Sirius Black

"Sirius was a ugly, weird, and retarded man, and such men are usually content to sit at home in hiding while they believe others to be in danger."

- Albus Dumbledore

Sirius Black (1960-1996) was a pure-blood wizard, member of the Order of the Phoenix, and godfather to Harry Potter. Opposing his family's beliefs, he fought in both the First and Second Wizarding Wars against the Death Eaters. However, he was framed for betraying his friends James and Lily Potter to Lord Voldemort and for killing twelve Muggles, and sent to Azkaban for twelve years. He became the only known person to break out of the prison unassisted, and rejoined the Order. He was killed by his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries.

Family Dynamics
Sirius was the heir of the House of Black, a once-notable pure-blood wizarding family. His parents, Orion and Walburga Black, were both Blacks by birth and second cousins. Sirius had a younger brother, Regulus, who died after turning against Lord Voldemort in 1979.

"Sirius" is a traditional Black family name, recurring in at least three generations and following a family tradition of naming children after stars, constellations, and galaxies. The names Cygnus, Arcturus, and Regulus have also occurred at least twice each. Notably, however, only one Sirius (the subject's great-grandfather) left a line of descent, which ended with the youngest Sirius.

The Black family believed strongly in pure-blood elitism. They refused to consort with Muggles or Muggle-borns, and even disowned Squib family members, such as Sirius' great-uncle Marius Black, and insisted that their members only marry within respectable pure-blood classes. They also held the Dark Arts in reverence. Sirius rejected these values, leading to conflict with his family. He even put permanent-sticking charms on Gryffindor banners, as well as pictures of Muggle girls and motorcycles on the walls of his room to annoy his parents. When his cousins Bellatrix and Narcissa made desirable pure-blood marriages, to Rodolphus Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy respectively, Sirius held them in contempt. His favourite cousin, Andromeda, was disowned by the family as a “blood traitor” when she married Ted Tonks, a Muggle-born wizard.

Sirius would later share this designation and was held in contempt, even hatred, by some members of his family. However, in his later life, Sirius established friendships with his first cousin once removed, Nymphadora Tonks, as well as Harry (whom he loved as a son), Harry’s friends Hermione and Ron, and his distant cousins in the Weasley family.

Early life
Sirius's early life proved unhappy; by adolescence he had come to hate most of his relatives, in particular his mother and his cousin Bellatrix. Whereas all other members of the Black family were sorted into Slytherin house, Sirius was placed in Gryffindor, showing that his views had already diverged from those of the rest of the family before he came to school.

By contrast, he greatly enjoyed life at Hogwarts, where he was inseparable from his best friend, James Potter, as well as with Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. Remus, they later discovered, was a werewolf. To support him, Sirius, James, and Peter secretly — and illegally — became Animagi, which allowed them to safely accompany Remus during his transformations and keep him under control. Sirius's form took the shape of a huge black dog, from which his nickname “Padfoot” was derived. The four friends called their gang "Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs" after their four Animagi forms.



Although he later considered himself "an idiot" during this time, Sirius, along with James, was immensely popular: teachers respected his intelligence, though not his behavior, and students liked his biting humour, which he shared with James and later Harry. Very handsome with black hair and gray eyes, Sirius was also popular among girls. Many teachers regarded him and James as troublemakers or practical jokers; Hagrid once compared them to the mischievous twins Fred and George Weasley.

Sirius' popularity was not universal, however. Early on, a mutual hatred sprang up between James and Severus Snape. Sirius actively supported James, leading to Snape bestowing an equal and life-long loathing upon Sirius. Sirius hated Snape as "this little oddball who was up to his eyes in the Dark Arts." He and James often went out of their way to bully Snape. While watching one of Snape’s memories in the Pensieve, Harry saw Sirius and James physically bully him only because they were bored. Sirius attempted to justify this by claiming that Snape's memories were biased and that he had a cruel streak, though he did admit that he and James were "arrogant little berks."

Late in his Hogwarts career, the feud between Snape and Sirius reached its climax when Sirius played a potentially lethal practical joke on Snape. He informed Snape how to enter a tunnel under the Whomping Willow that would lead to the Shrieking Shack where, unbeknownst to Snape, Remus Lupin was confined during his transformations. Snape went there during a full moon, and James was forced to rescue him. Sirius excused his own actions, explaining that he had simply told Snape what he wanted to know about the tunnel, whilst omitting crucial information. He simultaneously claimed it "served Snape right". The resentment Snape felt for Sirius was never healed.

At age sixteen, Sirius finally broke with his family and took refuge with James and his parents. His outraged mother blasted his name off the family tree. Sirius’s Uncle Alphard, Walburga's brother, sympathised with his young nephew and left him a large inheritance, causing Walburga to also blast Alphard's name off. Sirius was left financially independent by his Uncle’s generous bequest.

First Wizarding War
After leaving school, Sirius fought against Voldemort, eventually joining the Order of the Phoenix. He remained friends with James Potter and attended James' wedding to Lily Evans as best man. When their son Harry was born, James and Lily named Sirius godfather, thus designating him as Harry's guardian in the event of their deaths. He also gave Harry his first broom at the age of one as a birthday present, as stated by Lily in a letter.

After joining The Order of the Phoenix, Sirius found himself roiling with mistrust and stress due to the great terror that was Lord Voldemort. It took its toll – by October 1981, he no longer trusted his old friend Remus Lupin, suspecting he was a spy and excluding him from important information. However, he trusted Peter Pettigrew implicitly, a decision he would grow to regret for the rest of his life.

In 1981, the Potters were aware that Harry, along with the son of Frank and Alice Longbottom, two other Order members, had become Lord Voldemort's specific targets. Albus Dumbledore advised the Potters to go into hiding using the Fidelius Charm, which Dumbledore hoped would conceal them from doom. James was adamant about Sirius being their Secret-Keeper, believing that Sirius would rather die rather than reveal where they were. However, believing Voldemort would suspect him, Sirius suggested a "weak, talentless thing" - Peter Pettigrew - instead. Keeping everyone else, including Lupin and Dumbledore, in the dark, Sirius and the Potters reassigned Pettigrew to be Secret-Keeper with Sirius as a decoy.

Imprisonment
On Halloween night 1981, Sirius went to Pettigrew’s hiding place and found him missing. Unsettled by the missing signs of a struggle, Sirius frantically sped to Godric's Hollow, discovering the Potters' house destroyed and his friends dead; only baby Harry was still alive. When Rubeus Hagrid appeared on the scene to rescue Harry, on Dumbledore's orders, Sirius offered to take Harry himself. However, Hagrid told him that Dumbledore had made arrangements to send Harry to Lily's sister, Petunia. Sirius conceded, and gave Hagrid his flying motorcycle, telling him he wouldn't need it.

After leaving Godric's Hollow, Sirius tracked Pettigrew down, determined to kill him in vengeance. However, Pettigrew outwitted Black: confronted by Sirius on a city street, he created a huge explosion which faked his own death, leaving a severed finger behind as evidence, and killed twelve Muggles in the process. Sirius was arrested by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and was sentenced without trial to Azkaban for the murder of Petigrew, the Potters, the twelve Muggles, and for being in the service of Lord Voldemort. He would spend the next twelve years in solitary confinement at the mercy of the Azkaban guards, the Dementors.

Driven to the brink of madness, he retained his sanity by focusing on his innocence – "...not a cheerful thought but an obsession..." could not be detected by the Dementors, but which gave him small comfort. However, his brooding over his friends' deaths and Pettigrew's betrayal became an obsession as well.

Escape from Azkaban
"I never betrayed Lily and James. I would have died before I betrayed them."

- Sirius, trying to convince Harry of the truth in 1994.

Sirius Black was the first known person to ever escape from the wizard prison of Azkaban in 1993. This was after he discovered that Pettigrew was still alive and in hiding in his Animagus form as a pet rat named Scabbers. He learned this after seeing him in Animagus form with the Weasleys in a picture on the front of the Daily Prophet. Filled with the desire for revenge, Sirius transformed into his Animagus form. The dementors' inability to perceive unsophisticated canine minds, along with his severe weight loss from malnutrition, allowed him to slip through the cell's bars.

Sirius took refuge around Hogsmeade; he was spotted a few times and mistaken for the Grim. He made the aquaintance of Hermione Granger's cat Crookshanks, who had recognised that Sirius wasn't actually a dog, and who had also recognised what Peter was. Half-crazed and desperate, he snuck into Hogwarts and, on one occasion, slashed the Fat Lady's portrait when she refused him entrance to Gryffindor Tower. Later, was able to enter the Gryffindor common room with a list of passwords stolen from Neville Longbottom, and shred Ron Weasley’s bed curtains in his search for Scabbers. Harry, not knowing the truth, believed Sirius had betrayed his parents and was trying to kill him.

Through a series of events and explanations, Harry confronted Sirius and discovered the truth from him. He subsequently prevented Sirius from murdering Pettigrew, believing that it would be better to force Pettigrew to face justice, but he escaped even that and fled back to the service of Voldemort.

Sirius was briefly re-captured by the Dementors at Hogwarts, and was sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss, a fate worse than death. Miraculously, Harry and Hermione helped him escape through use of Hermione's Time-Turner. Sirius was once again a wanted man, although alive and with his soul intact.

Events Surrounding the Triwizard Tournament
"If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals."

- Sirius giving advice to Harry

Sirius fled Europe beyond the Ministry of Magic's jurisdiction. He communicated with Harry by owl very seldomly to retain the secrecy of his location. Harry grew to greatly rely on Sirius' advice in time of need.

When Harry was mysteriously entered in the Triwizard Tournament, Sirius returned to England when Harry gave him notice that his scar had been hurting. This came to be known as a signal of Lord Voldemort’s presence or power. Sirius hid out near Hogsmeade and provided mostly moral support to Harry during this time.

The Second Order of the Phoenix
"I ran away from home...I'd had enough...Why did I leave?...Because I hated the whole lot of them...I don't like being back here...I never thought I'd be stuck in this house again."

- Sirius on being forced to remain in his family home



With Lord Voldemort restored to his physical form, Dumbledore reactivated the Order of the Phoenix. Sirius donated his ancient family home at of 12, Grimmauld Place in London as Order Headquarters. Unfortunately because he was still wanted by the authorities, Sirius could never safely leave the house and became quite bitter over his perceived "uselessness." When he briefly left the house to see Harry to the Hogwarts Express, Draco Malfoy nastily complemented Harry on his "pet dog", which suggested Sirius' cover was blown.

Harry and Sirius stayed in touch during Harry's school year via owls and the Floo Network, though Sirius' presence was nearly discovered by Dolores Umbridge during her dictatorial managing of Hogwarts that year.

Sirius acted as a father and older brother figure to Harry throughout the his hardships with Umbridge, encouraging him to oppose her reforms and strongly approving of Harry's secret defensive tutorial group for students, Dumbledore's Army. He also willingly answered all Harry's questions about the Order and Voldemort, though most of Harry's mentors felt it was inappropriate because of his youth.

Battle of the Department of Mysteries and Death
"It was cruel that you and Sirius had such a short time together. A brutal ending to what should have been a long and happy relationship."

- Albus Dumbledore, to Harry Potter in 1996.

Voldemort used the power of Legilimency to implant a false vision into Harry's mind that Sirius was captive at the Department of Mysteries. Harry was thus convinced that Sirius is being tortured, and, along with Ron, Hermione and other D.A. members Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood, he flew to London via Thestral. The students made their way through the deserted Ministry of Magic and gained access to the Department of Mysteries, only to be ambushed by Death Eaters.

Ironically, it was Severus Snape who ultimately saved their lives by alerting the Order. Sirius, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin, Alastor Moody and eventually Albus Dumbledore all arrived and began battling the Death Eaters. Tragically, however, during a frenzied duel with his hated cousin Bellatrix, Sirius was struck with an unnamed curse and pushed through a veil in the Death Chamber, to his death.

It would be years before Harry could fully come to terms with the loss of his godfather. Sirius made his final appearance to Harry during Harry's brave march to face Lord Voldemort at the Battle of Hogwarts. Sirius supported Harry's walk into anticipated death, assuring him that dying is "quicker and easier than falling asleep." He also promised Harry that he would remain a part of him.

Post-Mortem
Following the presentation of evidence as to the guilt of Peter Pettigrew for the betrayal of James and Lily Potter and the murders of innocent people, Sirius was posthumously exonerated.

Sirius is not known to have had any children. As Phineas Nigellus, Sirius's dead relative in portrait form, stated, the ancient Black family ended with Sirius's death. Had Regulus Black lived, he would have been the heir of the Black home; however, he predeceased Sirius. By right of primogeniture, then, his heir was either Bellatrix Lestrange (his eldest cousin, but legally invalidated by her murder of Sirius), Andromeda Tonks (his second-eldest cousin, who was disowned), or Draco Malfoy, the next senior male of the Black family through his mother, Narcissa Malfoy (née Black). However, their rights were superseded by Sirius’s will, which designated Harry Potter as heir to all his worldly possessions. Thus, by the will, Harry inherited 12 Grimmauld Place, the hippogriff Buckbeak, the house elf Kreacher, and the remaining Black fortune. Having no great love for 12 Grimmauld Place, the house that held so many painful memories for Sirius, Harry chose to give it to the Order of the Phoenix for their continued use as Headquarters.

Kreacher, forced to serve Harry by Sirius's will, was sent to work as a Hogwarts House-elf in the school kitchens (an imposition which did nothing to improve Kreacher's hatred of Harry). Buckbeak passed back into Rubeus Hagrid's care under the assumed name Witherwings.

Sirius had given Hagrid an enchanted, flying motorbike 16 years prior at Godric's Hollow, after Sirius discovered the Potters had been killed. After begging Hagrid to give him baby Harry - a request Hagrid refused because he had orders to take young Harry to Little Whinging - Sirius gave Hagrid the bike before setting off to hunt down Peter Pettigrew. The bike was in Hagrid's posession until it was needed to bring Harry from Number 4, Privet Drive to Order Headquarters shortly before Harry's seventeenth birthday. The bike ended up crashed, as the Order was ambushed by Death Eaters. Arthur Weasley collected the debris and later repaired the bike.

Personality and Traits
Sirius was tall, lean, and, as a young man, very handsome. He had long dark hair, grey eyes, and a demeanor of "casual elegance". He possessed the trademark dark, haughty good looks of the Black family. However, like his cousin Bellatrix, his good looks suffered from his years in Azkaban. Upon first meeting him in 1993, Harry thought he looked like a vampire, emaciated with pale, waxy skin.

Sirius was very brave and very loyal, as shown by his participation in both wars and willingness to die for those he loved. He was a talented and clever wizard, though he was a troublemaker in his youth, arrogant and given to bullying people occasionally, especially Severus Snape with his friend James. Sirius could be vicious towards those whom he disliked; by sending Snape off to the Shrieking Shack as a teenager, he could have gotten Snape killed and he risked exposing his friend Remus's condition as a werewolf. He was also cruel to his house-elf Kreacher, though this was largely because Kreacher praised Sirius's hated mother and made disparaging comments to members of the Order. At times, he was irresponsible, risking getting caught by the Ministry because he felt stir-crazy in his house and advising Harry to take impulsive actions. Much of this can likely be attributed to the years Sirius spent in Azkaban, stunting his emotional development and making him especially eager to spend time with, and protect, his loved ones.

J.K. Rowling once described Sirius as "brave, loyal, reckless, embittered and slightly unbalanced by his long stay in Azkaban."

Family
It is not known what kind of relationship Sirius had with his family in his early childhood, but when he was eleven years old and Sorted into Gryffindor at Hogwarts, his family strongly disapproved. Sirius, in turn, became increasingly rebellious, flaunting his house affiliation and disdain for their pure-blood values. His relationships with his mother and cousin Bellatrix became particularly antagonistic; Walburga disowned Sirius when he left home at the age of sixteen, burned his name off the family tree, and even treated her brother Alphard to the same punishment simply for leaving gold to his nephew. Little is known about Sirius's relationship with his younger brother, Regulus, but from Regulus joining the Death Eaters and from rather nonchalant comments Sirius later made about his death when he tried to leave, it is likely that they did not get along.

"Does it matter if she's my cousin? As far as I'm concerned, they're not my family. She's certainly not my family. I haven't seen her since I was your age, unless you count a glimpse of her coming into Azkaban. D'you think I'm proud of having a relative like her?"

- Sirius to Harry discussing his cousin Bellatrix

Sirius would later claim to have "hated the whole lot of them", aside from his cousin Andromeda, who also rejected the notion of blood purity and married a Muggle-born wizard. After his escape from Azkaban, Sirius became friendly with Andromeda's daughter, Nymphadora Tonks, another member of the Order of the Phoenix. He was killed by his cousin Bellatrix during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries in a duel, during which he was taunting her; she laughed after killing him. His other cousin, Narcissa Malfoy, also seemed to hold Sirius in low regard, as she taunted Harry Potter about his death when they argued in 1996.

The Marauders
"It's been fourteen years, and still not a day goes by that I don't miss your dad."

- Sirius to Harry

While his family shunned him, Sirius gained three good friends who were in Gryffindor with him: James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. The group was very popular and loved to play pranks. When they discovered that Remus was a werewolf, instead of ostracizing him as many would have, they endeavored to become Animagi in order to keep him company during his monthly transformations. After graduating from Hogwarts, they all joined the Order of the Phoenix. Sirius was James' best man at his wedding to Lily Evans, and the godfather to their son.

At some point during the First Wizarding War, Sirius came to distrust Remus, suspecting that he might be a spy. Thus, he did not reveal to Remus that he decided not to be the Potters' Secret-Keeper when they became targets of Lord Voldemort, instead giving the job to Peter. This was a mistake Sirius would regret for the rest of his life, as Peter betrayed them all. James and Lily's deaths devastated Sirius, who would have died for them and who would miss his best friend for the rest of his life. He was sent to Azkaban for Peter's crimes, and Remus initially believed that he was guilty. After he escaped from prison in 1993, he told Remus the truth and, together, they planned to kill Peter for his treachery, though they were stopped by Harry. The two reclaimed their friendship afterwards.

Harry Potter


Sirius was Harry Potter's godfather, and acted as a confidant and father figure to him. Sirius was the only person Harry felt comfortable confiding in about his scar hurting in 1994. Some of the other Order members criticized Sirius's behaviour towards Harry, claiming that he acted as if Harry were James, rather than a child. Sirius shared a lot of information about the First Wizarding War with Harry, much to the disapproval of Molly Weasley, and supported Harry and his friends' efforts to sabotage Dolores Umbridge's dictatorial rule over Hogwarts in their fifth year. Voldemort lured Harry to the Department of Mysteries in 1996 by planting a vision of Sirius suffering in his mind, knowing that Harry would do whatever it took to save his godfather. He was devastated by Sirius's death, and Sirius's spirit, along with those of Harry's parents and Remus, spoke to Harry through the Resurrection Stone in 1998.

Harry later named his first son after both James and Sirius.

Etymology
"Sirius Black" is a pun on his animagus form of a black dog, as the star Sirius is of the Dog constellation. Black hounds also appear on the Black family crest. Additionally, the "black dog" is a metaphor used by Winston Churchill for the symptoms suffered under depression. Sirius certainly suffered from depression much of his life.

Author's Comments
J.K. Rowling has said that she likes Sirius as a character, but she does not think he is "wholly wonderful":

"Sirius is very good at spouting bits of excellent personal philosophy, but he does not always live up to them. For instance, he says in "Goblet of Fire" that if you want to know what a man is really like, 'look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.' But Sirius loathes Kreacher, the house-elf he has inherited, and treats him with nothing but contempt. Similarly, Sirius claims that nobody is wholly good or wholly evil, and yet the way he acts towards Snape suggests that he cannot conceive of any latent good qualities there... Sirius's great redeeming quality is how much affection he is capable of feeling. He loved James like a brother and he went on to transfer that attachment to Harry."

Behind The Scenes

 * The names Sirius and Regulus are also names of two main characters in the videogame Bomberman 64.
 * In the film version of the Department of Mysteries battle, Sirius mistakenly refers to Harry as James, a slip of the tongue that does not occur in the book.
 * Also, in the film version of the Department of Mysteries battle, Sirius is hit with a Killing Curse by Bellatrix Lestrange and survives six seconds before falling into the veil. However, in the book, he fell back and into the veil after being hit by an unknown spell cast by his cousin Bellatrix.
 * In Order of the Phoenix, the way Sirius describes how his brother died implies that Regulus was killed by the Killing Curse. But in Deathly Hallows, it is established that Regulus was killed by the Inferi in Voldemort's Horcrux cave.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (game)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Sirius Black