement Draughts

[Campbell, Anne-TMC-Rcvg]

No: HPFGUIDX 93121

Alshain:
I disagree with the theory that Kreacher is slipping Sirius 
Befuddlement Draughts. 
<<<<Snipping about house-elves and why they wouldn't/cannot 'poison' their own families, no matter how they may loathe them (Heck, don't you think Dobby would have tried something similar on Malfoy if he could have?)....>>>>
So in short, I don't think Sirius's hotheadedness is magically 
induced, just plain frustration with a horrible situation he can't 
escape. Harry's thoughts when taken in context are the kind of 
freewheeling associations your brain comes up with before falling 
asleep. 

{Anne}
I have to agree with Alshain here. We tend to forget that Sirius had a few very predominant traits (ones that proved out in the past as well as the present--and I doubt he was being 'poisoned' at school)--
1) He's hotheaded (Remember him slashing open the Fat Lady's painting when she wouldn't let him into Gryffindor Tower?--That's an action of a violent, angry man. Not very wise, either.)
2) He's a man of action as opposed to words (going after Pettigrew by himself after the Potters are killed, breaking into Hogwarts to get to Harry (and thus making himself to look the criminal he was being presented as in the papers), Ready to kill Pettigrew at the slightest provocation once they cornered the little rat in the shack).
3) He is aggressive, to the point of bordering on being a bully sometimes (Going after Sev in the Pensieve scene without provocation, unless, of course, you count Severus breathing the same air as him 'provocation', Almost killing Pettigrew anyway until Harry begs him not to, Treating Kreacher as less than a being in his own right (yes, Kreacher IS a 'monster' in and of himself, but some of that is no doubt because of how Sirius treated him, and doesn't really make it 'right' for Sirius to treat him the way he does...). Sorry, guys, Sirius always was a bully--he might have been a selective one, but he still was one, and it wasn't all because he got locked away in Azkaban. To be honest, I think Azkaban took some of the edge of that off...at least until he started feeling healthier and then his original nature started asserting itself once more (which is why he seems so...off. We just think he is because we hadn't seen the 'real' Sirius before then).
4) He usually does NOT listen to common sense unless Dumbledore is presenting it, and even then, he chafes at the bit, wanting to do whatever it is he wanted to do...you can even say he sulks about it. As an adult, he learned just enough self-restraint to actually listen to Dumbly (but note he gets into it with everyone else about his and/or Harry's safety, no matter if it's Molly, Lupin, or Snape), and you can bet he's still trying to work things out in his head to try and get out to _do_ something without getting caught anyway ('I can go to the train station as Snuffles to see Harry off. No one will know....'). *coughs* Uh, yeah...right, Sirius...I'm sure there's spells that will reveal you...and who is to say Pettigrew hasn't told Voldy and Co. about your 'secret' by now?
IMHO, Sirius's actions and attitude are of a man with these qualities who is also a bit spoiled and used to getting his own way to boot (at the very least, arrogant--it may be endearing arrogance for those of us going 'Go, Good Guys!" but it still is arrogance). The subsequent depression he feels while trapped at Grimauld is a natural result of his kind of personality type being locked up with no way to get out and vent some of these feelings. So is his snapping at everyone, and progressively snapping worse as he goes into a downwards spiral of feeling trapped and useless (Clinical Depression anyone? Had it, not fun, for me or the folks around me). Although I didn't like seeing it, because it altered my view of 'poor, maligned Sirius' by quite a bit, there it is. Sirius did not need to be poisoned for him to be acting the way he did on OotP--it is all part of his base nature. 
Like any wild canine, he is protective, loving, supportive of  'his pack'--however, everyone else can go to hell in a hand basket, and Sirius would be more than happy to send them there himself, and think there was nothing wrong with doing so, no matter how nasty he got in doing it.

Silverthorne (One of too many Annes...^^;)