[HPforGrownups] Re: Why Do You Like Sirius?

[Magda Grantwich]

No: HPFGUIDX 122442

> Michelle:
> Probably because he is so complex, and he had to overcome his 
> upbringing to make the right choices. It's a very difficult thing
> to 
> do, to outgrow the prejudices that you've been indoctrinated with 
> since birth and rise above them.
> 


Sirius was not complex at all.  He was a pretty straight, linear
character.  He didn't like his family.  He had a great friend named
James Potter.  The Potters treated him like a second son.  Therefore,
as soon as he could, he shucked the family he didn't like and adopted
the family he did like.  And that was that.

That's why he was pretty brisk when he described his late brother's
career as a Voldemort supporter and his early death.  The guy wasn't
his brother anymore, just a fool he happened to have been related to,
once, many years ago.  His real brother was James and his grief over
James' death is real, deep, and passionate.

To answer Casey's original question, I don't like Sirius and never
did.  I went back into old HPGU posts and am delighted to find that I
didn't like him after POA and GOF.  It's always nice to know that one
has spotted a bad egg right off.

For me the big issue was the Prank: not so much what it would have
done to Snape (I can accept that teenage boys do dumbass things) but
what would have happened to Lupin.  That after five years of
friendship Sirius was capable of seeing Remus as a monster (rather
than a boy with a terrible affliction) when it was convenient for
Sirius to do so, really caused me to write him off as a positive
force for Harry.

I really wonder if Sirius would have turned into a "good guy" and
Order member had James not been an anti-Dark Arts guy.  Had James
been a pureblood snob, then I think Sirius would have been too.  He
was a "my friend right or wrong" kind of guy, and introspection was
not one of his strong suits.

In fact, I think the entire Marauder set up was desperate for a
shake-up by their 6th year.  Four guys reflecting their own
wonderfulness back at each other all through their teen years must
have been rather stifling.  You can argue that Sirius, Remus and
Peter never really got past their school days at Hogwarts and that
James alone managed it.

Why?  Lily.

I think after the Prank was over and James had some time by himself,
he was shaken at how close they had all come to disaster.  The whole
episode would have been a bucket of cold water over his head as he
realized how things had spun out of control.  And perhaps he started
asking himself if Lily wasn't right, if he shouldn't stop doing
things just because he felt like it and started living up to a higher
standard that just hacking around with the guys and having fun.

Magda

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com