Debatable ethical issues in OotP and HBP

[eileen_nicholson]

No: HPFGUIDX 142412

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" <justcarol67 at y...> 
wrote:
>
> Carol earlier:
> > >
> > > The first sensible thing he does is to fly to some tropical
> paradise on Buckbeak, but he forgoes safety and flies to England to
> live on rats and hide in caves when he hears that Harry's scar hurts.
>snip< Carol responds:
> I'm not saying that it wasn't a noble gesture, but even Harry thought
> it was the wrong thing to do and felt guilty that he had told Sirius
> about his scar. He didn't really help Harry, did he? But my point is
> simply that he chose to come to England and endanger himself when he
> could have provided advice and moral support without risking capture.
> Had he done so, Harry would still have a godfather.

Eileen:
Sirius was a member of the original Order of the Phoenix. When 
Voldemort disappeared and the members of the Order went their separate 
ways, Sirius went to Azkaban - amongst the DEs, aware that Peter 
Pettigrew as still at large. Effectively, from his point of view, the 
first VM war never ended. His character is still poised on a hair-
trigger, waiting for the next call to action. A soldier on active 
service, full of adrenaline. 

Similarly to the way Lupin took on the DADA role at Dumbledore's 
request, and the way that Luna and Neville respond to the DA's call in 
HBP, Sirius once released would do anything Dumbledore, his commanding 
officer, would ask him to do. And though we may not know whether 
Sirius' decision to come back to the UK was entirely his own, we know 
that Dumbledore told him about the cave, and we know that Dumbledore 
was using Sirius to keep him informed of what Harry was thinking about 
and doing right through GoF and OotP, when Dumbledore wasn't willing, 
due to the link between Harry and Voldemort, to do this himself. And I 
suspect that once Sirius was dead, Dumbledore assigned this task to 
Snape, who tackled it during HBP year via legilimens and weekly 
detentions.

I think there is enough evidence to indicate that Sirius was acting as 
Dumbledore's, well, spy if you like (one way of looking at it) with 
Harry, on Dumbledore's specific instructions. And he could only do that 
effectively if Harry trusted him, which means he had to be nearby, 
ready and willing to respond whenever Harry needed him. And, judging by 
the resulting love that Harry showed for him in the DoM, he did it 
really well, didn't he? Sirius was always reckless, but he was 
recklessly making some very hard choices, with Dumbledore's 
encouragement, that put him at great risk from Voldemort and the Death 
Eaters, interposing himself as he did between VM!Harry and Dumbledore. 

In my view, Dumbledore was asking a great deal of him, but Dumbledore 
never seems to ask for something easy, he's always effectively saying 
'you're morally obliged to do this nearly impossible task, and while 
you're doing it, kindly step on these hot coals!' A sort of trademark 
that tasks assigned by Dumbledore seem to exhibit. :)

And also entirely my own view, and unsupported by canon, I come away 
from the books feeling that Sirius was the only person who had Harry's 
interests at heart completely, the only one who was willing always 
(though maybe not always entirely able, and maybe not always 
effectively) to put aside their own agenda and be there for him. 
Harry's love for him is entirely justified.

Eileen