DD and the rat (was:Re: Minerva McGonagall-/Dumbledore)

[carolynwhite2]

No: HPFGUIDX 115586


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "huntergreen_3" 
<patientx3 at a...> wrote:
> 
Sirius breaking under torture is quite a bit different than Peter
willingly going to Voldemort and telling him where the Potters were
(which is what he did). I think Sirius (and James and Lily, who went
along with the plan) was trying to make a backup plan in case he did
break under torture. Unless he planned on telling everyone that he
wasn't the secret-keeper, he was hardly saving himself from
Voldemort. The only reason Voldemort never went after Sirius is
because Peter *already* was a traitor.


Carolyn:
Another way of looking at it is that James and Sirius, accustomed to 
treating their 'friend' Peter with semi-contempt, and sure in their 
own arrogance that they could do without Dumbledore's help, 
arbitrarily decided on the plan between them. 

And yes, Lily probably connived at this, she's far from being a 
saint. Even in the middle of the great Snape underwear incident, we 
are told that her: 'furious expression had twitched for an instant as 
though she was going to smile'.. and when sneered at by Snape she 
quickly changes her tack: 'And I'd wash your pants if I were you, 
Snivellus.' It's a nice moral episode that fans love to crawl over to 
show the difference between James and Harry's characters, but Lily 
comes across to me as easily persuadable to James' point of view. You 
could even argue that she stepped into the row to get his attention, 
in exactly the same way as he kept trying to get hers, and it was not 
a lot to do with Snape in the first place. Just another preliminary 
skirmish between two people who were attracted and who subsequently 
married. And after..well, she probably found out the hard way that 
there were aspects of her husband's character that she would just 
have to live with. 

So, we have three twenty-somethings, who think they are so smart, 
trying to protect a toddler. All very touching. Their bright idea, 
possibly found at lastminute.com, is to volunteer Peter for the job, 
who unfortunately is just what he says on the tin - frightened out of 
his wits at the responsibility, but they don't notice this. Sirius 
instead 'bravely' discusses how long he might hold out under torture 
and how much time that might give them. All Peter can think about is 
that he wouldn't last three seconds if Voldie wants to know his 
secret. 

So, in his distress, and worry that this is the stupidist plan he'd 
ever heard of, does he go to the strongest person he could think of 
to protect him - Dumbledore, and confess what he'd been doing up to 
now? Or did Dumbledore get wind of the plan, and intercept Peter and 
run him through the old 'it's our choices' routine? 

Or neither, and Dumbledore, accepting he could not change the actions 
of three headstrong people, or give courage to a coward, quietly 
hoped that his other surmises - the possible effects of sacrificial 
love, plus Voldie's wand (containing Fawkes' tail feather) not 
working properly against Harry might save the day?

Carolyn:
>>Perhaps DD left Sirius to rot in Azkaban as a fitting punishment for
this weakness.<<

HunterGreen:
Fitting punishment? Even if Sirius switched the secret-keeper to
Peter purely because he was afraid he might crack under *torture*,
that is hardly something he needs to be punished for. In the end it
was Lily and James' decision, and *they* chose Peter. Since when is
Dumbledore vengeful enough to let someone sit in prison for 12 years
when they haven't committed any crime? 

Carolyn:
You've said above that you thought it was Sirius's plan, that James 
and Lily went along with. Whatever, Dumbledore made no effort to 
clear Sirius' name, or even visit him in prison to hear his side of 
the story. He'd managed to hush up the Shrieking Shack incident when 
MWPP were at school, but this time Sirius was an adult, and could 
take the consequences of his rash, impetuous decision.