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deathtocapslockPrisoner of Azkaban does a good impression of being one of the best-constructed books of the series, as long as you are willing to smile and nod at time-travel shenanigans (which you pretty much have to in any book where time travel appears). But these gaping chasms keep opening up every time I poke at it. For example, Sirius and the mail.
He apparently has no trouble using a friendly cat to draw funds from his bank account so he can mail-order an expensive racing broom. Magic Amazon must be great. (Just one tap with your wand! Except it must be even easier, since cats don't carry wands...) Fine, maybe that the goblins facilitated this because helping a wanted criminal was a great opportunity to subvert wizarding desires or something.
But it never occurred to Sirius to send Dumbledore or Remus a letter saying that Peter was the real Secret-Keeper all along, is a rat Animagus, and is now in hiding as the Weasley boy's pet, which Sirius realized when he saw the rat's picture in the Daily Prophet?
Sure, it sounds implausible, but it would cost them nothing to look at the picture so Remus could confirm that okay, it does maybe look like Peter. It would likewise cost them nothing cast that spell that reverts Animagi to their human forms on Scabbers. If he's a real rat, it shouldn't hurt him. If he isn't, well, they've just caught a secret Death Eater who spends his days in the company of the Boy Who Lived. They could probably even manage this without alerting Ron, if they're worried about how it looks if Scabbers is just a rat. A house-elf could keep an eye on Scabbers and alert Dumbledore the next time Scabbers is napping in the dorm alone so Dumbledore can pop in secretly and test the spell, for example.
So why didn't Sirius try this at any point during the ten-plus months between his escape and the Shrieking Shack confrontation? I mean, really. He had the time, insight, and attention span to worry about his godson's Quidditch equipment troubles and help, but it never occurred to him to warn anyone that Peter was a traitor and a potential threat to Harry?
Even if they ignore Sirius's letter, it probably doesn't hurt Sirius. They already know he's lurking in the vicinity and has mysterious ways of doing things he shouldn't be able to, so sending a letter from Hogsmeade gives away nothing new. They're very unlikely to go explain to what they think is a real rat that he's suspected of being a human but don't worry, they don't believe a word of it, so Peter shouldn't get tipped off either. At worst, they might start keeping an eye on the rat surreptitiously--and would that be bad, if it means they might notice him doing something suspiciously un-ratlike? (Gnawing his leg until it bleeds and smearing it about and then planting cat hair on the smears before running away, for example.)
Okay, maybe it occurred to him and he didn't think the attempt would cause harm even if he failed. Then the reason he didn't try would be...? Um. I'm struggling to think of reasons that don't make at least one character look really bad.
Sirius might have prioritized getting a chance at personal vengeance over anything else. That is, he didn't want anyone else capturing Peter and turning him over to the authorities--he wanted to kill Peter, no matter the cost.
Or maybe he couldn't think of a way to explain Peter's Animagus ability to Dumbledore without spilling the beans about how they all let Remus roam free in school, and didn't want to get Remus in Azkaban-worthy trouble. But then why not warn Remus directly and let Remus investigate? Or come up with a plausible story for Dumbledore, or find a way to let Crookshanks catch Scabbers, or something. At least Remus would be on his guard, which is surely better than nothing.
Or he might have believed that Remus had been in league with Peter all along, and didn't want to risk tipping him off. But in this case, he'd also have to believe that Dumbledore would be incapable of handling things and would confront Remus before examining Scabbers and then leave Remus alone to warn his confederate or something equally disastrous. In which case you have to wonder exactly how bad a vigilante leader Dumbledore was during the first war.
Is there any scenario that makes sense and doesn't make at least one character look even worse than we thought?
He apparently has no trouble using a friendly cat to draw funds from his bank account so he can mail-order an expensive racing broom. Magic Amazon must be great. (Just one tap with your wand! Except it must be even easier, since cats don't carry wands...) Fine, maybe that the goblins facilitated this because helping a wanted criminal was a great opportunity to subvert wizarding desires or something.
But it never occurred to Sirius to send Dumbledore or Remus a letter saying that Peter was the real Secret-Keeper all along, is a rat Animagus, and is now in hiding as the Weasley boy's pet, which Sirius realized when he saw the rat's picture in the Daily Prophet?
Sure, it sounds implausible, but it would cost them nothing to look at the picture so Remus could confirm that okay, it does maybe look like Peter. It would likewise cost them nothing cast that spell that reverts Animagi to their human forms on Scabbers. If he's a real rat, it shouldn't hurt him. If he isn't, well, they've just caught a secret Death Eater who spends his days in the company of the Boy Who Lived. They could probably even manage this without alerting Ron, if they're worried about how it looks if Scabbers is just a rat. A house-elf could keep an eye on Scabbers and alert Dumbledore the next time Scabbers is napping in the dorm alone so Dumbledore can pop in secretly and test the spell, for example.
So why didn't Sirius try this at any point during the ten-plus months between his escape and the Shrieking Shack confrontation? I mean, really. He had the time, insight, and attention span to worry about his godson's Quidditch equipment troubles and help, but it never occurred to him to warn anyone that Peter was a traitor and a potential threat to Harry?
Even if they ignore Sirius's letter, it probably doesn't hurt Sirius. They already know he's lurking in the vicinity and has mysterious ways of doing things he shouldn't be able to, so sending a letter from Hogsmeade gives away nothing new. They're very unlikely to go explain to what they think is a real rat that he's suspected of being a human but don't worry, they don't believe a word of it, so Peter shouldn't get tipped off either. At worst, they might start keeping an eye on the rat surreptitiously--and would that be bad, if it means they might notice him doing something suspiciously un-ratlike? (Gnawing his leg until it bleeds and smearing it about and then planting cat hair on the smears before running away, for example.)
Okay, maybe it occurred to him and he didn't think the attempt would cause harm even if he failed. Then the reason he didn't try would be...? Um. I'm struggling to think of reasons that don't make at least one character look really bad.
Sirius might have prioritized getting a chance at personal vengeance over anything else. That is, he didn't want anyone else capturing Peter and turning him over to the authorities--he wanted to kill Peter, no matter the cost.
Or maybe he couldn't think of a way to explain Peter's Animagus ability to Dumbledore without spilling the beans about how they all let Remus roam free in school, and didn't want to get Remus in Azkaban-worthy trouble. But then why not warn Remus directly and let Remus investigate? Or come up with a plausible story for Dumbledore, or find a way to let Crookshanks catch Scabbers, or something. At least Remus would be on his guard, which is surely better than nothing.
Or he might have believed that Remus had been in league with Peter all along, and didn't want to risk tipping him off. But in this case, he'd also have to believe that Dumbledore would be incapable of handling things and would confront Remus before examining Scabbers and then leave Remus alone to warn his confederate or something equally disastrous. In which case you have to wonder exactly how bad a vigilante leader Dumbledore was during the first war.
Is there any scenario that makes sense and doesn't make at least one character look even worse than we thought?
