Lupin visiting Sirius in Azkaban

[huntergreen_3]

No: HPFGUIDX 112107

Hannah wrote:
>Perhaps he considered protecting Harry so
> important he felt that imprisoning Sirius was justified? I'm
> playing devil's advocate a bit because I don't really think DD is  
>that ruthless. But if you are to accept the idea that he allowed 
>Sirius to stay in Azkaban while knowing he was innocent, I think that
> protecting Harry is one of the few reasons he would do it.

Marianne replied:
>>I have a real problem with this. It implies that this is the only
alternative. As part of protecting Harry, DD's only option is to let
Sirius, whom he knows to be innocent, to rot in Azkaban. Surely
Harry could still have the protection of the Dursleys without Sirius
being left in jail. Some sort of shared custody, or whatever. I
know, I know, it's now a common interpretation of Sirius' character
to paint him as so totally reckless, arrogant, irresponsible that
really, all Dumbledore could do would be to leave him in prison. If
he got Sirius out, the man would be such a total loose canon that
he'd immediately destroy all of Dumbledore's carefully laid plans.

Sorry, it doesn't wash for me.<<

HunterGreen:
Me niether. For one thing, I very much doubt that DD has it in him to 
be so callous to someone he considers an ally, especially considering 
his opinion of the dementors. Sirius doesn't demand immediate custody 
of Harry in OotP when he has a residence. Nor did he put up that much 
of a fight when Hagrid took Harry initially waay back when James and 
Lily first died (he was still a free man then, he had the "rights" to 
Harry, yet let Dumbledore override him). As often as Sirius is 
painted as 'reckless' or a 'bad influence', there's little evidence 
that the adult Sirius (outside of PoA, which I blame on dementia from 
being in prison for 12 years) is actually like that. I don't think 
that Dumbledore would have such a small opinion of Sirius that he 
would leave him to suffer in prison just so he wouldn't try to claim 
Harry.
I wonder how Dumbledore would have known that he was innocent. After 
all, Peter disappeared, leaving his finger and 12 dead muggles 
behind, and all the witnesses said that Sirius did it. Sirius didn't 
have a trial, so there was never a chance for him to even plead his 
case (which was flimsy anyway...without truth serum there'd be no way 
for him to prove himself). As we know by now, Dumbledore makes 
mistakes, this isn't even a big one. He knew there was a spy in the 
order, he "knew" that James was going to pick Sirius as the secret-
keeper and that the secret-keeper gave up James and Lily to 
Voldemort, and he knew that Sirius had been caught "killing" Peter 
and the 12 muggles. Innocent!Sirius at this point probably didn't 
cross his mind.