Sirius as Father Figure (was:Re: How Sirius' death suits Dumbledore?...)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 130901

>>Betsy Hp:  
<snip>
>But then suddenly, Sirius takes a deep dive into toxic-adult land, 
that to my mind is just not explainable by, "I've been in this house 
for a WEEK, a WEEK I tell you!  I've gone MAAAAD!!"
<snip>
>Sirius isn't just acting illogically. He's being incredibly cruel. 
To Harry.  His attack is very specifically aimed at Harry. (I'm not 
an expert, but do depressed people generally lash out at loved ones 
like that?)
<snip>
  
>>Lynn:
>It is obvious you are not an expert on depression and it appears 
that you've also been fortunate enough not to have had to deal with 
a clinically depressed person on a regular basis.<
<snip of illuminating personal experience>

Betsy Hp:
Oh, I'm not and I haven't.  I hope I didn't come across as 
presenting myself as an expert!  I do appreciate your insight.  It 
makes the Depressed!Sirius a bit more palatable to me.

However, I still have problems linking Sirius' behavior to being 
kept in the Black house alone.  For one thing it puts him in a 
weaker (character-wise) position than Barty Crouch, Jr.  Barty, 
though in Azkaban for less time than Sirius, was locked in a house 
he hated for a longer time, and was still emotionally stable enough 
to pull one over on Dumbledore right under his nose.

There are such obvious parallels between Sirius and Barty (and their 
families), and I somehow think that JKR would have us see Sirius as 
the stronger, more resiliant, of the two.  So I have a hard time 
believing that she'd have *only* the atmosphere of the Black House 
do Sirius in.

Now, if Sirius had some sort of *inherited* mental imbalance that 
would fit right in with the gothic tale the House of Black so 
resembles.  Whether that inherited weakness comes out as depression 
or alcoholism, I can take either one.  They both lend themselves to 
the same symmetry, especially if it's something Sirius got from his 
mother.

However, JKR may well be writing a mystery with a gothic flavor.  
(She so loves to mix her genres. <g>)  In which case what first 
comes across as madness running through a family line could well 
have another source.  Enter the Sirius is being poisoned theory.  
JKR certainly gives us some heavy hints along those lines.  Much 
heavier than the drinking or the clinical depression, IMO.  She 
gives us specific canon telling of plants that bring about exactly 
Sirius' behavior.

And I've noticed as I've paged through OotP looking for canon that 
Sirius displays a definite rollar-coaster of emotions.  First he's 
an excellent parental stand-in, holding off Molly and telling Harry 
what Harry should be told.  Then he's horrid and cruel.  Then he's 
back to giving Harry good, solid, advice.  Then he's picking a 
stupid fight with Snape.  Then he's quite mature in handling Harry's 
father-crisis.  It's enough to give you whiplash.  So the idea of 
someone deliberately tampering with Sirius' emotions makes sense to 
me.  

(I do doubt that the culbrit is Kreacher, however.  For one, I 
imagine there's pretty strong magic preventing house-elves from 
poisoning their owners.  For another, the poison is wizarding enough 
that it's studied at Hogwarts and house-elf magic always seems quite 
apart from wizard magic.)

But in either case, there needs to be a reveal; the inherited 
problem is discovered or the mystery is solved.  So I do expect that 
if there's more to the tragic story of Sirius Black we will learn 
about it future books.  This could be done with the details of the 
prank (See! Sirius was mentally unstable even back then!) or with 
the discovery of the ESE!fill-in-your-favorite-name (Don't trust 
him/her!  She/he poisoned Sirius!). Only JKR knows for sure. <g>

Betsy Hp, who'd be happy with either pure gothic or gothic mystery