[HPforGrownups] Re: Sirius without trial - a perspective

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 158850

> Mike:
> 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?

Magpie:
It seems pretty obvious to me why he didn't.  He's a wanted criminal who 
supposedly killed Harry's parents and is trying to kill Harry. People who've 
been rotting in jail for over a decade with no hope of anyone believing them 
generally don't trust the system, so all the questions of why he didn't just 
think he could go to the proper authorities or Harry himself don't really 
pose a problem.  Just as you question why he didn't introduce himself to 
Harry one could ask why he was near Harry at all--Peter wasn't.  So he 
wasn't getting revenge on Peter in that scene.  He doesn't know Harry so I 
don't see why he'd feel he could say anything to say to him. Everyone 
understandably thinks he's out to kill Harry.   He's acting like a criminal 
because in his world he is one.

His primary motivation, whether revenge of protecting Harry, is never 
clearing his own name.  If he's protecting Harry it seems to me his actions 
would still be exactly the same as they would be in getting revenge--he's 
taking Peter out. And since he's a character whose life is defined as being 
unjustly accused and punished of the very crime this person committed, and 
of murdering this very guy, he's got every reason to think he needs to do it 
himself, alone, and can't go to anyone else for help.

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

Magpie:
But Alla is imo also very correct in pointing out that Sirius' character has 
always been about loyalty to the people he loves and not revenge.  His 
animagus form is a *dog.*  That's a pretty huge clue as to what his 
personality is like.  He's a big black dog protecting Harry--and tracking 
down the person who killed his family (James).

The threat of Sirius becoming a murderer in the shack is real, imo.  But I 
just don't see that this character is supposed to be someone all about 
revenge who only transforms into a human when he's face to face with Harry. 
I think more of the point in PoA is that that is the Sirius the WW knows 
from the false accusations.  The *real* Sirius is just not driven by 
revenge.  In PoA he's got very little else but lashing out at the person who 
destroyed his life, but I'm not seeing the big moment when Sirius goes from 
being a guy all about revenge to a guy all about something else.  I see him 
conflicted about those two things, sure.  But it seems to me the guy who's 
about protecting Harry because he's James' son, is there throughout the 
story.  Harry and his friends, imo, mostly surprise him by treating him like 
a human.  I think they show him the possibility of a life beyond taking 
Peter out, and a life where he could have relationships again.

-m