It wasn't pointless (SPOILER)

[pippin_999]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "psychic_serpent" 
<psychic_serpent at y...> wrote:
>
> > **
> > **
> > **
> > **
> > **
> > **
> > **
> > **
> > **

I think the real lesson for Harry to learn from all this is not how 
to grieve, but how not to be like Sirius, who never got over his 
need for revenge, and so that gave him a cursed life ("a half-life," 
as the people are described who would dare drink unicorn's 
blood). I also think that Harry needs to make sure he doesn't do 
what both Sirius and Voldemort did--set out to prevent 
something and by doing so bring those events about.<<

Hmmm....I thought Sirius gave up his desire for revenge when 
he let Pettigrew go. I don't think the idea of setting out to prevent 
an evil is shown as bad in itself, although, as Dumbledore says, 
the consequences of our actions are difficult to predict. The 
message seems to be that we should trust our consciences 
rather than our fears for the future when we have a choice to 
make. I think Sirius did that, or he'd have killed Pettigrew despite 
Harry's plea for his life.

IMO, Black's real problem was his ego. All along we've asked 
ourselves why he didn't just Owl Dumbledore to warn him about 
Pettigrew, and why he felt he had to come back to Hogsmeade 
even though there wasn't much he could do there, and at the end 
of OOP we have to ask why he couldn't trust the rest of the Order 
to go help Harry. IMO, he couldn't delegate because he never 
thought anybody was as good as him,  except maybe James and 
Lupin.

I think the tragic flaw in Sirius was this need to feel superior, and 
his doom was sealed when he refused to free Kreacher. Yes, 
the Elf might have gone straight to Voldemort...but wasn't that 
exactly Fudge's rationale for wanting Sirius in Azkaban? Maybe 
Kreacher would have died from the shock, but as Sirius said 
himself, some things are worthy dying for.  As master, Sirius 
made himself just as much a prisoner as Kreacher was. The 
ultimate irony is that all Sirius had to do was free Kreacher and 
the Order would have been forced to give up the house and let 
Sirius leave. 

All his life Sirius defined himself by who his inferiors were, by the 
people who were beneath him and didn't need to be cared 
about: Wormtail and Snape at Hogwarts, Kreacher at Grimmauld 
Place, his fellow prisoners in Azkaban, whom he never seems to 
have tried to comfort or help. Weren't they as worthy of his 
concern as Harry?

 I  think in GoF we saw Sirius at his best, living as a free 
man, but even then there are hints of his flaw. Sirius  says this,
"If  you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how 
he treats his inferiors, not his equals."   Winky's treatment is 
questioned, the idea that some people are inferior to others 
never is.


Pippin