The truth about Sirius

[Mistress Siana]

I have a question:
Do you believe that DD knew about Sirius being innocent? He believed Harry in PoA, but did he know it from the beginning? I hardly think so, for I can't believe that DD would have let it happen that Sirius sentenced to a lifetime in Azkaban while Wormtail remained free to help the dark lord rise again. He was powerfull enough to at least insist on using Veritaserum on Sirius or something, I guess.
That made me think...apparently, the Death Eaters know about Pettigrew being the traitor, not Black (they said so in OoP). After all, noone seemed surprised at the cemetary scene in GoF...now, we know that a Spy in LV's rows informed DD that he'd finally found out about the Potter's whereabouts. So, wouldn't that spy as well have told him who the traitor was? Apparently he didn't, for reasons I mentioned above. Why?? Or do we possibly know a spy that has a personal grudge against Sirius Black??

[pinky p]

about the veritiserum... did they ever say if they did or didn't use it on sirius during his trial? i can't remember... but if they did, and he told them he was innocent, i guess it would be easy enough for the jury or whatsit (can't remember the name) to say that sirius is a dark & powerful wiz and can fight the veritiserum, or something of that sort.

back on topic, i don't think dd knew sirius was innocent. but... it's hard to believe something that important could get past dd. he's supposed to be the greatest wiz ever, isn't he? but then again, 'old man mistakes' do happen .

[Mistress Siana]

But then it's the question why anybody would want to keep that information away from DD?

[Gower]

Mistress Siana - We do know of a spy who had a grudge against sirius: Severus Snape. Did he want Sirius to die?

[Mistress Siana]

yeah, that's what I meant to imply...

Did he want Sirius to die?

At least he was prepared to send him to Azkaban although Sirius was innocent, as we can see in PoA. In the shrieking shack (sp?) he pointed his wand at Sirius at said "Give me one reason, and I swear I'll do it!" JKR alway says in interview that we should keep an eye on Snape...at least I think it's a possibility that he was the one to inform DD about the betrayal of the Potters but kept the truth about the traitor for himself...

[pinky p]

hmm.... hmmm hmmm hmmm....



anyways... gall darn it, i wish jk rowling would outright tell us who's side snape is on! actually, i find it easier to believe he is on nobody's side except for his own... just out to get the best for himself. if that were true, it's easy to believe that he would lie to dd about sirius. question is... would dd believe everything he had to say?

[Gower]

I think Snape is on the side of good, but he has trouble overcoming his hatred of sirius and Harry and James.

[Phinea Rogue]

I usually think so, but this "keep an eye on Snape" puzzles me. Once I think he's on the good side, than again that he isn't...

[Mistress Siana]

I always wonder if there is another possibility apart from being either on the good or on the bad side...no idea what that could be, though.

[highsorcerer]

In response to the points made...

First, Sirius never HAD a trial. This was revealed in GoF to the trio (Harry, Hermoine, and Ron) by Sirius himself.

Second, as also revealed in GoF during the pensive scene were Krakaroff was trying to get out of Azkaban, not every Death Eater knew all of the others. It was for security reasons (and good ones; Karkaroff couldn't rat them all out, such as Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott). Pettigrew, as the spy inside the Order of the Phoenix would almost certainly not have been known to anybody but Voldemort and a few highly trusted persons. This would not have included Snape.

Finally, all the evidence they had was that Sirius was the traitor. The Potters had told Dumbledore Sirius was the secret keeper, and Sirius was on hand for the confrontation that killed the muggles and (supposedly) Peter Pettigrew. Dead Potters, live secret keeper, "dead" OotP member.

For a Snape idea, see my topic Is Snape Snape?

[Herminny]

I think that DD might have had an inkiling that Sirius may not have done it but all the evidence pointed to Sirius being guilty, maybe he didn't fullly believe Sirius until he talked to him (he is meant to be good at legimancey(penetrating the mid, sorry i can't a spell it for eg. Kreatcher he knew and he always looks harry in the eyes, Harry feels the piercing of them, quite often dumbledore knows what Harry is thinking.) and he would know that Sirius was telling the truth.) Then he saw that Harry's story matched and believed Sirius is innocent

Dumbledore while undisputadly great does not have ultimate power. Hagrid was sent to Azkaban, he was sacked and in the last book he was shunned by many people. While sometimes it seems he is running the entire show he does not quite hold all the power.