Sirius' death (Was Dept of Mysteries)

[Nora Renka]

No: HPFGUIDX 115118


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Magda Grantwich 
<mgrantwich at y...> wrote:

<snip>
 
> Having achieved his purpose of being a darn good red herring for 
> most of POA, Sirius relapsed into near insignificance in GoF and 
> OOTP. His subsequent importance lay in his holding out to Harry the 
> option of a life away from the Dursleys and a better future, but 
> that was pretty minimal in terms of plot development (as opposed to 
> character development) but I believe Sirius died because plot-wise 
> JKR had no further use for him.

This is an eminent possibility, and one that shouldn't be 
discounted.  However, she did say (and bless Google's little heart):

Cookie246122: Why did you kill Sirius? It made me very sad :(
JK Rowling replies -> I'm really, really sorry. I didn't want to do 
it, but there was a reason. If you think you can forgive me, keep 
reading, you'll find out. [I feel really guilty now].

...which leaves open the possibility that his death and the specific 
manner in which it occurred have some further plot significance--she 
needed him to die *that* way to make some use of him.  And there's 
more to it than simply 'Harry learning a lesson about death and loss 
and all that jazz'.  This makes a little better sense in terms of 
literary economy.  

I have no idea, myself.  And it's getting awfully boring, sitting 
with Faith in the Safe House, drinking margaritas...we need this book.

-Nora hopes it comes out comfortably either before or after exams