Scene with likeable James WAS: Re: Eileen Pince LONGish

[zgirnius]

No: HPFGUIDX 156310

> Alla:
> The examples of Sirius hurting Ron just out of Azkaban, when he was 
> ready to hurt everybody just does not cut it for me as Sirius being 
> mean to Ron.
> 
> Because I think that **anybody** just out of Azkaban would be in the 
> half insane or fully insane mental state. And I just cannot judge 
> their true nature,when they are insane. I would not even judge Snape, 
> if he would be out of Azkaban. IMO of course. 

zgirnius:
Sirius escaped from Azkaban in late July/early August. His attack on 
the Fat Lady (if we choose to count her as a 'person' whose feelings 
are worthy of some consideration) occurred Halloween night, three 
months later. The incident in which he seemed to be attacking Ron with 
a knife occurred well after the Christmas break. And the Shrieking 
Shack incident occured during final exams.

He wasn't 'just' out of Azkaban. By the time of his first attack on 
Ron, he had already befriended Crookshanks and arranged the purchase of 
a new broom for Harry, not the acts of a totally crazed man. It 
involved both the mental capacity to plan, and an ability to connect 
emotionally with others. And he'd seen Ron's terrified reaction to the 
first incident, and had to be aware Ron's friendship with Harry, and 
yet he was still willing to cause Ron a painful injury at the end of 
the year. 

I have to agree with Irene to some extent. He lacks empathy for people 
he does not already like. To me, personally, this is a flaw in his 
personality I can forgive. There is certainly a lot to admire in his 
exceptional courage and devotion to those he does count as friends.