“Don’t tell me you’ve never been hearing of Sirius Black. He’s a murderer. Got himself locked up in Azkaban for it,” says Stan Shunpike, the conductor on the Knight Bus that takes Harry to the Leaky Cauldron at the beginning of the third installment in theHarry Potterseries.A deranged murderer, the first one to have escaped Azkaban without any help, and a big supporter of You-Know-Who, Sirius Black’s mere name is enough to arouse fear in the thirdHarry Potterfilm.
Harry is immediately chastised by the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge for running away from the Dursley household given that Sirius is on the loose. When Harry questions what Sirius has got to do with him, Fudge responds inadequately. He asks Harry not to wander and orders Tom to escort him to his room.
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Thereafter, Arthur Weasley discreetly shares with Harry that Sirius escaped from Azkaban because he remains You-Know-Who’s faithful servant. He’s believed to have returned because he has unfinished business from thirteen years ago, in that, in his mind Potter is the only thing that stands in the way ofVoldemort’s return to power. Weasley warns Harry not to go after Sirius, forcing him to ask,“Why would I go looking for someone who wants to kill me?“While Ron says Sirius is a murderous lunatic, Hermione believes he will be caught one day because everyone’s looking for him. Up until the encounter at the Shrieking Shack, Sirius inHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabanis made out to be a menace in the Wizarding World. As the story unfolds, the Golden Trio finds out he’s old friends with their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Remus Lupin, and there’s more to him than meets the eye.
Peter Pettigrew’s Betrayal And Sirius' Imprisonment
Harry usesthe Marauders' Mapto sneak out of Hogwarts and meets Ron and Hermione at Hogsmeade. It is here that the Trio witness Cornelius outside the Three Broomsticks Inn, talking to a rather indignant Madam Rosmerta in Professor McGonagall’s presence. Rosmerta complains her business taking a hit due to the Ministry sending dementors into her pub every other night and says it is ludicrous to believe that Sirius has any business in Hogsmeade. Cornelius informs her that Sirius is after Harry Potter, and rushes her inside. Harry uses his Invisibility Cloak to enter the Inn and hears McGonagall tell Rosmerta that Sirius betrayed James and Lily Potter to Voldemort and killed their mutual friend, Peter Pettigrew. Harry also learns that Sirius (portrayed by Gary OldmaninHarry Potter) remains his godfather and is back to finish what he started.
Harry keeps believing Sirius betrayed his parents but is closer to finding out that the man was framed and imprisoned for the crimes he did not commit. The Trio discovers the truth of what happened on the fateful Halloween night, 1981 after Sirius lures them into the Shack. They are joined by Remus and after a bit of bickering (including Harry attacking Severus Snape), the truth comes to the surface. It turns out, Peter Pettigrew who was in school with them was the one who betrayed Harry’s parents and spent the last twelve years living in his Animagus form, a pet rat of the Weasley family, while Sirius was sent to Azkaban.
Sirius was among the Marauders, i.e. the four Gryffindors and classmates who went to Hogwarts in the 1970s. He, Remus, Peter, and James Potter had a reputation for rule-breaking. They graduated from Hogwarts and joined Dumbledore’s Order of the Phoenix to fight Voldemort in the First Wizarding War. When James and Lily Potter realized they were marked for death, they went into hiding under the protection of the Fidelius Charm.
Few knew where they were and Sirius was originally supposed to be their Secret-Keeper. Fearing Voldemort was onto him, he’d passed the role to Peter who’d succumbed to the Dark Lord and lead him to the Potters. The next day, Sirius unsuccessfully sought to get revenge on Peter and confronted him on a city street. Peter, in turn, loudly accused him of betraying the Potters, set off a powerful explosive curse that killed 12 Muggle bystanders, and cut off his finger to fake his death. He fled in his Animagus form while Sirius was caught at the scene of the crime, and thrown in prison by Barty Crouch, Sr without receiving a trial.
Bellatrix Strikes Sirius
The son of Orion and Walburga Black, Sirius was a pure-blood wizard, and arguably the most tragic character inHarry Potterwho showed defiance against his family’s pure-blood elitism. At Hogwarts, he unlike the rest of the Black family was sorted into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin. InHarry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Sirius showed Harry his burned face on the Black family tree and revealed his mother had done it after he ran away. He was 16 when he broke away from his family and thereafter, was embraced by the Potters. He endured horrible things right from his unpleasant childhood, the death of his best friends to spending twelve years in Azkaban. His tragedy however didn’t stop at his framing and imprisonment. Sirius met an undeserving death at the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. She struck him with a curse and sent him backward through a veil.
“The world isn’t split into goodpeople andDeath Eaters.We’ve all got both light and dark inside of us. What matters is the part we choose to act on.“Sirius taught Harry in the fifthHarry Potterfilm. Despite everything he endured, he hoped for a better tomorrow and promised Harry that they would be a proper family once his name was cleared. Sadly, he was gone too soonfrom Harry’s world, and it’s a shame that the duo didn’t have more time together. The only silver lining to this tragic saga is that Dumbledore successfully convinced the Ministry of Magic about Sirius' innocence and subsequently got him cleared of all charges posthumously.
