a trio of hallows

Within Fandom, there is often discourse around Sirius’s ‘obsession’ with James and how he was James’s sidekick.

I would like to argue that they had a mutually, deep friendship and post-Azkaban Sirius dealt with complex grief with regards to James’s death.

1.0 Sirius and James had a mutual friendship (albeit one that was quite intense).

Sirius was not James’s sidekick, but instead they were both seen as equals and brothers.

From the moment, we learn that Sirius and James were friends we are told that,

“……said Professor McGonagall. “Black and Potter. Ringleaders of their little gang.” PoA

And a few lines later:

“You’d have thought Black and Potter were brothers!” chimed in Professor Flitwick. “Inseparable!”

Both Flitwick and McGonagall, use words like ‘brothers’ and ‘ringleaders’ this suggests to outside observers that James and Sirius’s friendship was one of equals.

This idea is furthered in Snape’s Worst Memory (SWM) where readers are given a more-detailed look at their dynamic.

When James is playing with the Snitch, Sirius says:

“Put that away, will you?” said Sirius finally, as James made a fine catch and Wormtail let out a cheer. “Before Wormtail wets himself from excitement.” OoTP

In this scene, James is being obnoxious, yet he immediately stops when Sirius tells him to.

“If it bothers you,” he said, stuffing the Snitch back in his pocket. Harry had the distinct impression that Sirius was the only one for whom James would have stopped showing off.”OoTP

This willingness to listen to Sirius’s instructions indicates a sense of respect and the harshness with which Sirius delivers his instructions lacks the deference we would expect from a side-kick.

Later in the chapter, James beings bullying Snape because Sirius says he’s bored:

“This’ll liven you up, Padfoot,” said James quietly. “Look who it is...”OoTP.

This once again indicates that James is willing to cater to Sirius, although he has other reasons to want to attack Snape, he still attempts to frame it as soothing Sirius’s boredom.

Interestingly, he doesn’t listen to Lily’s instructions in the immediate way he listens to Sirius:

“LEAVE HIM ALONE!” Lily shouted. She had her own wand out now. James and Sirius eyed it warily.

“Ah, Evans, don’t make me hex you,” said James earnestly. “ OoTP

And when Lily rejects him, James turns to Sirius (not Remus or Peter) for an explanation and Sirius delivers this line:

“Reading between the lines, I’d say she thinks you’re a bit conceited, mate,” said Sirius.”

This dry, unapologetically blunt response is once again not full of the deference expected from a side-kick.

And in the Elvendork scene, we get to see how their sense of humour naturally plays off each other:

"Names?" repeated the long-haired driver. "Er – well, let's see. There's Wilberforce... Bathsheba... Elvendork..."

"And what's nice about that one is, you can use it for a boy or a girl," said the boy in glasses."

Furthermore, James takes several actions that further cement the view that their love for each other was mutual:

· He makes Sirius best-man at his wedding

· He makes Sirius Godfather to his only child when they are facing a very real threat to their lives. Therefore, naming a Godparent, is extra important as they face the real likelihood that the role won’t just be symbolic

· When in hiding, Lily writes to Sirius:

“ We were so sorry you couldn’t come, but the Order’s got to come first………….. James is getting a bit frustrated shut up here, he tries not to show it………If you could visit, it would cheer him up so much. “

The letter indicates that James misses Sirius and that Sirius’s life doesn’t revolve around James (another popular fandom take)

· He trusts Sirius’s secret-keeper plan- this essentially means that he trusted Sirius with the lives of his wife and child:

“Lily and James only made you Secret-Keeper because I suggested it,” Black hissed, so venomously that Pettigrew took a step backward. “I thought it was the perfect plan ... a bluff. ...” PoA

This quote is a perfect transition into the second part of this meta.

2.0 Sirius’s complex grief

Post-Azkaban Sirius, is often referred to as being ‘obsessed’ with James but I would argue that it’s far more complicated and nuanced.

2.1 Sirius blames himself for James’s death

In the Shrieking Shack scene, it becomes clear that Sirius blames himself for Lily and James’s death:

“Harry ... I as good as killed them,” he croaked. “I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use him as Secret- Keeper instead of me. ... I’m to blame, I know it. ... ……………………….I was scared. I set out for your parents’ house straight away. And when I saw their house, destroyed, and their bodies ... I realized what Peter must’ve done ... what I’d done. ...”

His voice broke. He turned away. “ PoA

In this quote, we can feel the raw grief and how deeply traumatised Sirius is by their deaths.

Complex grief is grief that involves trauma, so it can be fair to say (although one can’t diagnose a fictional character) that Sirius’s grief is complex.

2.2 Sirius during the canon timeline

Sirius’s pre-Azkaban life didn’t revolve around James. Nobody is about one-person. Yes they may have had an intense friendship, but even Lily notes that Sirius’s absence from Harry’s Birthday is because,

‘The Order’s got to come first.’

By the time Harry meets Sirius, he’s been imprisoned for most of his adult life, he’s been traumatised and been forced to relive that trauma by the dementors. Additionally, almost everyone he grew up with is dead.

He is also a fugitive on the run and unable to rebuild himself.

And this nuance has been placed under the umbrella term of an ‘obsession’ with James.

Note: he is an excellent Godfather to Harry and doesn’t see him as James 2.0

To add to this (although some of this is conjecture)

1. Half the Order died during the war, and we get no glimpse into Sirius’s relationships with any of them and how their deaths affected him

2. We don’t know the other horrors he witnessed during the war

3. We don’t know the extent of his grief for his family. Although we can hypothesise.

And objectively speaking? That was really stupid for Sirius to do. He came back into a country where he had a price on his head and would have had his soul sucked out if a single other wizard had spotted him. He broke into a wizarding house to use the Floo Network, which is regulated by the damn Ministry. He hid near Hogwarts, which only months previously was swarming with Dementors, and still then was likely plastered with WANTED posters of his face. He also hid there with a Hippogriff that had been stolen from the grounds only months before.

And ultimately, he didn’t have to do any of that. The safe and reasonable thing to do would have been to hide somewhere else and give Harry advice remotely. Harry, in fact, asked him to do exactly that because he was scared for Sirius. But Sirius loves Harry as fiercely and protectively as if he were his own kid. He needs to be there, he needs to personally make sure that Harry’s okay. He already has learned, painfully, that he can’t trust that anyone else would keep Harry safe. He has another chance, now, to be there for him, and he’ll be damned if he doesn’t take it, so he takes it. He hangs around all year giving Harry as much help as he can in a tremendously confusing situation, and then - when Harry comes back from the maze broken and bloodied, telling a story straight out of Sirius’ worst nightmares - he’s there. He hears every single detail before Harry even sees Ron & Hermione.

So alongside Pietas, I'm writing a new WIP set in an AU where Voldy is never born (so everyone lives yaayyy).

James and Sirius are both the best of friends and brilliant wizards, and not wanting to be tied down to a 9-to-5, they founded a detective agency.

A year in (1985), they have had a steady business from scorned spouses until one day a woman arrives and draws them into a sinister plot in the Scottish Highlands.

For those of you who read Pietas, you might notice a familiar face (mainly because ya girl loves her and slightly because I'm rubbish at creating new OCs)

Finally giving the Marauders the lives they deserved lol

Imagine Fred being called Percy by McGonagall accidentally and then he gets so offended that he refers to her by “Professor [insert any other name but McGonagall” for the rest of the year, costing Gryffindor a considerable amount of points one at a time.

From then on, she vows to just call them all Mr Weasley.

How, how, how, is a teenage boy supposed to rectify this, mentally? Connect these strange unjoined worlds to somehow explain that Snape––Snape!––knows his Aunt Petunia?

“It doesn’t make any sense, mate,” Harry tells Ron, blearily, desperately wishing at age thirteen years that his butter beer was a real beer. “It just––it can’t be. Why would he know Aunt Petunia?” Ron grimaces. “Why would he want to? I mean, I know he’s Snape, and all that, but––”

Harry writes his only letter back to #4 Privet Drive, dotted with tears, and it has one line: How do you know Severus Snape?

Petunia writes back: DO NOT MENTION THAT MAN EVER AGAIN. 

And this. This. Sparks a light in Harry’s head. This is the same way Petunia talks about celebrities who have deeply, personally offended her. Usually when she fancied them and then they got married. It’s so completely clear to him, now: Snape is deeply, irrevocably, utterly in love with Aunt Petunia. 

Do you ever imagine him sitting at home right after he’d told Voldemort, wringing his hands and thinking of all the times James had put an arm around him or thrown a bit of paper to get his attention in class? Peter didn’t give up a stranger, he gave up James, a kid he’d loved since he was eleven.

Then you should have died! Died, rather than betray your friends, as we would have done for you!

Because some of the things you have listed, are true, but that’s not really the point. Of course Peter has loyalty- it’s just not the good kind. He was also surrounded by good, strong people who loved him and he did betray them. But, my point still stands. Peter Pettigrew is one of the most interesting characters in the Harry Potter universe, and he did a terrible, inexcusable thing.

Loyalty in Peter is miniscule. He changes allegiance from the Marauders to Voldemort out of fear, which is where his loyalty steams from. He surrounds himself that are bigger than him, who will protect him. Peter Pettigrew is- above all else- afraid. He stays true to Voldemort when everyone else has given up on him in Goblet of Fire because he is so scared of what will happen if he leaves and someone else finds his master, brings him back.

Wormtail is terrified of what might happen. Voldemort might be found by someone else. Voldemort might then come back. He could have taken that snivelling, pathetic thing that Voldemort was and chucked it in the bottom of the ocean, buried it in fucking Siberia, put it in a box and shipped it to Madagascar. Obviously Voldemort wouldn’t have died, because for that he would have had to have been alive, but he would have been isolated. Maybe if Peter’s strength of character had been different the second half of the prophecy would never have happened.

But Peter keeps Voldemort alive because he is so afraid of the mere possibility that Voldemort could come back, that he makes it happen. He brings Voldemort back so no one else has the chance to, the thing he fears the most is the thing that he makes happen. The perception of Peter as a good for nothing, textbook villain is something we can blame on the movies for I think, because there his character is never explained beyond ‘guy who betrays the Potters- generally awful- does not need any further thought please carry on’.

Obviously Peter was capable of a lot more, he was surrounded by the best people, people who loved him, people who would have died for him. But what is vital to understand is that he does not leave them because he doesn’t love them, he leaves out of fear. Anything Peter does is out of that feeling, he will go to the people who are strongest (not the best) for protection, and even Sirius brings this up while in the shrieking shack, with Peter crouching on at his feet and the knowledge that here is James’s killer, right here in this room:

‘I’ll never understand why I didn’t see you were the spy from the start. You always liked big friends didn’t you? It used to be us… me and Remus…and James…’

 And this is Peter’s core defence:

‘He- he was taking over everywhere! What was to be gained by refusing him?’

By the time Prisoner of Azkaban rolls around Peter doesn’t love Sirius or Remus, he has distanced himself from them. Put a wall up, he has done what any human does when they have done something wrong and can’t come to terms with it- he rationales himself out of blame. For thirteen years he has had time to pretend that he never knew those people, so he can delude himself into thinking that what he did was right. Peter has the strongest self-preservation instincts in the book, he is the most selfish person in every room he’s in.  

But when he’s given away James and Lily’s location, it would have been still raw, he’s been passing information for a year but this- this was big. This was changing sides for real, this was killing people who trusted him, this was losing people that still mattered.  We know he felt at least a little guilty about this- Lily says so herself in her letter:

‘Wormy was here last weekend, I thought he seemed down’

 That group- those boys- the love they had for each other is enormous. It’s on every page they’re in. It’s Sirius- loving Harry before he even knew what kind of person he was because he was James’s kid, and that was all the reason needed. It’s James- noticing how Sirius was bored that day in fifth year and making something happen because of it. It’s Remus- talking about how they all become Animagi for him and sounding quite far away when he says it, like he still cannot believe he was ever that lucky, even for a minute, even for a second.

You can’t be around that love and not feel it. You think Peter went through all that- got drunk with them and teased James about Lily and sat with them in classes and ate lunch together and ran around with them at full moons and saw James and Lily’s new house and held their baby and watched Sirius tear around on his motorbike like a loser and comforted Remus when he thought he wasn’t worth being alive- you think he did all that and didn’t love them?

But the point of Peter’s character is to show that fear can overcome love. Fear makes you jumpy, makes you shaky, fear makes you wake up in the middle of the night sweating with the sudden realisation that there is a chance that the people you love aren’t the biggest people on the playground anymore, fear makes you walk into the room and say the address, say their names.

Not once did I argue that Peter Pettigrew is a good person. You can understand a person’s motivations and still think they’re terrible- because Peter is terrible.  He kills his friends out of self-preservation, he is so pathetic it defies reason; every time he talks weakness oozes from him, a kind of desperation, the want to stay alive regardless of cost.

But- fuck- is he interesting. I don’t understand how you can see a character like that and just write them off as vile, to see him and still not be fascinated. Peter Pettigrew is character that proves that sometimes love does not conquer all, that being around good people does not make you good by association, that fear is one of the most powerful human emotions. He shows you can love people, but love yourself more, even if you are not as good as them. and it’s not as if Peter doesn’t know he’s inadequate, it’s just that the reasons himself away from it.

‘I was scared Sirius, I was never brave like you and Remus and James’

The thing about Peter is, he’s so desperate to survive, yet he lives a horrible, awful, lonely life as a result of his actions.

Is it really living, hiding as a rat for twelve years? Was it too hard, being human, feeling the remorse and guilt and shame, terror, of being found out as the real traitor?

The knowledge that because of him, Lily and James were murdered, Harry has no parents? Because of him, Sirius was being haunted by dementors, hated by everyone for a crime he didn’t commit? That because of him, Moony had no friends, nobody to help him at full moons, a lonely and miserable and, well, painfully lonely existence?

He could have fled to South America, hidden in middle America, in Tokyo, in the mountains of Western Mongolia, anywhere. As a rat or as a human. Instead, he chooses to stay, just like Sirius chooses to stay in Azkaban. Is there a similar motivation for both characters, guilt (in Sirius’ case, very much misplaced)?

He stays. He even chooses to go back to Hogwarts. Maybe the place where he was truly happy, where he had such fun, mischief, trouble, fights, acceptance, love, where he and the others managed to become Animagi to help Moony, where they managed to make arguably the greatest map the wizarding world had ever seen?

Harry is here. Harry reminds him of all the awful things he did. How many Order members were murdered by Voldemort and his men directly as a result of him? Reminds him daily of James, looks the spitting image of James, Lily’s eyes looking down on him. Yet, he stays. Is it torture? Is he tormented by the memories that come flooding back when he’s in school again? Is it in fact something else, like pretending none of that ever happened? Soothing? They are young and innocent again. He’s back in Hogwarts. He’s safer here than he ever was. Does he lie and pretend none of that was real?

Maybe it’s both, torture and dissociation, he can only do it as long as he’s safe, hidden, not fully thinking as a human, a rat.

When he learns Voldy is back, he’s both terrified of Voldemort and convinced, with absolute certain horror, that Voldy will win. If Voldy winning this war is again inevitable, he wants to be the one to bring him back, to win Voldy’s favour, to be recognised as his right hand man. He wants recognition. To rise above his position in the shadows. To have his main character moment.

He doesn’t succeed. Voldy has little to no respect for him, calls him Wormtail, delights in his discomfort. Treats him like an idiot, a lesser Death Eater. So do Voldy’s forces. They despise him openly. Voldy gives him not accolades. Nothing. He wants to stop feeling haunted, hunted, afraid. But he can’t outrun himself.

His greatest flaw is not just fear. They were all afraid. Only someone utterly stupid would have faced Voldemort and not been terrified.

Even Churchill, facing the apparently unstoppable Nazi forces said “Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision.” Courage and fear are not mutually exclusive. Most of us will remember a time we felt brave and afraid at the exact same time, and still managed to overcome the thing that frightened us. Who would not have been afraid of being captured and tortured by the Death Eaters?

Yet why did people resist him? Why do people rebel against dictatorships, against all odds??

There is something else you need.

Hope.

Peter’s greatest flaw was despair. He stopped hoping.

What gave thousands of young men the courage to storm the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944? The knowledge that they were fighting a great evil, and the hope that even when things looked at their bleakest, there was still a chance, no matter how small, they could succeed. I’m not saying that some of them wouldn’t have fought to the bitter end if they knew there was no hope, but for most of us, courage is much harder to find in those circumstances. That is why we still remember the heroic efforts of a handful of Spartan soldiers against the full might of the Persian army at Thermopylae, the 300. We all acknowledge that fighting without hope is so much harder.

What does Aragorn say to the scared soldiers facing the seemingly unstoppable might of the orc armies?

The darkest hour is just before the dawn. Unless you decide to cash in your chips beforehand.

Ultimately in my opinion, it was fear, and despair, which drove Peter (and less importantly, ambition - the unscrupulous, amoral type, not the good sort!) to destroy everyone and everything he loved.

It is a small, neglected part of his former self, perhaps a long forgotten memory of James (surfacing into his consciousness, unwanted, before he can push it away, now he is a human again after all those years) which makes him look at Harry and feel some tiny sliver of remorse, some pity for him. And Voldemort cannot allow any form of betrayal, no matter how small. His hand turns against him. Voldemort was perhaps right not to fully trust Pettigrew.

’ The thing about Peter is, he’s so desperate to survive, yet he lives a horrible, awful, lonely life as a result of his actions.’

I’ve always wondered if there’s a parallel between Sirius saying Padfoot’s emotions were less complex and Peter choosing to live as a rat. Perhaps, it was a form of disassociation?

Although as a character, he has one of the largest kill counts in the series, I love posts that flesh him out and add some humanity to the villain.

(also, I'm not suggesting that, at any level, jkr intended to explore the complexities of a corrupt justice system, all of this is a consequence of her many, many plotholes/poor worldbuilding, not her "genius")

Firstly, I think that Sirius was immediately assumed to be guilty because of his family. By this time (1981), the Death Eaters are basically synonymous with the Black family (inc. the Malfoy's, etc.) We know via Walburga's portrait, Kreacher, etc. that this family was unashamedly and loudly devoted to blood purity, to power, and to Voldemort.

But we also know that despite their obvious guilt, the Black family & co. were practically invincible because of their wealth and influence. Even after Voldemort's defeat, most of them successfully evade prison! It's not clear (bc why would it be...) but it's definitely implied in GOF that the attack on the Longbottom's happened a while after Voldemort's downfall. The Death Eaters felt "safe" in attacking the Longbottom's and that kind of security in their freedom definitely wouldn't have happened in the immediate aftermath. Meaning? They lived comfortably, freely for at least a few years after Voldemort's defeat in 1981.

The Ministry is simultaneously desperate to convict as many Death Eaters as possible (and prove their competency) but also letting some of the most notorious go free? Make it make sense!

Like, there is no way this is going to make them popular with the people, right? But also, the Black family & co. are extremely powerful in the Ministry. I think they absolutely had tons of blackmail material on the Ministry (corruption, secret supporters of Voldemort, etc) as well as being financially important too. We see this with Lucius Malfoy throughout the series - they clearly know he isn't a good guy and yet, he has considerable power in the Ministry. The Ministry can't risk losing the backing of these families but it had to do something to prove itself to the public.

Enter, Sirius Black.

Disowned by his family, he didn't seem to pose any real risk to the Ministry's relationship with the Black family; why would they defend their disgraced former heir? Even if Sirius did turn out to have become a Death Eater (i.e. returned to their "side") and did actually commit this crime, they still wouldn't have been willing to defend him because they were obviously doing all they could to distance themselves from Voldemort. Their son is found at the scene of a mass murder committed in Voldy's name - not exactly going to help their case in defending the "real" Black family. Sirius is a pretty safe target for the Ministry to pursue and be seen to be doing something right.

(Similarly, I think this is why Karkaroff is said to have had a trial much closer to the events of 1981. He isn't attached to a family name, he doesn't seem to come from any wealth, etc. He can be imprisoned without any real consequence but shows the Ministry to be successful in bringing justice.)

Sirius was also at the heart of the most significant event in the fight against Voldemort. The Potter's house in Godric's Hollow becomes a monument, it is visited by thousands of wizards who leave messages, Harry is repeatedly stopped in the street by strangers and thanked, he is stared at and fawned over. The Potter's become the ultimate symbol of the tragedy of the war. Their deaths (and Harry's life) become public property, it becomes personal. Everyone feels a sense of entitlement to the Potter's as if their tragedy belongs to the entire wizarding community. So naturally, the public would turn their attention towards the person who apparently made this happen. Not only someone who is a member of the notorious Black family but was an apparent mass murderer and a traitor too!

It was so easy for the Ministry to leave Sirius to rot in prison without a trial because who was going to defend him? Not his "family" who were too busy trying to save their own skin, not the public, and his real family were gone too: James and Sirius' parents were dead, James and Lily were now too. Peter was the real traitor. Remus was seemingly nowhere to be found and even if he was there, he suspected Sirius already (plus, I doubt the Ministry would accept his testimony or whatever because of his condition...)

Sirius was twenty-one. He was alone, vulnerable, grieving, obviously suffering from PTSD, and found to be the centre of one of the worst events in the war. I think ultimately he was an easy target for the Ministry to protect their reputation/public standing and cover up their miserable attempts at persecuting actual Death Eaters.

Is referencing a thing on hp meta? Idk but this was totally inspired by @wolfbuck and @allalrightagain and also this article about the Longbottom's attack.

To celebrate the start of Scorpio season and in honour of our bestie, I have planned 3 metas about what I think are common misconceptions around his character. And here is number 2.

A common mischaracterisation of him is that he’s not very clever and when at school he needs to copy homework from other people.

1.0 Sirius at school

When recounting Sirius’s school days, several characters mention how clever/brilliant he was. In particular, queen Mcgonagall says:

‘ Precisely,” said Professor McGonagall. “Black and Potter. Ringleaders of their little gang. Both very bright, of course — exceptionally bright, in fact.’ PoA

McGonagall never gives praise lightly and in fact at this moment she thinks Sirius is a mass murderer. Even when she appears to be fond of a student, she’s very realistic about their academic ability and in HBP she says the following to Neville,

‘“But the problem is Transfiguration. I’m sorry, Longbottom, but an Acceptable’ really isn’t good enough to continue to N.E.W.T level. I just don’t think you’d be able to cope with the coursework.” HBP

So calling Sirius and James, ‘exceptionally bright,' is not Hyperbole.

Furthermore, during the fire-call Remus says,

“Look, Harry, what you’ve got to understand is that your father and Sirius were the best in the school at whatever they did — everyone thought they were the height of cool — if they sometimes got a bit carried away . ” OoTP

Yes Remus is a biased source, but it can be strongly inferred that Sirius was indeed a very high-achieving student, even if his behavioural record had much to be desired.

Also quick note- these dorks enjoyed amateur cartography ‘height of cool,’ is a little strong.

2.0 Sirius is arrogant about his intellect

This view of his intellect is also held by Sirius himself and this is demonstrated by several things during Snape’s Worst Memory:

He’s long finished his OWL exam and is just sitting there looking hot.

“Well, I thought that paper was a piece of cake,” he heard Sirius say. “I’ll be surprised if I don’t get Outstanding on it at least.” - homeboy is so confident that he thinks the exam board might make a new grade for him

He doesn’t need to read the transfiguration book, not because he’s barely literature and only cares about his hair, but because,

“I don’t need to look at that rubbish, I know it all.”

Indeed, Sirius is so sure of his own intelligence that he attempts to outsmart Voldemort and James trusts him to do that. I know some of this trust is rooted in their bond as brothers, but James must have had to greatly respect Sirius’s intelligence to risk the lives of his wife and child.

3.0 Sirius Post-Azkaban

Sirius is still very clever, despite having been in prison for 12 years and being in various states of starvation and mental ill health:

In PoA He conjures manacles with another wizard’s wand, despite being 13 years out of practice.

In GoF he immediately recognises that Harry’s scar hurting is a bad sign,

‘ I’m flying north immediately. This news about your scar is the latest in a series of strange rumors that have reached me here. If it hurts again.’ GoF (this quote also ties in with my previous meta about him being a mature guardian).

He remembers how to deal with dragons, despite having probably not opened a book during his 12 years in Azkaban and one year living rough,

‘I was going to suggest a Conjunctivitis Curse, as a dragon’s eyes are its weakest point.’ GoF

He pieces the majority of the plot together, while half-starved in a cave and scrounging newspapers. Indeed, he is frustrated at himself for not being able to fully figure it out:

‘Sirius stared at the cave wall, then made a grimace of frustration.’ GoF

He understands Priori Incantatem immediately,

‘.....The Reverse Spell effect?” said Sirius sharply.’ GoF

In OoTP he studies his hand with interest (which is a nice nod to his curiosity) when he gets bitten by something and immediately fixes it,

‘ Sirius sustained a bad bite from a silver snuffbox; within seconds, his bitten hand had developed an unpleasant crusty covering like a tough brown glove.

“It’s okay,” he said, examining the hand with interest before tapping it lightly with his wand and restoring its skin to normal, “must be Wartcap powder in there.' OoTP

He heals the injury that Kreacher inflicts on Buckbeak

Despite being 13-14 years out of practice, he easily matches with some of the ‘best’ death eaters,

‘Now Sirius and Dolohov were dueling, their wands flashing like swords, sparks flying from their wand tips. ’ OoTP

Dumbledore describes him as,

' A brave, energetic and clever man.’

4.0 Sirius is also emotionally intelligent

Sirius understands emotions and is able to verbalise them. One of the key scenes that demonstrate both his emotional and intellectual intelligence, is the scene in the Shrieking shack where he is describing how he survived Azkaban,

‘ I don’t know how I did it,” he said slowly. “I think the only reason I never lost my mind is that I knew I was innocent. That wasn’t a happy thought, so the dementors couldn’t suck it out of me’

In this quote, he is demonstrating an understanding of the nuances of his emotions. Because yes he is innocent, but it’s not a happy thought because James, Lilly and 12 muggles are dead. So he understands that it’s not a thought that can bring him joy or hope, but a thought that has enough nuance to also not be bad.

' so when it all became . . . too much ... I could transform in my cell . . . become a dog.’

In this quote, he’s showing awareness of his mental limits and he also shows this during OoTP when he withdraws during his more intense periods.

‘ Dementors can’t see, you know. ...” He swallowed. “They feel their way toward people by feeding off their emotions. ... ‘

Here he is showing his intellect and how well he understands how Dementors work. And both types of intelligent merge in the next part of the quote,

‘ They could tell that my feelings were less — less human, less complex when I was a dog.’

He clearly understands the nuance and degrees of feelings and how some feelings are more surface level whereas others have caveats.

During the rest of the series, he shows his emotional intelligence in numerous ways,

By providing Harry the Hogsmeade slip and allowing Harry to feel like a normal child who has a guardian who cares for him.

During GoF, he allows Harry to talk despite having broken into a house and needing to talk to Harry about the task,

‘ I’m — ” For a second, Harry tried to say “fine” — but he couldn’t do it. Before he could stop himself, he was talking more than he’d talked in days. ’ GoF

And to be a good listener, you have to be emotionally intelligent.

3. He sends Harry a muddy pawprint as a good luck gift for the last task as he understands that Harry appreciates knowing that he’s thinking of him.

4.On the dark side of this, he’s able to deliver such cutting insults because he understands people so well. This is demonstrated by IMO is the only time he’s a bad godfather and I will never defend him for this,

‘You’re less like your father than I thought,’ He said finally, a definite coolness in his voice. ‘ The risk would’ve been what made it fun for James.’ OoTP

Here Sirius is demonstrating his understanding of how much Harry’s masculinity is rooted in his idealisation of James, so he goes for it.

In conclusion, Sirius Black is cannonically very emotionally and intellectually intelligent.

I want to hear more Sirius opinions

As it happens I did this reread in preparation to write a Sirius and Harry centered AU (and now I have six more I want to write, of course) so I paid a lot of attention to Sirius this time around! Some stuff I noticed (this got long, putting in a readmore):

-There are a lot of silly magical lords tropes and fics using them that can be fun sometimes, or really grate if you’re looking for something more canon tone or that isn’t your particular wish fulfillment fantasy; these usually end up building extracanonical cloud cities that are pretty hard to reconcile with the books if they don’t contradict them outright

-There is also quite a bit of in text evidence that there exists a magical aristocracy, or at the very least an interaction/partial equation between the upper class of the wizarding world and government and the real world British aristocracy

-eg. blood purity ideology is explicitly explained several times as prejudice against “commoners” - by Hagrid in CoS explaining “mudblood,” by Voldemort in his monologues at the end of GoF, etc; “the noble and most ancient house of Black;” even a liberal, tolerant pureblood family, the Weasleys, thinks shopkeeping is an inappropriate profession for their sons vs. gov’t work; important magical locations are often explicitly building types associated with the historical aristocracy, especially older ones - Hogwarts is a literal castle, “Malfoy Manor” per DH; Mr. Borgin’s sarcastic “Mister Malfoy” in CoS is certainly hinting something about Lucius’s preferred address

-eg. also, Wizengamot is obviously a fictitious term, but it’s just as obviously based off of/referencing the real world Witenagemot (made up of people with the title Witan, as the Wizengamot is made up of Wizards), a historical Anglo Saxon parliament/council of… noblemen

-so the equation of purebloods with (not necessarily accurate claims to) aristocracy is sort of canon, at least as canon as you can call the inverse of Voldemort equating muggles and muggleborns with commoners (eg. paraphrased, Albus Dumbledore, champion of commoners…)

-and the assumption that the Wizengamot may be/likely is a council of aristocrats is perfectly teneble with canon, although we have to accept some ability of the Minister to stack/fill seats with appointees (Umbridge), and a historical transition entirely away from hereditary privileges wrt the Wizengamot is entirely possible as well

-in general any attempt at developing a canon-compliant political system for Harry Potter has to struggle with the issue of why any new details were never mentioned to Harry in the books. This is equally true of aristocratic/manor system/feudal systems and democratic ones, though

-eg. the Minister is replaced a couple of times and there is never any reference to an election, nor to Voldemort faking or cancelling one when he installs his stooge in DH, and there equally is no reference whatsoever to political parties; there clearly is not an independent press either. there’s really much better evidence for a still-ruling aristocracy propped up by/propping up a central bureaucracy than for anything resembling demoracy in any way (IMO, obviously)

-BUT there’s no evidence that this aristocracy is anything more than the petty aristocracy ever was in Britain, which is to say a bunch of wealthy land owners running around stacking courts and having gang wars with each other under a thin veneer of “chivalry” and “divine right”

-(The Death Eaters would probably fit pretty well into the medieval history of mercenary bands and weird knight orders TBH, down to attempting to acquire respectability for their commander as a genuine member of the nobility by murdering people and stealing their shit)

-So things in a lot of stories that are hard to reconcile with either realism or canon tone are attempting to make the aristocracy glamorous and overpowered magically, and/or equating purebloods with aristocracy with wealth and power in and of themselves

-but also, if this world is ruled by a petty land owning aristocracy where is the land???

-it’s explicit in series that food can’t be conjured magically for some reason, so there’s no particular reason why most wealth CAN’T be in land/farming/etc; we do know of at least some magical food production businesses, if mostly in specialist products, and some non-food potential agricultural properties eg. wand wood groves; presumably Malfoy Manor has an attached estate as well

-again we have some question of why it never comes up in text if mostly the magical economy is farming, but we can suppose Harry is not super interested in agricultural production more easily than some other attempts at economic fanwanking. this may mean that EVERYONE is kind of cash poor and there just isn’t a lot of money in circulation period - something that may explain the currency weirdness in universe (yes, we all know JKR just sucks at math)

-worth noting here for Americans like me who find this foreign and kind of horrifying but IRL ~30% of English land is owned by the aristoracy! Now, today.

-so the idea that in magical Britain land is mostly owned by aristocratic landowners does not necessarily mean a big difference from the muggle world - the difference is probably that recent (mostly post Statute, in fact) reforms curtailing their power never happened and nor did the industrial revolution

-so, when we say that Sirius’s family claims to be noble, we aren’t necessarily talking shiny magic powers. they’re pretty much just landlords with pretentious symbolism.

-does this make blood purity kind of stupid? yes.

Which is a perfectly valid way of writing, but it’s not what I do and I’m trying to work in this world, so.

From an in-universe perspective, it helps that Harry’s a child at boarding school for a lot of the series in terms of explaining weird gaps; but at the same time he does read the newspaper, discuss politics with adults and his friends, etc, so it can easily break reader disbelief to toss in massive institutions or processes that should logically come up eg. when they’re discussing Arthur Weasley’s muggle protection act or Umbridge passing a law to make it impossible for Remus to find work, and don’t in canon. He may not know much about tax law but he certainly knows which careers his friends and their siblings are thinking about, etc. And I think steamrolling over those little blips of worldbuilding is often what makes expanded political universes in fic seem so off, regardless of their internal plausibility.