Guardianship, agreements, and public protection

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 158439


> BAW:
> Sirius was, at that time, a wanted criminal. He was believed to
> have betrayed James & Lily to Voldemort and to have killed Peter
> Pettigrew. WE know from hindsight that he was framed, but nobody
> knew that at the time. I think that, notwithstanding the Potter's
> Will, nobody would have considered Sirius as a proper guardian.
> 
> a_svirn:
> No, he wasn't at the time a wanted criminal. He was proclaimed a 
> criminal only after his showdown with Pettigrew, and "wanted" 
> criminal twelve long years later, after he broke from Azkaban. 

Pippin:
If I can butt in here, Fudge implies that Sirius was wanted before
Pettigrew caught up with him.
"Black was tired of his double agent role, he was ready to declare
his support openly for You-Know-Who, and he seems to have
planned this for the moment of the Potters' death. [...] His
master had fallen at the very moment when he, Black, had
shown his true colors as a traitor." -- PoA ch 10

This sounds as though other evidence had been planted revealing
that Black was a Death Eater. The Ministry did not know that
Black had been the Potter's secret-keeper and yet, they
 arrested Black *before* they'd had a chance
to get evidence  from the Muggle witnesses. The fact that he
was standing there laughing shouldn't have been enough to
incriminate a member of the Order unless they already 
thought he was guilty. 

> BAW:
> We, of course, don't know what was in the letter, but if one of
> the conditions was that he was to be sent to Hogwarts at the proper
> time--which is not unlikely--well, we know how the Wizardling World
> feels about vows and contracts.
> 
> a_svirn:
> But the Dursleys do not belong to the WW. And whatever they owe 
> Harry, they owe Dumbledore nothing. 

Pippin:
They owe Harry a suitable education, something the local comprehensive
was not equipped to give a magical child. Certainly they didn't think it
was good enough for their own child. And we don't know what,
if anything, Petunia owed to  Dumbledore, since we haven't seen
any of their correspondence. 

The gift of the motorcycle implies that in the end Sirius sent Harry to his 
Aunt and Uncle with his blessing. Whether that was wise of him or not
can be debated, but if he was Harry's guardian, as he claims, then he had 
the right to make that decision. 

Pippin