How Sirius' death suits Dumbledore? Was: Re : Harry's Role in OotP (long)

[phoenixgod2000]

No: HPFGUIDX 130668

phoenixgod2000: I'm back from vacation.  Time to defend my boy 
Padfoot. 

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Magda Grantwich 
<mgrantwich at y...> wrote:
> Yes to both.  Dumbledore wouldn't have WANTED Sirius to die; he
> doesn't want anyone to die.  But let's just say that I don't think
> he's blinded by grief.

I begin to disagree right here :) I think Dumbledore liked Sirius a 
lot. I think that the old man could appreciate his sense of humor and 
deep personal loyalty. I'd lay money that DD himself was an arrogant 
hellraiser in his youth before he settled down.  And if the order of 
the phoenix was a clandestine conspiracy to fight Voldemort, why 
would DD include someone he didn't respect in the group? Is DD 
blinded by grief, no. DD rarely gets blinded by anything other than 
Harry, but I think he feels Sirius loss on a personal level far more 
deeply than you give him credit for. But I admit that is my fanwank. 
but we also don't know yours is any more true.
  
> So what?  I mean really, why does this matter?

It matters because your assertion that Sirius wouldn't be a good 
guardian for Harry gets holes put in it when most of the stances he 
takes in regards to Harry end up basically being right. Shows good 
guardian instincts to me.

>There's a lot of
> things Sirius wanted for Harry - including that Harry be a 
substitute
> "bestest mate" for himself. 

Other than Molly and Hermione, there isn't any *actual* evidence that 
is true at all, and neither are the most objective arbitors of 
Sirius' character. Sirius is pretty much everything Hermione hates 
about school kids rolled up in one guy and the less said about Molly 
and Sirius the better. I think Sirius wanted to believe something of 
his hellraising buddy survived in Harry and thought mischief would be 
the best way to connect with Harry like he did with his father, but I 
think Sirius clearly understood the difference between James and 
Harry.  He loved Harry for Harry imo. 

> If Sirius truly had any idea of what was best for Harry, he'd have
> worked harder at getting closer to him rather than hiding out in
> Buckbeak's room for hours at a time, he'd have sucked up his
> disappointment about his life and put on a confident front so that
> Harry's stress level didn't erupt, and he'd have refrained from
> telling Harry that "you're less like your father than I thought" and
> abruptly ending a floo conversation.  

I agree that some of OOTP!Sirius isn't the greatest but I think he 
was doing the best he could while dealing with his own demons and 
within the strictures DD placed on him.
 
> They could have continued to grow up together.

That is an incredibly cruel statement.  Sirius is a hero.  he 
survived in a prison that's left everyone else a gibbering wreck.  He 
did it through willpower and the same stubborness that caused him to 
leave a family that held disgusting beliefs that he disagreed with. 
He stuck with friends in a war that had families turning on each 
other. he joined a group dedicated to a fight he didn't have to 
participate in since his blood would have shielded him. He did the 
best he could with the time he had.  Was he the worlds most mature 
person?  Maybe not, but he didn't have the decade of life experience 
that everyone else around him did. He tried to work with what he 
could to protect the teenager he loved until he was locked away again 
by someone he trusted.  He was left to twist and molder while others 
took on important jobs with the order and with Harry. It ate at him 
over the span of a year, but when Harry needed him, he tried to be 
there for him the best as he could and when Harry was in trouble he 
came running.  Sirus was locked in a prison he didn't earn for crimes 
he didn't commit. He suffered a fate that would have left any other 
member of the order a drooling basketcase and came out of it 
fighting. Sirius is a hero who gave everything he had to the cause 
and to Harry. You can't ask for more than that.    

And all you can say is they could have grown up togther?

phoenixgod2000, who read the thread about literature, Harry, and 
death and is desperatly trying to avoid posting on it. And losing.