Quick Questionnaire

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 168574

Sherry:
> 
> I don't think it's I or she could have just said that, when she was
asked in an interview why she killed Sirius.  But she said there was
an important reason and that we'd know in book seven.  So, I'm still
waiting.  My personal favorite theory is that since we have not seen
his body, Sirius may come back through the veil.  After all, poor
Harry deserves some reward for killing Voldemort and saving the
wizarding world!

Carol responds:
I think that Sirius Black "had to die" for a variety of plot-related
or thematic reasons, not all of which were listed in the original
post: He would have been (IMO) a hindrance rather than a help on a
Horcrux hunt since the DEs know his "big disguise"; Harry can't have
any mentors along because JKR wants him to rely on his own resources
in the final confrontation; and Harry needs to suffer a personal loss
or two in order to develop the compassion to empathize with the
Voldemort-induced suffering of others in the WW, and Cedric's death,
unfortunately, doesn't suffice for this purpose because he wasn't a
close enough friend. Harry also has to be in anti-Snape mode
throughout HBP, and blaming Snape (unfairly, as even he knows) for
Black's death serves this purpose until he learns about the
eavesdropping, followed by Dumbledore's death, which give him more
valid reasons for his desire for revenge. (I expect a reversal of this
last point in DH because vengeance is antithetical to love, but that's
beside the point in this post.)

But, just as Dumbledore and Snape usually have more than one reason
for their actions and the one we're given (e.g., Snape's protecting
Harry to pay his debt to James) often isn't the primary one, JKR is
doing much more with Black's death than robbing Harry of a mentor,
causing him yet more suffering and forcing him to deal with LV on his
own. (DD's death also serves other purposes, I think, but those are
less clear.) I think that Sherry has hit on the main reason why JKR
"killed" Harry's godfather: Somehow, Harry has to go through the Veil
and return (the hero's journey to the Underworld, if you like), and
seeing Sirius Black provides a motive for that journey.

I think that Harry may try to bring his godfather back to the land of
the living, but he'll fail because Black is really dead and can't
return. I do think, however, that Harry will bring his godfather's
body back for burial (as he did Cedric's), so that he can have that
long-delayed funeral, possibly complete with tributes and/or apologies
from Lupin and others who wrongly suspected him of betraying the
Potters. Not Snape, however--that would be too OOC and too saccharine
for Snape-lovers and Snape-haters alike.

Carol, who thinks that, plotwise, the fact of Black's death is less
important than the manner of it and agrees with Sherry that the Veil
is the key