[HPforGrownups] Re : Harry's Role in OotP (long) (was:Re: "Some won't like it"...)

[John Fisher]

No: HPFGUIDX 130816

On 6/12/05, Sherry Gomes <sherriola at earthlink.net> wrote:
[snip]
> more than the obvious!  Knowing what we do of the closeness between James
> and Sirius, I can't imagine him choosing anyone else to be Harry's legal
> guardian.  That's one reason I've always been confused about why Sirius let
> Hagrid take baby Harry so easily.  It's one of the things I hope will be
> explained someday in canon.



Suppose that Sirius and Hagrid both arrived at the Potters' destroyed
house post-curse and rescued Harry from the wreckage.  Sirius knew
immediately that Pettigrew, their friend, had betrayed them.  Given
Sirius' calm, calculating personality--er, not--I think he probably
went after Peter as soon as Harry was safe, leading to the exact
opposite of what everyone for the next 13 years thought the situation
had been: "Sirius, that poor silly boy, he tried to stop Pettigrew by
himself, if you can believe."  A reminder, too, that even "weak"
wizards can cause a hellacious mess when fully trained.

He may well have planned to take guardianship of Harry as soon as
Pettigrew was "settled," but was delayed by being immediately framed
and imprisoned...

What I wonder is, why was Sirius not confident enough to be the
Potters' secret-keeper himself?  I don't imagine that it could have
been tortured out of him, but maybe the secret is revealed if the
keeper is killed.

-John