I'd like to agree with Dark Minion's first post, and present a more lengthy rant on the matter.

I've stumbled a lot upon the opinions that Sirius' death should not leave a great impact on Harry emotionally, and now in this thread. That rattles me quite, I must say.

People would say, why should Harry take hard the death of a man he barely knew, why grieve about virtually a stranger? They would even go so far as to say, why he jumped on to Sirius' rescue mission anyway?

I cannot understand these people. Well, I think I can, I think such ejaculations are warranted by the overuse of the 'angst' theme in FanFiction, but — I think people are still being too hard saying these things.

I know this is a site of 'Dark Lords,' but I'd like to appeal to people's intelligence, not their 'Dark Side'.

Ok, first and foremost thing people are saying when arguing the matter of Harry's attachment to Sirius is, Sirius didn't deserve to be near Harry. Where was he, when Harry was chucked to the Dursleys' care? Why had he went for Peter instead, when he should have been there for Harry, should have thought about raising him?

Here to avoid misunderstanding I should say I think Remus is a sod, a wreck, a failure for never checking on Harry, whatever his reasonings might be.

But Sirius' (and partly Remus') 'transgressions' towards Harry I'm vindicating by saying he was young. Why should he have had thoughts about his friend's infant son, when he himself had barely reached his twenties? People at this age couldn't be that mature (and especially Sirius given his lady-killer nature).

Put yourself into his shoes. When he learned about Peter's betrayal and the Potters' death he, firstly, was distressed. Secondly, he made Peter his first priority. Then, why should he have attachment to Harry, who was no relation to him, just his friend's son (yes, I'm being a reverse psycholo-jigy)? Parental feelings were probably alien to him. Still, he only went for Peter after he made sure Harry was in good hands.

And he didn't know that Harry was going to be send to 'hell' (as the Dursleys' residence is commonly reffered to), that he will receive bad care. And that's according to canon: he didn't even know how Harry was raised — when he offered Harry his home, he thought he liked the Dursleys.

And, well, after Peter… let's say, he was — unlike Remus — out of commission to be able pay regular visits at the Harry's.

OK, the next thing is why Harry needed Sirius so much, why had he cared so much for Sirius who had only recently become a part of his life?

Who needed whom more when Sirius made his offer to Harry to live with him? Sirius desperately needed somebody to cling to to remain sane, but Harry, too, needed somebody who would offer him unconditional love. And this is not some fickle thing.

Here I don't believe Harry was abused severely (as it is portrayed oftentimes in FF): he was healthy in the sense that by the looks of him he didn't need professional psychologist's treatment. He never showed any signs of mental trauma or abuse, as abuse would impair one's psychological development in obvious way.

He obviously had had enough contact with children his age. Yes, he was probably just an on-looker, not an active participant in children activities — the Dursleys and Dudley intimidated him enough to make sure of that — but I don't think he would have been better off in the orphanage or even, say, in Mrs. Weasley's care :shudders: .

It is obvious he didn't receive love and good care from the Dursleys; I would guess no matter how hard he tried to gain their love, he was only barely tolerated by them. And when he would displease them with his magical fits, well… Anyway, these fits only warranted some bellowing on Vernon's part and locking-up in the closet for some time. And, being a wizard of barely average power (if we were to take into account book six), I don't think these shows happened a lot. And if that wasn't true, then why hadn't he himself noticed something was amiss with him (OK, book six made him a moron, but as we're not taking it into account…)?

Still, I think he was OK there. Not loved, but mostly OK.

As to the most 'obvious' prove of neglect at the Dursleys' care: living in the closet, and then the bars at his window — I think they're mere plotholes. Rowling just wanted to show that Harry was unhappy at the Dursleys and, not bothering much with what that would entail, she wrote: like, he lived in the closet, and, like, he had bars at his window, he was beaten, bitten, plonked on the head etc.

Consider whether it was possible to grew into a normal kid (as Rowling showed him to be) under this kind of treatment? I would think not. So, I just dismiss the closet and the bars arguments completely.

Anyway, neglected or not, Harry learned to appreciate dearly love, or care, whenever he had a chance to be bestowed with it.

Why else would he hold to such shitty friends like he had? Ron, obsessed with his fame; still — he's loyal. I don't even want to think about Herm's overall insufferable character. And her loyalty, well…

That's why he appreciated it so much when Luna told him she believed in him (fifth year) even though he knew everybody were probably laughing at that.

So, I'm asking, why should not Harry be depressed by Sirius' death, when, beside Sirius, there weren't enough people genuinely caring for him?

I think Harry should grieve, brood, etc., but, again, I understand that people might have developed averseness to angst over time, given that every fiction written (or churned out, more like) a while back contained 'angst' in the beginning, repeated almost word for word from story to story. And, what worse — the matter was usually dropped entirely in the following chapters. Heck, I even tried to write such a story myself (never posted though, thank Providence for that, kek kek).

Personally, I think Rowling did the best in showing Harry's grievance in book six: didn't showing it at all, only pointing out signs: the state of his room, e.g.

Still, I cannot understand when people are resorting to such an extreme as to claim that Sirius meant nothing to Harry. That's a disrespect towards Sirius' memory at the very least.

Dixi.

 

Wow, Your right, that is quite a monologue! I think your missing the point though. a great many of us feel that yes, there should have been some grief time in there, but not nearly so much as (Sadly) Many authors have decided to write. Yes they were potentially pretty close, But I just can't see how harry could have been THAT attached!

I've lost several people who were close to me, including grandparents and classmates, But some people are taking normal emotions to MAJOR extremes! Yes harry and Sirius probably used the thought of each other for emotional support, but they BOTH still had other people to lean on. Therefore I find myself supporting Dark Minion's stand. 'suicidal!Harry because of Sirius is just some stupid emo fantasy.' I'd like to add that ExtreameDepression!Harry is likely as improbable. People point out the cannon reactions in HBP, but I'd wager that his anger was more for being left out of the loop than it was for sirius' death.

 

Fuck, I agree about the extremes. And that he is not likely to fall into (edit: REAL) depression because of his death, too. I just wanted to show that Harry should have at least SOME emotion for his dead godfather.

Ah, forget it, nobody cares. :brooding: I should probably go kill somebody, seeing as there's still time until dinner. Muahahahaha

Edit: sorry, didn't mean to say 'depression' in clinical sense (in the first post), just meant it as 'feeling bad.' Urgh, these Russians...