Why Is Sirius In Hiding?
Over the last few weeks I've been working on a much bigger article on the machinations of Dumbledore, and a question occurred to me, what happened between the end of GOF and the beginning of OOTP to Sirius? Somehow Sirius goes from hiding out, but free, to trapped in a house that seems designed to drive him insane. How is it that that happens? Why is the Order suddenly worried that someone will recognize Sirius? At the end of GOF only a handful of people even know that Sirius is an animagus, let alone his loveable big doggie form. But by the beginning of OOTP we have Lucius Malfoy able to "recognize" Sirius by seeing the large black dog with Harry.
So we're left with a good mystery. Did Sirius do something stupid at the beginning of the summer that left him exposed and housebound? Did Snape in a fit of pique let Voldemort and crowd know? After all, Voldemort is a great reader of minds, and Snape goes to see him minutes after finding out that Sirius is alive, well, and sitting in Hogwarts, could that have just slipped? Could it have slipped on purpose, perhaps during dinner with the Malfoys? Of course, we just don’t know. Rowlings hasn’t told us yet why Sirius is suddenly housebound, but I have my suspicions.
Also, how is it that six weeks after moving in the house is still in such bad shape? Members of the Order keep popping in and out, and yet it never gets any more livable. A huge store of magical firepower keeps walking in and out, yet no one can figure out a way to put the portraits to sleep, let alone destroy them? No one else in the Order has a House Elf to help in the cleaning up? Five or ten of the Hogwarts staff can't come over for a bit and tidy the place up? Muggles can figure out a way to live in a house and renovate it in six weeks, why not the House of Black? Is there no way that Sirius could live in one of the myriad mysteries of Hogwarts, get regular access to Harry, maybe teach him some better DADA, or just be an older, wiser presence in his life, while allowing the Order use of the House of Black?
And this is where those suspicions come in. I’d like to suggest that this has been done on purpose. My guess is that Dumbledore has had a very well crafted plan for the fall of Voldemort and that Sirius did not fit into it, so the plan had to be remade. I believe that Dumbledore is a very good judge of character, and knows that if Sirius’ identity is revealed to Snape, Sirius will be outed. Snape may be a white hat, or a black hat, but we do know he’s not a saint, and that vengeance against Sirius is at the top of his to-do list. It’s one secret too many to ask of Snape.
Dumbledore is also able to read and predict the actions of Sirius. An impotent Sirius, kept from the action, held in premises as close to Azkaban as possible, is a Sirius likely to do something very stupid. Like get himself killed, and if he did manage to do that, he fits into Dumbledore’s revised plan for making Harry into the ultimate Voldemort killing machine. Before the death of Sirius, Harry still has an abstract hatred of Voldemort, it’s not like he was old enough to remember his parents, and seeing Cedric die was traumatic, but it’s not like they were best pals. With Sirius dead, now Harry has a burning personal desire for revenge, his love of Sirius will never tarnish, it can’t because he won’t ever get the chance to really know Sirius, and he will be able to call on it to fuel his quest to take out Voldemort. Which is what Dumbledore is looking for.
So we're left with a good mystery. Did Sirius do something stupid at the beginning of the summer that left him exposed and housebound? Did Snape in a fit of pique let Voldemort and crowd know? After all, Voldemort is a great reader of minds, and Snape goes to see him minutes after finding out that Sirius is alive, well, and sitting in Hogwarts, could that have just slipped? Could it have slipped on purpose, perhaps during dinner with the Malfoys? Of course, we just don’t know. Rowlings hasn’t told us yet why Sirius is suddenly housebound, but I have my suspicions.
Also, how is it that six weeks after moving in the house is still in such bad shape? Members of the Order keep popping in and out, and yet it never gets any more livable. A huge store of magical firepower keeps walking in and out, yet no one can figure out a way to put the portraits to sleep, let alone destroy them? No one else in the Order has a House Elf to help in the cleaning up? Five or ten of the Hogwarts staff can't come over for a bit and tidy the place up? Muggles can figure out a way to live in a house and renovate it in six weeks, why not the House of Black? Is there no way that Sirius could live in one of the myriad mysteries of Hogwarts, get regular access to Harry, maybe teach him some better DADA, or just be an older, wiser presence in his life, while allowing the Order use of the House of Black?
And this is where those suspicions come in. I’d like to suggest that this has been done on purpose. My guess is that Dumbledore has had a very well crafted plan for the fall of Voldemort and that Sirius did not fit into it, so the plan had to be remade. I believe that Dumbledore is a very good judge of character, and knows that if Sirius’ identity is revealed to Snape, Sirius will be outed. Snape may be a white hat, or a black hat, but we do know he’s not a saint, and that vengeance against Sirius is at the top of his to-do list. It’s one secret too many to ask of Snape.
Dumbledore is also able to read and predict the actions of Sirius. An impotent Sirius, kept from the action, held in premises as close to Azkaban as possible, is a Sirius likely to do something very stupid. Like get himself killed, and if he did manage to do that, he fits into Dumbledore’s revised plan for making Harry into the ultimate Voldemort killing machine. Before the death of Sirius, Harry still has an abstract hatred of Voldemort, it’s not like he was old enough to remember his parents, and seeing Cedric die was traumatic, but it’s not like they were best pals. With Sirius dead, now Harry has a burning personal desire for revenge, his love of Sirius will never tarnish, it can’t because he won’t ever get the chance to really know Sirius, and he will be able to call on it to fuel his quest to take out Voldemort. Which is what Dumbledore is looking for.