[HPforGrownups] Trusting characters Re: bullies? twins, padfoot and prongs

[charme]

No: HPFGUIDX 118850


From: "Magda Grantwich"

<snip>

>
> So I find it quite easy to believe that Sirius would propose - and
> James would accept - the SK switching scheme (the SKSS for short).
> Personally I think the idea was bad from the start even if Peter
> hadn't been a traitor: it strikes me as a short-term plan that would
> have been unsustainable in the long run since the disappearance of
> Sirius and Peter from social circulation for more than a few weeks
> would inevitably attract comment and attention.  Not to mention
> Voldemort's talents as a Legilimens (which Dumbledore would have
> known about through Snape if no other way) which would have got the
> truth out of either of them had Voldemort caught either Peter or
> Sirius.
>
> So Sirius didn't think through all the possible ramifications of his
> actions - just like he didn't think through all the ramifications of
> the Prank with all the bad things that would have happened to Remus,
> Dumbledore and Snape had James not intervened.
>
> Then we have Sirius getting worried and checking out Peter's hidey
> hole and then going off to GH and finding the wreckage.  And then
> going after Peter single-handedly, even though he now knew that there
> was more to Peter than he'd at first assumed and that since Peter
> knew that he was supposed to meet him, there was every possibility of
> a trap.  Ditto what I said above about Sirius not thinking through
> all the angles before acting. And add on a description of
> recklessness because he had no idea what he'd actually be facing when
> he caught up with Peter, as well as not taking the time to stop and
> inform his commanding officer what he was up to.  Didn't they have
> owls in Godric's Hollow?
>
> These are not signs that Sirius was evil or a double-crosser.  They
> are signs that the same traits that made him a fun friend and great
> guy to have along on an illicit adventure were the exact same traits
> that would take him straight into the jaws of a beautifully executed
> trap.
>
> I don't think we've really begun to plumb the depths of Peter's
> cunning as revealed in the 24 hours after Voldemort went to GH.
> Peter might have been an average student compared to his friends but
> he obviously has more than his share of cunning and he's very
> observant.  He read Sirius like a book and knew exactly how he'd
> react to finding Peter missing and then finding the wreckage at GH.
> He knew all the buttons to press to send Sirius into an emotional
> state where he was incapable of rational thought.  And it didn't
> occur to Sirius until he watched Peter disappear into a sewer and
> realized he'd been magnificently "pranked" by the loser of the group.
>
> No wonder the MoM thought he'd gone mad.
>
> Magda
>

charme:

As I read your post, I was struck by something in GoF and OoP which might 
apply to your thoughts.  In GoF,  Fake!Moody tells Harry he "helped" him 
through the Triwizard Tournament, he makes a statement that "decent people 
are so easy to manipulate."  And in OoP, DD makes reference to how he 
himself fell into a trap he tried to avoid, and in DD words, the way LV 
"expected we fools who love to act." How interesting that your last 
paragraph (to me, at least) echos those sentiments.

charme