Sirius (Was Re: good and bad slytherins/Disappointment and Responsibility)

[va32h]

No: HPFGUIDX 175152

> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" <justcarol67@>
> wrote:

> > Sirius, who has been brought up with Slytherin values, has a choice.
> > Stay with his new friend, who sneers at Slytherin, or stay with 
family
> > tradition and lose his new friend.
> > 
> > He chooses James over his family, not because of any rejection of 
the
> > Dark Arts or pure-blood prejudice but because he'd rather be friends
> > with the "cool" James than the "little oddball" who thinks that
> > Slytherin is for brains, not brawn. sirius makes his choice with his
> > next remark, "Where're you going to go, seeing as you're neither?"

va32h:
Sorry Carol, I think you are letting your dislike of Sirius color your 
perception here. And I don't blame you, since I have a character or two 
that I simply cannot stand (cough*TONKS*cough) and tend to intrepret 
that characters actions through a particular prism. 

There is simply no evidence that Sirius chose Gryffindor *only* for 
James, or even *for* James at all. 

Here are some of the things Sirius says about his family, in OoTP:

"Because I hated the whole lot of them: my parents with their pure-
blood mania, convinced that to be a Black made you practically 
royal...my idiot brother soft enough to believe them..."

"He was younger than me, and a much better son, as I was constantly 
reminded."

He describes his relatives: "...Araminta Meliflua...tried to force 
through a Ministry bill to make Muggle-hunting legal...and dear Aunt 
Elladora...she started the family tradition of beheading house-elves 
when they got too old to carry tea trays."

Do you think that *all* that hostility came *only* because Sirius 
wanted to impress James Potter? That Sirius was only "constantly" 
reminded of what a better son Regulus was *after* he met James? That 
Sirius only considered Muggle-hunting and pure-blood mania a bad thing 
because he met James Potter?

While Sirius does talk about James - about spending the holidays with 
James' family, always being welcome at Mrs. Potter's on a Sunday, he 
doesn't say anything close to: "Thanks to James I saw the error of my 
pure blood ways." 

If anything, Sirius' bitterness when talking about his family to Harry 
shows me that Sirius came to Hogwarts ready and willing to reject 
anything his much-hated family stood for. 

Young Sirius is actually a lot like young Harry. They both hate their 
families (with good reason), and are despised by their families because 
they are different.  Both had to live with a sibling who was heavily 
favored, and both spent school holidays with a good friend because they 
couldn't bear to go home (and weren't wanted at home either). Sirius 
hates being back in 12GP, and Harry completely understands - he would 
hate being stuck at 4 Privet Drive.   And my interpretation is that 
also like Harry, Sirius told the Sorting Hat only "not Slytherin."

va32h