The two-way mirror - a cruel useless plot device

[alcuin74]

No: HPFGUIDX 163718

> > Alcuin:
> > 
> > I stand corrected.  You're right.  Nevertheless, I can't 
understand 
> > why Harry wouldn't have at least opened the package at first 
chance to 
> > find out what it was, even if he didn't intend to use it.  It 
was from 
> > *Sirius* after all.  Had he opened it, he would have realized it 
was 
> > something he could have used to communicate with no risk of 
being 
> > caught.  I also don't understand why Sirius didn't remind Harry 
of the 
> > mirror when Harry talked to him through the fire in Umbridge's 
office.
> > Surely Sirius couldn't also have forgotten about it.
> >
> 
> Pippin:
>  Sirius gave the package to Harry secretly, out of sight of the
> other Order members. I don't think he wanted Lupin to know about 
it.
> Sirius might have thought Lupin would object, especially if there 
were
> other mirrors, one of which might still be in the hands of Peter
> Pettigrew. 
> 
> I think Sirius's air of secrecy contributed to Harry's impression
> that using the gift would put Sirius at risk, and he didn't open 
the
> gift so as not to be tempted by it.
>

Alcuin:

But the note on the reverse-side said it was a two-way mirror, and 
Sirius had the other one.  One has to assume that there aren't any 
others that would have posed a risk.  I can't see that Lupin would 
have made a fuss about it, other than to give Sirius one of his 
disapproving looks.  Besides, were I Sirius, I would have to think: 
what's more dangerous, Lupin knowing about the mirrors or Harry 
taking all kinds of risks to talk to Sirius through the flue 
network?  He should have told Harry to use the mirror next time, 
regardless of what Lupin would think.

Looking at the text, it wasn't Lupin that Sirius was concealing the 
mirror from when he gave it to Harry; it was Mrs. Weasley, and we 
know that Sirius and Mrs. Weasley never saw eye to eye when it came 
to Harry.  I don't think Sirius had any reason to fear Lupin's 
finding out about the mirror.