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

[snow15145]

No: HPFGUIDX 115682


Nora snipped:
One more issue, perhaps, to think of: we can surmise, I think, that
DD gave Black a good one-over when he had him alone in the office.
Ergo, DD, when he exerts the effort, knows when he is being lied to.

Snow:
I have to agree that Dumbledore saw guilt in Sirius when he 
interviewed him, in POA, and was left with little alternative but to 
except to save Sirius's life while saving the most important life of 
all, Harry. Dumbledore is one quick thinker. He needed to save 
Harry's life from the dementors so Harry would have to go back in 
time. Giving explanations was not an alternative given the time frame 
involved. What else to do but use the source that was given to him 
which, unfortunately, was the guilty party; Sirius. 

If Harry had not saved his previous self then Voldemort would have 
won. Dumbledore's rhetorical request for Harry and Hermione to go 
back in time to save more than one innocent life was the life of 
Harry and Buckbeak not Sirius and Buckbeak. Dumbledore gave Harry 
bait; an initiative to go back in time, to help someone Harry cared 
about because Harry believed what Sirius said yet Dumbledore was 
really concerned over losing Harry. When Harry went back in time he 
saved three lives: Sirius, Buckbeak and more importantly himself. It 
is Harry that Dumbledore was referring to when he said that they 
would save more than one innocent life. Buckbeak was innocent of the 
crime he had been accused of; Buckbeak was provoked even though Draco 
was warned that to insult a hippogriff could be deadly. We know that 
Harry and Buckbeak were both innocent so where does that leave Sirius 
but bait for Harry's commitment to get the job done. The actual 
drawback to the whole plan was that Harry saw Sirius as being 
innocent and rescued him. This plan was the only way Dumbledore could 
assure that Harry would succeed. Sirius was nothing more than a tool 
that in the future could be extinguished when its necessity was no 
longer required, and it was.

There are several hints that I had spotted (recently) in JKR's 
referencing of Sirius that make me feel totally uneasy about the 
character we thought we knew:

(1)	She has an entire past history on this specific character 
(2)	She had stated that one of her earlier drafts of GH was where 
Sirius was meeting with a known death-eater outside GH
(3)	She said that the two-way mirror wouldn't have helped as much 
as we think


If Sirius were guilty would the two-way mirror really help? 

Sirius is accusatory to most everyone but especially to Snape. If you 
are a person that believes in Sirius (especially given the x-con 
status of Snape) the majority of people will believe what Sirius 
accuses Snape of being with denial for Snape's rebuttal. But if you 
allow for a guilty Sirius, not knowing the total background of this 
character that has a whole lot of back history (undisclosed by the 
author) to be the guilty party, then Snape's accusations become 
phenomenal. When Snape turned over a new leaf he did it with the 
utmost sincerity but there still remains to be only one person who 
has true belief; Dumbledore. Why, because we (the readers) have not 
been told the circumstances in which Dumbledore accepts Snape to the 
degree of offering him a position as professor at the school almost 
immediately after Snape's confession to Dumbledore and defiantly 
before GH. 

James even knew about the accusations of Sirius by Snape: Snape 
saying to Harry in the Shrieking Shack that he was as arrogant as his 
father to believe in Sirius. Sirius must have been pretty good to 
pull the wool over so many eyes (US, the readers) along with not only 
James but also Lily. 

Why would Sirius have done this to his best friend, his brother? We 
(readers) haven't been privy to that information yet
 many, many 
theories could be introduced as to the why could or would Sirius have 
ever have done such a thing when we know via JKR that his redemption 
quality was his love for James and Harry? Well the word redemption is 
a big clue. Redemption is to change your ways
to understand and 
attempt to fix the error of your ways. Sirius had twelve years to sit 
on ice and think of what he had done. Redemption at the hand of 
freedom was to seek out Pettigrew, who he faulted for his 
imprisonment, but what he found was his best friend in his best 
friend's son, staring him in the face. Innocent and alive was his 
best friend again. How scary is that or how redemptive?

These are a few questions that Sirius supporters, myself included, 
may ask:

(1)	How could Sirius have been the bad guy when he didn't know 
about the dark mark on the arm in the cave in GOF?
(2)	How could Sirius have done something like this to his best 
friend? 
(3)	How could Sirius have held such contempt for his younger 
brother if he were on the dark side? 
(4)	Why would Sirius have left his home if his priorities 
differed from his parents? 
(5)	Why was Sirius a Gryffindor when his family portrayed 
Slytherin? 

My rebuttal for these questions would be:

(1)	Not knowing about the dark mark on the arm was sheer 
brilliance. 
(2)	How could you do this to your best friend is totally up for 
theorizing but there could be many. 
(3)	How could little brother be viewed so badly when he was 
apparently attempting escape from what he knew was wrong, simple; 
Sirius viewed him as a coward.
(4)	The last question is very plain; Sirius thought his parents 
were full of hot air along with his brother and left to observe the 
opposition, inside info that could be used against them. 
(5)	This one is questionable but I have a few idea's like why was 
Tom Riddle in Slytherin

In closing I would like to admit that I am devastated by my own post 
because Sirius is the one character, even though I try to stay 
detached so I can see more clearly, whom I totally fell for. I can, 
however, put aside Harry's and my desire to fall for the parent he 
never had and admit that Sirius may not be what he/we thought. The 
flip/flop from the devious minded Sirius to the have to make things 
up redemptive Sirius could allow for anyone to make an indecisive 
decision.