A Puzzling Thing About Sirius Black

[kerravonsen]

I've been doing some research for my Draco AU, and I've noticed some odd inconsistencies between "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" and "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban".

Why did Dumbledore send Hagrid to fetch Harry Potter from the rubble of the home in Godric's Hollow when Sirius was Harry's godfather?

It wasn't as if Sirius wasn't available: Hagrid had borrowed the flying motorcycle from "young Sirius Black" and then departed in order to return it to him. Therefore Sirius had not yet confronted Pettigrew, had not yet been framed by Pettigrew for the murder of thirteen people, and had not yet been arrested.

This means that, technically, Dumbledore and Hagrid were responsible for kidnapping Harry Potter away from the hands of his rightful guardian, Sirius Black. There wouldn't have been any reason for James and Lily to make a secret of the fact that Sirius was Harry's godfather. Dumbledore would have known it. So why did Dumbledore do it?
(a) he knew Sirius was supposed to be the Secret Keeper, so thought he was a betrayer. But he didn't tell Hagrid, since Hagrid assumed Sirius was a fine fellow to borrow a bike from.
(b) Dumbledore was dead set against Harry being raised by wizards, for fear of him being spoiled; he considered that Harry was still needed to fulfill the Prophecy
(c) Dumbledore firmly believed that the Blood Wards would be the only thing that could keep Harry safe.

But the disturbing thought crosses my mind: perhaps it wasn't Pettigrew who framed Sirius. Perhaps it was Dumbledore, in order to get Sirius out of the way...

Comments

[strina]

Sirius Black is the focus of several plotholes; it is kind of ridic.

[kalypso]

Black holes, perhaps, which have absorbed the coherent plot.

[tree_and_leaf]

I think it's a. Though I expect c would have come into play had Sirius not have been framed. I don't believe Dumbledore would frame an innocent man.

[kerravonsen]

I agree, I don't think Dumbledore would be quite so despicable as to frame an innocent man. But if he thought Sirius were guilty, I wouldn't be surprised if he decided to help "justice" along a bit. After all, why were there so many witnesses to the massacre? Perhaps Dumbledore prodded some Aurors to tail Sirius.

[tree_and_leaf]

Well, if he genuinely thought Sirius was guilty, that seems like a reasonable thing to do - if you think you know someone's a murderer, you tell the police.

[tptigger]

There are a lot of things I wouldn't put past Dumbledore to do, but that one seems a little beyond even his machinations...

[kerravonsen]

IMHO, the biggest puzzle in relation to Dumbledore is not Sirius, but Harry; the fact that the Dursleys heaped Harry with abuse makes one wonder if Dumbledore was either incompetent because he didn't know about it, or complicit because he did know about it and chose to do nothing about it.

[vilakins]

I'm inclined to go for c.

[kerravonsen]

I'm personally rather suspicious of (c), because if the blood protection arose from Lily's love of Harry, how could it extend through Petunia when Petunia violently hated Harry?

[vilakins]

Because it's blood? And it's MAGIC!

[fred_mouse]

I'm firmly the 'Dumbledore is a dangerous, scheming mad-man' or 'Dumbledore is a bumbling fool' camp myself. Ignoring those as possibilities, then of the options that you present, I think a is the most likely.

[miamadwyn.livejournal.com]

Oooooooh. This is delicious!

[kerravonsen]

I normally don't go for Evil!Manipulative!Dumbledore, at least, not to this extreme, but this plothole does raise significant questions. It's always bothered me that Sirius was imprisoned without trial.

[dreamflower]

I think (b) and (c) the most likely, but I do think that your idea is plausible-- especially for those who like a dark Dumbledore.

[kerravonsen]

I think Dumbledore probably wouldn't have acted against Sirius unless (a) was in play; that he already thought Sirius was guilty.

[jedibuttercup]

You could certainly take it in that direction. I tend to track in the "prone to getting stuck in a rut rather than looking for better alternatives, but generally well intentioned" rather than "willing to do anything to serve his Cause, including control everyone around him" vision of Dumbledore, but the latter is certainly plausible.

At the very least, he was woefully negligent to not make sure Sirius got a trial when he was the Chief Warlock! Did he think Sirius would spill Order secrets in court, or something? *shakes head*

[kerravonsen]

I tend to waver between different interpretations of Dumbledore. I do believe his intentions were always good, but whether he's stuck in a rut, or just so arrogant that he believes everyone around him to be children or pawns... even the nicest interpretation one puts on Dumbledore cannot relieve him of the charge of negligence, in regard to both Sirius and Harry.

The other puzzling thing about the lack of trial is that Dumbledore went to all the effort of exonerating Snape, and yet didn't bother to even see that Sirius got a trial. Huh?

[jedibuttercup]

Snape was useful and more importantly obligated to him, and of a temperament to take that dead seriously.

Serious, ahem, Sirius, on the other hand? Already, even then, well known for bucking authority even when it might be in his best interests to do otherwise. Not going to come to heel and be grateful, even if he were proved innocent; likely to bite the hand that fed him in court, if (for example) he happened to lash out at Dumbledore (because who else could it have been) for talking them into going under Fidelius in the first place; likely to spoil Harry rotten growing up.....

*wince* That whole situation really does tend to point toward the more negative interpretations of Dumbledore. One of the reasons I keep getting bogged in BAH is because I'm getting to the part where Sirious will have appearances, and handling all the possibilities gets tricky.

[kerravonsen]

Snape was useful and more importantly obligated to him, and of a temperament to take that dead seriously.

Indeed, Dumbledore seems to surround himself with people who are obligated to him - take Hagrid as another example. Of course, a pattern of two people isn't significant enough to declare it to be a trend - no, make that three people: Lupin is obligated to Dumbledore too. All three of them would be in Azkaban if not for him: Snape as a Death Eater, Hagrid as the one supposedly responsible for Myrtle's death, and Lupin for the attempted murder of Snape when he was in werewolf form. That's a pretty powerful obligation.

Sirius, yes, very hot-headed and unreliable. And definitely likely to spoil Harry rotten; however, on the positive side, I don't think Sirius would have played up the "boy-who-lived" aspect; I think Sirius would be likely to have given Lily her deserved credit for Voldemort's banishment.

Taking all these things into account, yes, one could say they point to a more negative interpretation of Dumbledore, but I think Dumbledore is quite capable of rationalizing his behaviour rather than being coldly manipulative. Negligence rather than deliberate plotting.
Sometimes I think that Dumbledore spent far too much time looking at the Mirror of Erised and that's why he's so blithely optimistic that all his plans will work out. That, or he's suffering from GroupThink.

I don't think Sirius would lash out at Dumbledore for coming up with the Fidelus idea, though. I think Sirius is more likely to blame himself for having the idea of swapping with Pettigrew, and feel guilt for his complicity in the Potters' death. Don't forget that Sirius laughed when he was arrested. IMHO, I think it was because he considered the whole thing ironic. He probably expected to have his day in court where he could straighten out the mess, but at that point he was feeling rather loopy and stir-crazy. And then he spent the next decade or so brooding on getting revenge on Pettigrew.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

(c) seems plausible. (I appreciate that "(d) JK Rowling overlooked it" wouldn't be very helpful in this context. :)

[kerravonsen]

Indeed; one isn't Playing the Game to consider explanations that are outside the universe.

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

Perhaps this is too generous an assumption for your purposes, but sending Hagrid to get Harry does not exactly preclude having plans to get back in touch with Sirius later.

[kerravonsen]

It does when you consider that Hagrid fetched Harry for the purpose of giving him to the Dursleys. Indeed, that's very puzzling - but I guess Hagrid isn't one to question Dumbledore's orders.

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

It doesn't preclude plans to get in touch or even a change in custody arrangements -- it seems unlikely that Dumbledore would have had a terribly hard time getting Harry back from the Dursleys. Either suspicion of Sirius or a sense that the mother's-family protection needed establishing could account for putting Harry with the Dursleys first with other options to be pursued later, I'd think.

But, again, that might not suit your story.

Edit: I am under the impression that Dumbledore did have reason to think Sirius was the secret keeper, but I haven't dug up a reference to that effect, so I'm not sure if it's canon or extrapolation.

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

If Dumbledore thought Sirius had betrayed the Secret, he would be unwilling to entrust him with the care of Harry. After all if Sirius was working for Voldemort, then he would not be a safe person to leave Harry with.

If Dumbledore was only heavily suspicious of Sirius then he'd send Hagrid, without telling him about Sirius. after all wouldn't do to accuse him if he were innocent.

However if Sirius' apparent slaughter of Muggles and Pettigrew convinced Dumbledore finally that Sirius had gone to the Dark Side (oops sorry that's Star Wars) then he wouldn't leap to Sirius' defence and be more than willing to sign his arrest warrant. After all he'd betrayed the Order and his closest friends, at least as far as Dumbledore knew.

Mind you the idea of a coldly manipulative Dumbledore is delicious too.

[kerravonsen]

The sequence of events seems to be such that Dumbledore had to have decided to leave Harry with the Dursleys before the massacre, so "heavily suspicious" would have to be the case if one isn't positing a coldly manipulative Dumbledore.