Some Dumbledore ranting/ some Sirius WAS: Re: Harry as godfather

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 179207

Alla wrote:

> 
> And sure, that's your right to believe that it was JKR's slip of 
> tongue. Myself I think it was too important for JKR to be a simple 
> slip of tongue.
> 
> I think it could be fun for example to believe that when Harry tells
Al that he named after two bravest headmasters of Hogwarts, it was 
JKR's slip of tongue and what Harry really meant was the singular and
he only meant Dumbledore.
> 
> Do I really believe it? Of course not.

Carol responds:
I didn't say that the one reference to black as "guardian" rather than
"godfather" was a slip of the tongue (or keyboard). I said that it
might have been a slip on JKR's part since she's been known to forget
details or to be inconsistent before. (To name just one example, in
SS/PS Hagrid borrows the flying motorcycle; in PoA, Black gives it to
him. I don't think I need to name additional examples since I'm sure
you can come up with plenty of them yourself.)

The epilogue incident with Albus Severus is a completely different
matter and can't be a slip because it's so clearly explained *"You
were named after two headmasters," etc.). And, FWIW, it's only Snape
who's referred to as brave, not DD.

My point is that, while we have numerous references to Black as
Harry's godfather, we have only one reference to him as Harry's
guardian. And McGonagall's acceptance of his permission to allow Harry
to go to Hogsmeade says as much about her as it does about him. IMO,
she regrets her belief that he was a murderer (just as she earlier
regretted her harsh words to PP when she thought he was a murder
victim) and is making amends in the only way she can. But we still
have no evidence that he had any sort of legal claim to Harry, whereas
the Dursleys' claim as his nearest relatives is indisputable. And I
won't repeat DD's excellent reasons for believing that Harry would be
safer under blood protection than he would with the man DD thought
responsible for Lily's and James's deaths.
>   
Carol earlier:
> <SNIP>
> I don't see how he could possibly have kept Harry safe being on the
run himself. His big disguise would be useless if he were carrying a
baby. A Grimlike dog carrying a fifteen-month-old toddler in its mouth
or on its back would have been rather conspicuous, as would the flying
motorcycle once the WW was warned about it.
> 
> Alla:
> 
> I am sure JKR could have find a way if she wanted to write a 
different story. But to be sure when I say to take Harry and leave, I
did not mean that he should go after Peter with Harry. I meant just
that - leave. <snip>

> 
> Yes, well, as always this is the point of irreconcilable difference
between our opinions. I think that had Sirius been given a chance to
raise Harry, he would have turned out pretty all right – and yes,
single guys do raise kids well often enough. To me the love factor is
the most important.

Carol responds:
It has nothing to do with Sirius Black being single and inexperienced
or even with his generally reckless behavior, which he could have
worked to remedy for Harry's sake. It has to do with, first, the
absence of the blood protection and, second, with the fact that black
was a fugitive himself. Nor am I talking about taking Harry to go
after Peter. Obviously, if he had Harry with him, he wouldn't have
done that. I'm talking about the fact that the MoM would have thought,
as DD did, that he was the Secret Keeper who had betrayed the Potters
to their deaths, and they would have been after him for that crime,
not to mention desperate to get Baby!Harry away from him. And the DEs
would have been after him, too, because they would want to kill Harry.
And neither a flying motorcycle nor the ability to turn into an
Animagus could have protected Black himself, much less Harry, under
those circumstances.

Under normal circumstances, with neither Sirius nor Harry needing to
flee danger, and with a home (other than 12 GP), I don't doubt that
Sirius could have found a way to raise Harry himself. I'm not
disparaging the child-rearing abilities of bachelors, however little
experience they may have changing diapers (maybe there's a spell for
doing that) or feeding and bathing babies or cleaning up messes (we
*do* know there are spells for that) or dealing with temper tantrums.
Whatever Sirius's faults, recklessness and a hot temper among them, he
could have managed for love of Harry (or James, whose likeness he saw
in Harry).

It's only the danger that both he and Harry would have faced
throughout Harry's childhood, combined with his inexperience, that
would have made him, IMO, a most unsafe guardian in a world where
revenge-seeking DEs still roamed free and the MoM sought Black as a
criminal (even without the pursuit of Peter Pettigrew).

Carol, who doubts that Harry would have survived to age two if Black
had taken him from Godric's Hollow