Trusting characters Re: bullies? twins, padfoot and prongs

[Sharon]

No: HPFGUIDX 118864


>Naama:
> If Peter was captured, there is not much Sirius can do for him. But 
> if he is captured, it may be that at that very moment he is telling 
> Voldemort where the Potters are, exposing them to attack. It makes 
> perfect, total sense for Sirius at that moment to rush over to the 
> Potters. 

No, actually, it doesn't.  When Sirius goes to find Peter, he doesn't 
know where Peter is or why he isn't there.  Peter is in the Order - 
for all Sirius knows, DD has called Peter over for tea.  For Sirius 
to go running off to GH - not having a clue what he'll actually find 
there - is just plain stupid.  The moment he Apparates in, he could 
find himself in a firefight and be killed, whereas if he contacts 
DD: "James and Lily are in trouble, Peter was their SK and now he's 
gone," DD can figure out fast what's happening, and provide Sirius 
with a lot more backup.


Naama:
> As for contacing DD - we've seen in OotP that order members went to 
> Harry's help on their own initiative, not waiting for DD to tell 
what 
> to do. If Sirius thought that the Potters were in danger, rushing 
to 
> their aid was the right thing to do.


>From Chp 37, OoP:

Dumbledore: "You see, when you gave Professor Snape that cryptic 
warning, he realized that you had had a vision of Sirius trapped in 
the bowels of the Department of Mysteries.  He, like you, attempted 
to contact Sirius at once...Alastor Moody, Nymphadora Tonks, Kingsley 
Shacklebolt, and Remus Lupin were at headquarters when he made 
contact.  All agreed to go to your aid at once.  Professor Snape 
requested that Sirius remain behind, as he needed somebody to remain 
to headquarters to tell me what had happened, for I was due there at 
any moment."

Did they wait for DD's orders - even though DD was shortly to arrive 
at HQ?  No, I'll concede that.  But they did not follow Harry on a 
spur of the moment decision.  Moreover, it was a *group* decision not 
to go, and it was a decision made by clearer heads than Sirius - 
Moody and Kingsley both are very intelligent and analytical.  One can 
assume that Moody and Severus are both highly trusted by DD, and very 
possibly have the authority to make this sort of decision, 
particularly in DD's absence.  

Going to the MoM was not a single person taking initiative based upon 
scanty evidence and passionate feelings, as Sirius' decision to go to 
GH was.  It was the carefully determined conclusion to a problem 
which needed to be solved - and quickly.

> 
> > Azriona:
> > And for that matter - if Peter was the Secret Keeper - how'd 
Sirius 
> > know where to find James and Lily anyway?  Are we assuming that 
the 
> > moment the spell was cast, Peter told Sirius where to find them?
> 
Naama:
> Maybe. Or not. In any case, he would know the location of where 
they 
> were hiding.
> > 

Right, but remember the whole concept of the FC was that even if you 
did know where a person was, unless you had been told the Secret by 
the SK themselves, you could look right in the windows and never 
actually see them.  Sirius may have *known* that James and Lily were 
at GH, but unless Peter chose to tell him, he wouldn't have been able 
to see them.

> > 
> > >Naama:
Sirius functions as decoy simply 
> by being the most likely person to be the Potters' Secrect Keeper. 
> Assuming that Voldemort would be focused on finding Sirius, hiding 
as 
> well as he can will force Voldemort to put more energy, more time, 
> more attention to trying to find him. It makes things safer for 
> Peter, too, that Voldemort will focus on searching for him (besides 
> making it safer for Sirius, obviously).
> 
> 

Ah, I see what you mean by 'decoy', then.  But my original argument 
still stands - if Sirius is the decoy, it's any amount of stupid for 
him to be the one to check on Peter with any amount of regularity.  
First, because remaining out of sight means not having a regular 
schedule (or pre-arranging meeting times, as Sirius did with Peter); 
second, because in order to keep Peter completely safe from harm, he 
needs to remain out of contact with Sirius anyway.

These guys have obviously been watching way too many Bond movies.

--azriona