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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I disagree with the assumption that Sirius would have been an unfit godfather even if he'd not been held prisoner. I think if he had those 12 years free to live his life and grow up, he might have turned into someone quite responsible. Most people do. However, he did not have that life and from that all else flows, so I think discussing whether he would be a fit parent is a fundamentally flawed question because of that lack. What we ended up with is a man who spent 12 years in one of the worst places in the wizarding world, surrounded only by grief and the grim (pun intended) thought that whatever sins he might have committed, he didn't do what he was accused of. He had dementors who soaked him in said grief by their very nature for years and years. There was no escape, not really even in dog form because surrounded and trapped does not lead to clear thinking or healing. He had that and vengance. That's it. He stewed in his own juices for years and years because he could do nothing else. Then when he got out, he did what he could to advise Harry during the Triwizard tournament and at other times, only to end up back in his much-hated family house full of dark objects and dark memories.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Had he been able to live his life freely, I think the assumption that he would have returned to the Black homestead after his parents' death is also incorrect. He hated the place, which did not help his state of mind in any event, and he would not have gone there of his own accord had he been a truly free man. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I can't manage the dislike for Dumbledore that seems prevalent on this list, maybe because I feel like it doesn't really matter whose fault it was and assigning blame accomplishes nothing. Sirius was railroaded. From all Dumbledore knew, he was the secret keeper, but I think the seeming belief that he deliberately bore false witness is not true. You can only tell what you believe. I hold Crouch more responsible for failing to ensure a full, fair trial, with all possible means used to ascertain the truth.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></body></html>