Sirius without trial - a perspective

[Mike]

No: HPFGUIDX 158849

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67"  wrote:
>
> > > Carol earlier:
> > > (After Harry starts talking and Black sees how much he 
> > > resembles James, the concern for Harry becomes more   
> > > important, maybe even taking precedence in his own mind,
> > > <snip>
> >
> > Alla:
> > 
> > Um but we were talking about his love for Harry as primary motive
> > for his escape, <snip>
> 
> Carol:
> What does the Shrieking Shack have to do with it???? Everything! 
> It's the place where we finally see Black as a character and where 
> he reveals his motives. (I could add, of course, the slashed 
> portrait and slashed bedcurtains, which reveal fierce anger and 
> frustration, acts of violence committed with a twelve-inch 
> instrument of death. I don't see any love of Harry here, only 
> desire to commit murder for vengeance.) His words and actions in 
> the Shrieking Shack reveal that he escaped from Azkaban "to commit 
> the murder I was arrested for."
> <snip>
> 
> [Sirius Black] seeing Harry (and being reminded of James) shifted  
> his focus from vengeance on Peter to Harry's safety (which really 
> wasn't in question, at least from lazy Peter). 
> <snip>
> 
> Carol, fearing that she's wasting her time presenting canon support
> because it won't persuade those whose minds are already made up

Mike:

Well, I for one am glad you took the time, Carol. I have always had 
a problem with Sirius' motivations, from the time he cornered Peter 
on the London street until Lupin comes into the Shrieking Shack. 
Now, after reading Carol's 2 posts, this one and the one up thread, 
I've come to a better understanding. I'm still baffled by his 
actions in the immediate aftermath of GH, but I see his PoA actions 
in much better perspective.

I see now that Black *discovers* Pettigrew's whereabouts from the 
picture in the Prophet. This is where it starts. He's overheard 
repeating over and over "He's at Hogwarts", and he was **not** 
referring to Harry!! He shows up in Little Whinging as a dog and 
finds Harry alone on the street. If it was all about Harry, why 
didn't he just transform back into human form and walk up to Harry 
and introduce himself as his godfather? Tell Harry the whole story 
right then and there. (Yeah, I know, it would have destroyed the 
plot of the rest of the book). But really, if all he cared about was 
seeing Harry safe, he could have warned him right then and there 
about 'Pettigrew the rat' and shown him how a animagus can transform 
into an animal. Whether Harry believes him or not, SB could just 
tell him to go to Dumbledore and be pretty well assured that Harry 
would at least do that. But SB didn't do that. Why?

Because Sirius Black broke out of Azkaban to get REVENGE on Peter 
Pettigrew.

Now, after reading and agreeing with everything Carol said about 
SB's condition, motivations, actions, reactions, and transformation 
(mentally, not physically) I'm a bit more assuaged with SB's 
characterization in PoA and a little less peeved with JKR's 
plotting. Thanks Carol ;-)

Mike