Just where *IS* Sirius' motorbike then?

[madlysarcastic]

No: HPFGUIDX 115675


Sue wrote:

> > Ah, but there's an inconsistency within the text. In POA, Hagrid
> says that Sirius told him he could keep it and that he thought this
> strange, etc., but if you go back to Chapter 1 of PS, Hagrid tells DD
> and MM that he'd better get going *because he has to return the bike!*
> Both are canon, then.


Carol wrote:

> We had a thread about this discrepancy awhile back. It turns out that
> the American edition of SS has Hagrid saying, "I'll be takin' Sirius
> his bike back" (16) but the British edition has a different reading.
> Can anyone provide that other reading and might it be a correction
> made to later printings while JKR was writing PoA? But then he also
> says, "Young Sirius Black lent it me" (14), which I think is the same
> in both editions.


Maddy writes:

Well, in my Bloomsbury/Raincoast edition of PS it says:

(on page 16)
'Hagrid,' said Dumbledore, sounding relieved.'At last. And where did
you get that motorbike?'
'Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir,' said the giant, climbing
carefully off the motorbike as he spoke. 'Young Sirius Black lent it
me. I've got him, sir."

...

(and on page 17)
'Yeah,' said Hagrid in a very muffled voice. 'I'll be takin' Sirius
his bike back. G'night, Professor McGonagall - Professor Dumbledore, sir.'

...

(and in my Bloomsbury/Raincoast edition of PoA it says, on page 153)

'...an' Sirius Black turns up, on that flyin' motorbike he used ter
ride. Never occurred ter me what he was doin' there...'

...

(and on page 154)

'Black argued, but in the end he gave in. Told me ter take his
motorbike to get Harry there. "I won' need it any more," he says.'


So, in PS, it says Sirius *lent* it to Hagrid, and Hagrid was under
the impression he had to return it. But in PoA, Hagrid says Sirius
didn't want it anymore. I could be that Hagrid is inconsistant with
his story-telling. At that point in PS, he didn't know that Sirius had
been the Potter's Secret-Keeper, or anything about Sirius that would
have made Hagrid suspicious of him. Where as in PoA, Hagrid had long
since been of the opinion that Sirius was a traitor, and perhaps
either remember or invented the detail of Sirius saying he didn't need
the bike anymore, because it makes Sirius somehow seem more
suspicious. The more and more a person tells a story, little, minor,
somewhat insignificant details are changed from the original; people
don't always remember correctly, so they fill in the blanks,
exaggerate, and eventually come to some sort of settled decision on
what happened, even if they're not remembering the truth.

Or, as Carol says, it could be an editing and writing error.

=)
Maddy
(who also, still has no clue where Sirius's bike is...but hopes this
helps somewhat)