Harry as godfather (Was: Sirius Black's role in DH -- why?)

[Zara]

No: HPFGUIDX 179217


> Sherry now:
> Just want to point out that as nice and logical as this sounds, and 
I agree,
> protect the child and ask questions later.  Dumbledore never 
bothered to ask
> questions and find out the truth.

zgirnius:
To all who have leapt gallantly to the defense of Sirius Black 
against my accusations, I have two responses.

First, a lukewarm defense of Albus.  Save Harry, ask questions 
afterwards is the policy I suggest he pursued. Having duly saved 
Harry, Albus next went to investigate, only to discover that in the 
interim Sirius had, in front of numerous witnesses, killed one of his 
closest friends and an Order member, Peter Pettigrew, and twelve 
innocent Muggle bystanders. Albus may believe in second chances, but 
at this point he would have needed to give Sirius number 3 (or 4, if 
Albus considered the matter of one fellow student, Severus Snape, to 
be of any significance).

Sirius's best (surviving) friend in the world believed him guilty. I 
will not blame Albus for concurring. 

Second, Albuys could be worse than Voldemort at his most heartless, 
it is irrelevant. I judge Sirius by what he knew, and what he did 
about it. Either he believed Albus to be the leader of the Order and 
someone who would protect Harry (in which case, he acted 
irresponsibly by haring off without letting Albus know the truth), 
and thereby doomed himself to Azkaban and Harry to the Dursleys.

Or, he had the same opinion as some posters here, that Albus is a 
manipulative bastard, in which case his action was even more reckless 
and irresponsible. It left poor Harry defenseless and in the hands of 
that vile puppetmaster for over a decade. The right move in my voew 
would have been to publicize the truth about Peter to all who would 
listen, to force and investigation, and to get himself cleared, so 
that he could claim custody of Harry, or at least keep an eye on him 
and be a presence in  his life.

I would love it if someone could point to some canon basis for the 
(apparently popular) opinion that Albus would not hesitate to 
knowingly destroy the life of an innocent human being if it served 
his purposes or his vision of "the greater good". Personally, I 
cannot wrap my mind around this view.