Something that bothers me is the wanted poster in the movies. He already looks like he has been in Azkaban for a while, older and with gaunt eyes, and I read this in fics as well sometimes (that Remus almost doesn't recognise him).
But that doesn't make sense, you can't convince me they regularly take pictures of the people in Azkaban when nobody has ever broke out before, and I daresay the ministry wouldn't want proof of how bad Azkaban is to its residents.
The picture used for his wanted poster is the picture of a young man in the prime of his life, who just lost everything and can't wrap his head around it yet.
So yes, he might look insane, but he's still young Sirius.
Which does leave space for a funnier/less dramatic type of non-recognition: Sirius transforming back into his human self in the shack and Ron having no idea who the fuck that guy is and why he wants his rat
Whats always bothered me about it is that he is screaming. We know he didn't fight. He didn't demand a trial, he didn't scream about being innocent - he went easily and laughed like a maniac.
His wanted poster should either be laughing still or looking resigned. Which is way scarier. A smiling, laughing mass murderer proud of what he's done... or at least an intense, dead-eye stare.
''you can't convince me they regularly take pictures of the people in Azkaban when nobody has ever broke out before''
Yo that is so true I've never thought about it... why bother to take new pictures when they're never getting out??? You take a mugshot after arresting them. There's no need for an 'updated' picture - the wizarding world especially wouldn't bother.
Sirius looked SUPER different. He went from handsome young man with short maintained hair to 'looking like a skull' and a long, wild matted mess... plus whatever 12 years in a small dim room feeling miserable does to you. (hc that dude looks like a silver fox well before his time)
''Ron having no idea who the fuck that guy is'' Brilliant holy shit Maybe the only reason Ron 'knew' it was Sirius was that he knew there was a murderer hanging around (I mean, his leg was broken, I'm not sure he could have even really looked properly anyway lol)
Everyone coming into the shack just assumes he is a homeless squatter haha... "Thank Merlin, an adult-!!! do you know any healing spells??" Severus comes in - thinks Remus has cornered three kids and an innocent tramp to bite. Despicable animal...
"I'm Sirius Black." "Yeah, Okay, sure you are, buddy... still can't have the rat..."
The mugshot they flash of Sirius on the Muggle news has Vernon reacting with something along the lines of, 'Filthy layabout! No need to tell us he's no good!' and there's a comparison between Sirius's hair in that and Harry's, which had always offended Vernon.
I think the posters in the magical world are described as having a slow-blinking, dead-eyed stare, and are of Sirius after he's spent some time in Azkaban.
(I'm on the bus rn, so I can't look up the exact passages; I'm going off memory, so I could be slightly off)
Oh! And when Harry goes looking through his photo album for a picture of Sirius after he learns he had been best man at his parents' wedding, the Sirius in the photo is hardly recognisable as the same man in the wanted posters, so it seems like everything points to the Ministry documenting the prisoners' images every now and again (IIRC with the mass breakout in OotP, they use somewhat updated pictures of the escapees).
Yeah, the movie doesn’t really make sense as to why he’s screaming, particularly since yeah, it’s totally creepier the way he actually is—blinking slowly at the camera. And he’s definitely described as looking a bit like a vampire, so it’s gotta be a recent pic.
Maybe they do like a prisoner inventory every year and take a photo. But I’m also envisioning dementors being the ones to take photos every year…
Oooooh, you know what would be an interesting charm? A special type of photograph that reflects how you look currently. Like the photograph can show precisely what you look like at any given moment. Useful for the Ministry to keep tabs on Azkaban prisoners and former inmates, but horrifying since they’ll always have it on file.
Photos which update themselves is a brilliant idea, but now I can’t stop imagine how the dementors are taking photos of the prisoners. I think this idea is just HILARIOUS
