Sirius Black III

Sirius Black III (3 NovemberWE WON!!!!!! And Sirius Black was born on the 3rd of November xxxxxxxx posted by JKR on Twitter on 10 October 2015 1959In the F.A.Q. section of JKRS, she stated that Sirius was "around twenty-two" when he was imprisoned in Azkaban. Given that he was imprisoned shortly after 31 October 1981 and attended Hogwarts from 1971 to 1978, Sirius would have been born between 1 September 1959 and November 1959 – 18 June 1996), also known as Padfoot or Snuffles (in his Animagus form), was an English pure-blood wizard, the older son of Orion and Walburga Black, the older brother of Regulus Black, and godfather of Harry Potter. Although he was the heir of the House of Black, Sirius disagreed with his family's belief in blood purity and defied tradition when he was Sorted into Gryffindor House instead of Slytherin at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which he attended from 1971 to 1978. As the rest of his family had been in Slytherin, he was the odd one out.As Sirius's relationship with his relatives deteriorated, he gained a lifelong friendship with James Potter and Remus Lupin. He was also friends with Peter Pettigrew. The four friends, also known as the Marauders, joined the Order of the Phoenix to fight against Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters during the First Wizarding War. Sirius was named the godfather of Harry James Potter, the only son of James and Lily Potter. When Pettigrew betrayed the Potters to Voldemort, Sirius sought to get revenge on Pettigrew. However, Pettigrew was able to frame Sirius for his betrayal of the Potters, the murder of twelve Muggles, and the staged murder of Pettigrew before Sirius could accomplish this.
Sirius was sent to Azkaban and, after twelve years, became the only known person to escape the prison unassisted. He did it by transforming into his Animagus form of a massive black dog often confused with a "Grim", an omen said to cause death. Sirius exposed Pettigrew's treachery to his old friend Remus and his godson Harry. Unfortunately, Dementors attacked the group and allowed Pettigrew to escape. With the Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge wanting to have Sirius kissed and Sirius's proof of innocence gone, he was forced to go on the run, 
After Lord Voldemort returned in 1995, Sirius rejoined the Order. He was killed by his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries and subsequently cleared of all charges by the Ministry of Magic, though it was too late for him to enjoy his freedom. Eventually, his death was avenged by Molly Weasley. 
He briefly appeared again to Harry through the Resurrection Stone on 2 May 1998, along with James and Lily Potter, and Remus Lupin. Harry later named his first son James Sirius Potter after him and his father James Potter I.
==Biography==
===Early life ===
Sirius Black III was born on 3 November 1959, in the London borough of Islington, England, to Orion Black and Walburga Black, both of whom were Dark wizards and second cousins. He was the last remaining heir of the House of Black, a once-notable pure-blood wizarding family. Sirius had a younger brother, Regulus. Sirius did not share a close relationship with his brother, calling him a "better son" than himself.
"Sirius" was 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, as he did not have children.
The Black family believed strongly in pure-blood elitism. They refused to consort with Muggles or Muggle-borns, Squibs, and blood traitors and even disowned Squib family members, such as Sirius's great-uncle Marius Black, and insisted that their family members only marry within respectable pure-blood classes; because of these beliefs, they were forced to marry their own cousins. They also held the Dark Arts in reverence.
Sirius rejected these values, leading to conflict with his family. He even put permanent-sticking charms of Gryffindor banners, as well as pictures of Muggle girls in bikinis and motorcycles, as well as a picture of himself and his Gryffindor friends on the walls of his room to emphasise his differences from the family and annoy his parents. When his cousins Bellatrix and Narcissa made the 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.
===Hogwarts years ===
Sirius had an unhappy childhood; by adolescence he had come to hate most of his relatives, in particular his mother Walburga and his cousin Bellatrix Black. Whereas all other members of the Black family were Sorted into Slytherin, Sirius was placed in Gryffindor during his Sorting in 1971, showing that his views had already diverged from those of the rest of the family before he came to school. Sirius also took great care in hanging Gryffindor banners all over his room at Number 12 Grimmauld Place to show his difference from the rest of the family. Aside from the shrine to Godric Gryffindor, Sirius did the rest of his room akin to a Muggle boy of his age. He put up pictures of motorcycles and fighter jets as well as posters of bathing beauties. Honouring Muggle accomplishments annoyed his family, but none so much as angering his mother that Sirius considered Muggle women attractive.
By contrast, he greatly enjoyed life at Hogwarts, where he was inseparable from his best friends: James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. They later discovered that Remus was a werewolf. To support him, Sirius, James, and Peter secretly — and illegally — became Animagi. This 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 (not unlike the Grim), from which his nickname "Padfoot" was derived. James would become a stag (Prongs), and Peter would become a rat (Wormtail). The four friends called themselves "the Marauders" and used the nicknames "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs". Padfoot, Prongs, and Wormtail came from their three Animagus forms and Moony after his lycanthropic condition. They also created the Marauder's Map, which allowed them to see where everyone in the castle was at a given time, which made sneaking around and avoiding teachers much easier.
Although he later considered himself "an idiot" during this time, Sirius, along with James were immensely popular. Teachers respected his intelligence (though not his behaviour), and girls adored his dark handsome looks. His especially rebellious attitude made him ignore them, therefore making girls fawn over his bad boy attitude as well as his looks. Many teachers regarded him and James as troublemakers or practical jokers. Hagrid once compared them to the mischievous twins Fred and George Weasley, saying that the Weasleys could "give them a run for their money".
Sirius's popularity was not universal, however. A mutual hatred sprang up between James Potter and Severus Snape. Sirius actively supported James, leading to Snape bestowing an equal and life-long grudge upon Sirius. Sirius later claimed Snape was "this little oddball who was up to his eyes in the Dark Arts", from Snape's first moments at Hogwarts. He was one of the many people who hated Snape.
Sirius and James often went out of their way to bully Snape. One time, Sirius and James physically bullied him simply out of boredom. Though, Sirius did admit that he and James were "arrogant little berks" and that he was not proud of his behaviour, but he had done nothing to rectify it. He and James eventually ended their campaign of ill-treatment towards Snape, but they apparently never apologised. The only time James ever stopped was in front of Lily Evans, a pretty redhead who disapproved of such behaviour, whom James later married right after they left Hogwarts.
In his fifth year at Hogwarts years, Sirius played a potentially lethal practical joke on Snape. He informed Snape of how to enter a tunnel under the Whomping Willow that would lead to the Shrieking Shack where, unknown to Snape, Remus Lupin was confined during his transformations into a werewolf. 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 while omitting crucial information. He simultaneously claimed it "served Snape right". The resentment Snape felt for Sirius was never healed. Snape was not the only student whom Sirius and James tormented during their years at Hogwarts. They also used an illegal hex on a boy named Bertram Aubrey that caused his head to grow twice its original size. It is unknown why they hexed him.
At age sixteen, Sirius finally broke away from his pure-blood family and took refuge with James Potter and his parents. Fleamont and Euphemia Potter generously adopted Sirius as a son. His outraged mother blasted his name off the family tree, as was the tradition for those who did not support the family's supremacist ideology. Sirius's uncle Alphard, Walburga's brother, sympathised with his young nephew and left him a large inheritance in his will, most likely causing Walburga to blast Alphard's name off, as well. Sirius was left financially independent by his uncle's generous bequest and eventually got a place of his own.
===First Wizarding War ===
After leaving school, Sirius fought against Lord Voldemort, eventually joining the Order of the Phoenix. Around 1977, he and James were involved in a motorbike chase with two policemen. Although the chase started off as a bit of fun, it turned slightly more serious when the pair were attacked by three men on broomsticks. Sirius and James used their wands to raise the police car that had been chasing them, and their attackers crashed into it. It is unknown whether they got into trouble with the Ministry of Magic.
Sometime in 1979, Sirius's father and brother both died. Orion's death was from an unknown cause, while Regulus's death was caused when he drank the Drink of Despair while trying to destroy one of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes, and when he tried to get water to quench his thirst, he was dragged to his death by the Inferi, although Sirius never learned the details of his death.
He remained the best of friends with James and attended James's 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 found by Harry a number of years later.
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 fellow Order members Alice and Frank Longbottom, 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 willingly die rather than reveal where they were. However, believing Voldemort would suspect him, Sirius suggested Peter Pettigrew as a less obvious choice. Keeping everyone else, including Remus Lupin and Albus Dumbledore, in the dark, Sirius and the Potters reassigned Pettigrew to be Secret-Keeper with Sirius as a decoy.
===Between the wars ===
====Imprisonment====
On Hallowe'en night 1981, Sirius went to Pettigrew’s hiding place and found him missing. Unsettled by the lack of 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 take Harry from him on Dumbledore's orders, Sirius offered to take Harry himself as he was the chosen guardian in the events of James's and Lily's deaths. However, Hagrid told him that Dumbledore had made arrangements to send Harry to Lily's sister, Petunia. Sirius conceded after an argument and gave Hagrid his flying motorcycle, telling him he wouldn't need it; nevertheless, after Hagrid had handed over the baby, he intended to return Black his bike but never got the chance.
After leaving Godric's Hollow, Sirius, overcome with grief and rage, tracked Pettigrew down, determined to kill him in vengeance. However, Pettigrew outwitted Black: confronted by Sirius on a city street, he shouted out that it was Sirius who betrayed the Potters and then created a huge explosion on the street with an extremely powerful explosive curse (likely the Blasting Curse), killing twelve Muggles in the process and enabling him to fake his own death and escape in his Animagus form, leaving a severed finger behind as evidence. The surviving Muggles who witnessed the event were pretty certain they saw Sirius murder their twelve companions and Pettigrew with the curse, and Fudge claimed to have seen Sirius laughing maniacally at the scene of the crime.
Sirius was arrested by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and sentenced by Barty Crouch Snr to life imprisonment in Azkaban without a trial for thirteen counts of murder with the curse giving the information about the Potters' whereabouts which lead to their death and service to Lord Voldemort. The surviving Muggles were Obliviated and given an excuse by the Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee that a gas leak occurred before they could remember who really cast the Blasting Curse. Pettigrew was unjustly awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class for his confrontation with Sirius, which, along with the finger that they recovered, were "posthumously" given to his mother. As time passed, due to misconceptions, many believed that Black drew his wand and killed Pettigrew before the other had a chance of even drawing. Even the other remaining Marauder, Remus, believed it was Sirius who betrayed their brotherhood.
Marked as Prisoner ᛈᛉ390, Sirius was placed 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, which he said in the Shrieking Shack was"more an obsession than a happy thought"; it could not be detected by the Dementors but still allowed him to maintain a sense of self and regain enough strength to transform into his Animagus form in his cell. Since Dementors have difficulty sensing the less complex emotions of animals, he was able to remain relatively unaffected by them. However, the Dementors evidently were not concerned about these apparent temporary disappearances since they thought it meant he was losing his mind like every other convict in their custody, including Bellatrix and some of her fellow Death Eaters.
However, his brooding over his friends' deaths and Pettigrew's betrayal became an obsession as well. This was due to hearing many different theories regarding why Harry survived Voldemort's attack being made by the confined Death Eaters, the most persistent of which indicating that they believed Pettigrew to have betrayed them since the Dark Lord met his downfall on Peter's information. This most likely meant that Pettigrew went into hiding as a rat in hopes of avoiding the half of Voldemort's followers who avoided imprisonment, afraid that they will be motivated to kill him if his continuing existence became known if not return to their master. Sirius waited until any sources reached within the prison walls leading to the discovery that Pettigrew was staying with a wizarding family as a rat to keep up on current news about Voldemort, all while getting very weak with no hope of driving the Dementors back without his wand, which was taken from him and stored away under Ministry of Magic safety repercussions.
By 1985, Sirius's mother died, leaving the Black house-elf Kreacher alone in the house, which was thus left abandoned.
====Escape from Azkaban====
In 1993, Sirius became the first known person ever to escape from Azkaban. He was, however, unknown to the public, beaten by Barty Crouch Jnr through his mother's sacrifice. After receiving an issue of the Daily Prophet from Cornelius Fudge during an inspection, he discovered that Pettigrew was indeed hiding in his Animagus form as Ron Weasley's pet rat Scabbers. Filled with the desire for revenge and concern for Harry, Sirius took his Animagus form and (thinned from undernourishment) was able to slip past the Dementors when they opened his cell door to bring him food. Then, he slipped out of Azkaban and swam across the North Sea in his dog form back to the mainland and to freedom.
First, he made his way to Little Whinging to catch a glimpse of his godson as a teenager, where his Animagus appearance startled Harry before the Knight Bus turned up. News of his escape caused an unprecedented panic, as he was the first known escapee of the notorious prison, and many people believed that he was planning another mass murder as well to murder Harry in a mad attempt to bring Lord Voldemort back. Witch Watchers that operated as a special Ministry force were used as a means of trying to catch him, but to no avail. The Muggle authorities were warned that Black was dangerous.
Sirius took refuge around Hogsmeade and the Forbidden Forest, where he was spotted a few times and mistaken by Harry for the Grim. He made the acquaintance of Hermione Granger's cat Crookshanks, who had recognised that Sirius was not actually a dog and who had also recognised Peter for what he was. Crookshanks attempted to bring Peter to Sirius, but Ron was very protective of his so-called pet. Sirius also spent some of his time in the Shrieking Shack planning various ways in which to catch Pettigrew.
Half-crazed and desperate, Sirius sneaked into Hogwarts through the old passageway from the Shrieking Shack and on one occasion slashed the Fat Lady's portrait when she refused him entrance to Gryffindor Tower on 31 October, 1993. Later, he came to view the Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. During the match he witnessed Harry's excellent flying skills, which he later commented mirrored James's skills. Eventually, he was able to enter the Gryffindor common room. He accomplished this with a list of passwords Crookshanks had stolen from Neville Longbottom and shredded Ron's bed-curtains in his search for "Scabbers". Peter was nowhere to be found since Sirius's escape had prompted him to once again fake his own death and hide.
====Reunion with Harry Potter====
In June, Sirius caught Ron carrying Scabbers after the rat had been discovered hiding in Rubeus Hagrid's cabin and dragged both boy and rat through the tunnel under the Whomping Willow to the Shrieking Shack. Harry and Hermione Granger followed, the former intent on confronting Sirius about the supposed betrayal of his parents despite the obvious differences in their ages and skill levels; Sirius's weakened state (due to being on the run) at that time led to the boy easily, and without a wand, overpowering the older wizard despite Crookshanks's attempts to aid the Animagus.
Once Harry had Sirius at his mercy, Remus Lupin, who had seen Peter on the confiscated Marauder's Map, disarmed Harry and warmly greeted his old friend. Together, Lupin and Sirius revealed Peter's true form. Both wanted to kill their former friend for betraying James and Lily, but Harry prevented them from doing so, believing that it would be better to force Pettigrew to face justice at the hands of the Dementors. That, and he did not want his father's friends to become murderers, as he did not think that would be what his father wanted.
As they made their way back to the castle, Sirius hesitantly asked Harry if he would like to live with him, thinking Harry would not want to; but Harry enthusiastically agreed, thrilled at the idea of leaving the Dursleys and finally having a real home. Unfortunately, soon after they left the Whomping Willow, Lupin transformed under the full moon and, having forgotten to take the Wolfsbane Potion in the wake of discovering Pettigrew, was uncontrollable.
In order to protect Harry, Ron, and Hermione from Lupin, Sirius turned back into a dog, giving Pettigrew an opening to escape and flee. Sirius was weakened following his encounter with Lupin's werewolf form and could not protect himself when hundreds of Dementors guarding Hogwarts arrived. Harry and Hermione had followed Sirius and found him lying unconscious and surrounded by the hooded creatures, he attempted to perform the Patronus Charm but to no avail. The Dementors nearly succeeded in sucking out Sirius's soul until a powerful Patronus resembling a stag warded them off.
Sirius was briefly recaptured by Snape and was sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss, a fate worse than death. Miraculously, and by Albus Dumbledore's suggestion, Harry and Hermione used Hermione's Time-Turner to help Sirius escape; as Dumbledore had also hinted that "more than one innocent life" could be saved that night, they rescued the hippogriff Buckbeak from execution, thus granting Sirius a form of travel. Sirius was once again a wanted man, although alive, soul intact, and innocence known to at least certain people. Soon after his escape, he sent Harry, Ron, and Hermione a letter via a tiny, hyperactive owl explaining that it was he who sent Harry the Firebolt for Christmas and giving Harry permission, as his godfather, to go to Hogsmeade. He also apologised to Ron for the loss of his pet, asking him to accept the owl in place of "Scabbers".
=====Death=====
Tragically, however, during a frenzied duel with his hated cousin Bellatrix, Sirius was struck with an unknown spell which caused him to fall through the Veil in the Death Chamber to his death. This was witnessed by a distressed Harry Potter. It would be years before Harry could fully come to terms with the loss of his godfather. Harry had a hard time dealing with this loss because, as Dumbledore flatly stated, Sirius was the "closest thing to a parent" Harry had ever known. Harry also blamed himself for Sirius's death.
===Post-mortem===
In the aftermath of Sirius's death, Harry, enraged and grief-stricken, unsuccessfully attempted to take revenge on Bellatrix before Voldemort arrived, even attempting to use the Cruciatus Curse. After a short duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort, the latter fled, but not before he was seen by Cornelius Fudge himself and several other Ministry officials, finally forcing them to abandon their smear campaign against Dumbledore and Harry and admit the truth to the world. With that done with, Dumbledore successfully convinced the Ministry that Sirius was innocent all along and managed to get him cleared of all charges posthumously.
Black did not get married or have children. As the portrait of Phineas Nigellus, Black's deceased great-great-grandfather, stated, the direct line of 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 Black's will, which designated Harry Potter as heir to all his worldly possessions. Thus, by the will, Harry inherited 12 Grimmauld Place, Buckbeak, 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 Black'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".250px|thumb|Sirius's Ministry fileIt was discovered that Sirius (along with others) had a file kept by the Ministry of Magic while it was under Lord Voldemort's control in 1997. It was kept in Dolores Umbridge's office. The document listed Sirius's blood status, his status of his family, and his security status. Because he died in the service of the Order of the Phoenix his picture had a giant red X crossed over it.
Black had given Hagrid an enchanted, flying motorbike sixteen years prior at Godric's Hollow after Black 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 - Black gave Hagrid the bike before setting off to hunt down Peter Pettigrew. The bike was in Hagrid's possession 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 crashing, as the Order was ambushed by Death Eaters. Ted Tonks collected the debris and sent it to Arthur Weasley, who later repaired the bike.Sirius Black was one of the four shadows that were summoned by the Resurrection Stone to speak to Harry as he went to what he believed to be his death on 2 May, 1998. Black assured his godson that dying was not painful, that it was faster and easier than falling asleep. He also promised Harry that he and the others would stay with him as he went to confront Lord Voldemort and would stay to the very end. When Harry reached the fire, he allowed the stone to slip from Harry's hand, thus his parents, Sirius, and Lupin vanished. Harry later gave his first son the middle name Sirius to honour his godfather's memory. James Sirius's personality was very similar to Sirius's.
==Physical description==
200px|thumb|right|Sirius in his fifth year, age 16Sirius was a tall, well-built, darkly handsome man with fair skin, medium, lustrous black hair, which sometimes appeared light in the sun, striking grey eyes, and an air of "casual elegance"; Harry also noted that as a teenager, Sirius always had a slightly haughty look on his face. This vestige of aristocratic beauty and haughtiness is apparently an attribute passed down through the Black Family. When Harry entered into Snape's memory, he saw a sixteen-year-old Sirius finishing his exams while being ogled by a girl who sat a few rows behind him due to his considerable good looks and casual, yet elegant, attitude.
Unfortunately, Sirius's handsomeness - much like his imprisoned cousin Bellatrix - suffered due to the depression and maltreatment he underwent during the twelve years he spent in Azkaban. As a result, Sirius had prematurely aged beyond that of a man in his thirties. He had a gaunt, sunken face, waxy skin, yellow teeth, and long, matted hair. Harry thought he looked as a corpse might. By November, after his escape, he visited Harry in the common room fireplace, and he was described as having short, clean hair and a fuller, younger face, though his physical appearance had yet to fully recover from his imprisonment.200px|thumb|left|Sirius, aged 35Unfortunately, by the next spring, his condition deteriorated, and he reverted back to a state that was only slightly better than that which he had been in a year ago: unshaven, with a faint scent of stale drink around him, and he did not bother to change his clothes at night (presumably a result of his "imprisonment" at the home he utterly despised and his conviction of his apparent uselessness). He was also branded with a series of tattoos over the chest and arms.
Death, however, served to restore him to the peak of his good looks and vitality — his spirit was described as "tall and handsome, and younger by far than Harry had ever seen him in life. He loped with an easy grace, his hands in his pockets and a grin on his face".
==Personality and traits==
Sirius was true to the ideal of a Gryffindor student. He was true-hearted and brave, as shown by his participation in both wars and his willingness to die for those he loved. He was particularly loyal to his best friend, James Potter, a fellow Gryffindor. In his youth, he was a witty and talented wizard, but he was also quite an arrogant and mischievous troublemaker and, sometimes, a bully. He bullied and humiliated those he particularly disliked, namely Severus Snape. He was vicious towards those he hated, sometimes unjustifiably — deliberately sending the teenage Snape off to the Shrieking Shack when Remus Lupin was a full-fledged werewolf while knowing that it could be fatal for Severus. He, along with James, were acknowledged to be some of the most brilliant students Hogwarts had ever seen, as proven by their ability to become Animagi as underage wizards and by the creation of the Marauders' Map.
As an adult, Sirius was shown to be capable of an explosive temper when angered, a trait shared by his mother Walburga Black and his mad cousin Bellatrix Lestrange. His years in Azkaban contributed dramatically, which was especially evident during 1993 and 1994: trying persistently to capture and kill Peter Pettigrew, going to lengths that even Dumbledore commented as not those of an innocent right-thinking man.
Later on, he occasionally demonstrated himself to be reckless, immature, and even downright irresponsible. In several instances, he risked getting caught by the Ministry because he felt stir-crazy in his house and advised Harry to take rash actions. Much of this can likely be attributed to the vast amount of time spent in jail, which stunted his emotional development and made him especially eager to spend time with and protect his loved ones.However, through it all, Sirius had good intentions. For all his wrath and vengeance toward Pettigrew, he was capable of respecting Harry's request to not murder the man he escaped Azkaban to kill; opting instead to expose Pettigrew (a plan that unfortunately failed with catastrophic results). Despite this hatred for Snape, Sirius did display shame for his treatment of him in their youth. He also seemed to have possessed a superb mental control that contrasted sharply with his passionate and impulsive nature. The fact that he was able to completely resist the psychological effects of the Dementors for so many years suggests that he had an unusually strong sense of self, and therefore was capable of withstanding long periods of emotional torture and despair.
Besides all this, Sirius seems to have some traits related to his Animagus form of a dog. Such examples are when James Potter points out Snape, and Sirius is described as "perfectly still like a dog smelling a rabbit." The most referenced of these traits is his "bark-like laugh." as it is described nearly every time it is heard. Sirius's other dog-like traits include his need to protect his loved ones, his selfless nature, his great sense of loyalty, and his need to be part of something bigger than himself, such as when he helped to plant the seeds of Dumbledore's Army and encouraged and enabled Harry to further the movement against Umbridge's increasingly totalitarian hold over Hogwarts. His territorial protectiveness over the places and people he cared for were always evident, given how he stayed in his dog form for Harry after his encounter and duel against the newly resurrected Voldemort in Little Hangleton, comforting his godson in plain view of many people, including Cornelius Fudge, who still thought he was a criminal, at great personal risk to himself.
==Magical abilities and skills==
Sirius was described as a powerful wizard by his former teacher, McGonagall. Remus also once stated that he had been one of the cleverest Hogwarts students of his time.
*Transfiguration: Sirius was incredibly talented in Transfiguration. In his fifth year, he was already skilled enough in Human Transfiguration to successfully become an Animagus, assuming the shape of a large black dog. Since he was an unregistered Animagus, he was able to take advantage of this ability to elude his Ministry captors. Along with Remus Lupin, he easily performed Untransfiguration on Peter, forcing him out of his Animagus form.
*Potions: In their fifth year, Sirius and James successfully brewed the Animagus Potion, a potion which is highly complex and time-consuming to brew and with great consequences if done improperly. This demonstrated that Sirius was skilled with potion-making.
*Charms: Sirius was highly talented in charm-work from a young age. With his friends, he created the Marauder's Map during their teenage years, the complex manufacturing process of which involved the Homonculous Charm and a spell to insult those who attempted to read it, and both enchantments lasted long after all four of the producers' demises. He also placed Permanent Sticking Charms on the decorations in his room at Number 12 Grimmauld Place that were too strong for his parents to remove. He was capable of levitating Severus Snape's unconscious body in the Shrieking Shack with the charm Mobilicorpus. He was good with other everyday household charms, such as the Levitation Charm, Summoning Charm, Banishing Charm, and Mending Charm. He also used charms to enchant his motorcycle to be able to fly and travel at unnaturally high speeds. He also used the Summoning Charm to successfully summon several bottles of Butterbeer at 12 Grimmauld Place to himself, Harry, and the Weasleys. During the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, he cast an effective Shield Charm to protect Harry. Last but not least, Sirius was capable of producing a non-corporeal Patronus, which is a highly advanced piece of protective magic, and further proof of his superior magical and overall charms ability.
*Non-verbal magic: Sirius was able to non-verbally perform Human Transfiguration and defensive magic (Disarming and Stunning spells). Since non-verbal magic is very difficult, this is testament to his power and skill as a wizard.
*Healing magic: Sirius magically healed an injury from a biting snuffbox filled with wartcap powder seconds after he received it. He also tended to the injury Kreacher caused Buckbeak, apparently successfully.
*Care of Magical Creatures: Sirius won the trust and loyalty of magical creatures easily. During his hunt for Wormtail, he managed to gain the trust of Crookshanks, a highly intelligent half-Kneazle cat. He also got along well with Buckbeak the Hippogriff. Sirius escaped with Buckbeak and took care of him for the next two years, feeding him and caring for his injuries successfully.
*Duelling: Sirius fought with the Order of the Phoenix in the First Wizarding War and survived. During the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, he defeated an unnamed Death Eater and fought the extremely deadly Antonin Dolohov to a standstill until Harry intervened and knocked out Dolohov. He also fought on par with his cousin Bellatrix, who was Voldemort's most powerful Death Eater, although his recklessness led to his death at her hands.
*Physical combat skills: During his school years, Sirius and James used their respective Animagus forms to physically keep Remus in check while he was a werewolf. As demonstrated by his attack on Wormtail, Sirius possessed a dog's swift speed in his Animagus form, which allowed him to get the jump on his opponents before resuming his human form. During the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, he infused physical combat into his duelling style by ramming Dolohov with his shoulder and punching Malfoy in the face.
*Intellectual skills: Sirius was able to deduce that Pettigrew was at Hogwarts with Harry when he saw a photograph of the Weasley family with Pettigrew in his animagus form in a Daily Prophet article. Sirius then escaped Azkaban to protect Harry, using his Animagus form and weight loss to his advantage, becoming the only person to escape Azkaban unaided. He was able to successfully enter Hogwarts on two separate occasions and escaped recapture both times, even though the highly skilled Hogwarts professors and the Dementors were searching for him. The intelligent questions he asked about the schemes surrounding the Triwizard Tournament confirm his incisive intelligence.
*Strong willpower: Sirius had an extremely strong willpower and mental fortitude, which allowed him to resist the Dementors' depressive effects in Azkaban for twelve years by focusing on both his innocence and his desire for vengeance against Pettigrew along with transforming into his Animagus form when necessary. This was especially notable as most prisoners of Azkaban either became insane or lost their will to live within weeks when succumbing to the Dementor's depressive effects, something which especially unnerved Cornelius Fudge, who was surprised to see how little the Dementors had an effect on Black. Earlier in life, Sirius was unafraid of challenging and rebelling against his family's prejudice against non-pure-bloods, which eventually resulted in them disowning him, upending their tradition of being sorted into Slytherin, which resulted in him being sorted into Gryffindor, and even fighting against family members like Bellatrix, who joined Voldemort and his Death Eaters. This also included fighting against both Voldemort and his Death Eaters while being unafraid to say Voldemort's name aloud. After his escape from Azkaban, Sirius was determined and relentless in wanting to both avenge his wrongful imprisonment due to Pettigrew's treachery and protect Harry from Pettigrew even though the Ministry of Magic was after him and Hogwarts was heavily guarded by both the professors and Dementors. He was later willing to risk his own safety and risk exposure in order to give Harry and his friends advice along with protecting them, which eventually resulted in his own death at the hands of his cousin Bellatrix to protect Harry and his friends when Voldemort lured them to the Ministry of Magic. Albus Dumbledore in particular noted that Sirius was never one to stand by when any of his loved ones were in danger, which was another testament to Sirius's strong willpower.
*Driving skills: Sirius was a very capable motorcyclist, able to maintain stability with a passenger riding pillion while duelling three pursuers on broomsticks and evading a Muggle police car. Sirius's driving was certainly above average, if not at peak levels, as very few professional stunt cyclists would be capable of a similar feat.
*Mechanical skills: Sirius modified a motorbike to be able to fly (among other possible modifications he made) and maintained it for around four years.
==Relationships==
===Family===
The nature of Sirius's relationship with his family during his early childhood is unknown, but at the age of eleven, he earned the severe disappointment and disapproval of his family by being Sorted into Gryffindor house at Hogwarts. Sirius, in turn, became increasingly rebellious by flaunting his house affiliation and his disdain for his family's 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 money to his nephew.
===Marauders===
Though he became increasingly estranged from his own family, 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 ostracising him as many would have, they endeavoured to become Animagi in order to keep him company during his monthly transformations. Together, this group created the Marauder's Map. When Sirius ran away from home at age sixteen, James's family took him in. After graduating from Hogwarts, the group of friends joined the Order of the Phoenix. Sirius was James's 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, who was less likely to be suspected of holding the secret. This turned out to be a fatal mistake that Sirius regretted for the rest of his life, as Peter betrayed them all. The tragic deaths of James and Lily was a cruel brutal blow to him, as he would have willingly died for them, and confessed that he desperately missed his best friend (whom he loved as a brother) every day. 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. Afterwards, the two reclaimed their friendship, but it was tragically cut short by Sirius's death two years later.
The ending of the three Marauders who had stayed true to their friendship to the very end — James, Sirius, and Remus — was bittersweet: though they all lost their lives to the two wizarding wars, it can be theorised that they were reunited in death, never to be parted again, as seen when Harry summoned the three of them with the Resurrection Stone. However, all respect for Peter was lost, as his betrayal was what led to such a breakdown.
===Severus Snape===
Sirius immediately got off on the wrong foot with Severus Snape when they met on the Hogwarts Express in their first year, as did James Potter, who would become Sirius's best friend. Sirius snapped at Snape after he sneered at James's wish to be Sorted into Gryffindor house, and the two bestowed the mocking name of "Snivellus" on the Slytherin student. They loathed Snape as an "oddball up to his eyeballs in the Dark Arts." He also described him as a "greasy, oily haired kid."
According to Sirius, the other boy was jealous of his and James's popularity, and took to following them around, trying to get them into trouble. Sirius and James outright bullied Snape frequently during their years at Hogwarts, sometimes simply out of boredom, even in front of his childhood friend Lily Evans. Sirius also played a potentially lethal prank on Snape, telling him how to get into the Shrieking Shack while omitting the fact that a werewolf was on the other side, showing a shockingly callous attitude towards Snape's safety.
Sirius and Snape maintained their hatred of each other into adulthood. Not only did Snape grow to despise Sirius for humiliating him at school, but he also believed Sirius to have been the one who betrayed Lily to Voldemort. He was eager to see Sirius receive the Dementor's Kiss (a fate considered by many to be worse than death) after he escaped from Azkaban during the summer of 1993, yet he was beside himself in outrage when Sirius was able to escape yet again at the end of the preceding school year, with the assistance of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley. After Sirius's innocence was proven by the end of the 1994-1995 school year, however, Dumbledore insisted that the two put their differences aside and ally against Voldemort, which they accepted. Later, Snape delighted in taunting Sirius about his "uselessness" to the Order of the Phoenix while he was forced to remain cooped up in 12 Grimmauld Place, and the two needled each other at every opportunity. Sirius also, however, told Harry that he was ashamed of his treatment of Snape in their younger years.
It's possible that Snape never knew Sirius was an unregistered Animagus, as he didn't recognise him in dog form at the end of the 1994-1995 school year, but he showed a mix of horror and hatred when he recognised him for what he was.
===Lily Evans===
Sirius met Lily Evans on the Hogwarts Express, where he and James Potter almost immediately made a bad impression on her by insulting her best friend, Severus Snape. She quickly moved to leave the compartment they were all sharing on the train, with Snape in tow, and literally turned her back on Sirius when she was Sorted with him into Gryffindor House.
During their earlier years at Hogwarts, Lily came to believe that Sirius was nothing more than a common highly arrogant bully, just like his best friend, James, so their relationship was not likely a friendly one. That changed in their later years at Hogwarts, presumably after she had ended her friendship with Snape and got to know and understand Sirius better. During the First Wizarding War, they both became members of the Order of the Phoenix and fought in several battles. She also sent a letter to Sirius, which showed that they were still friends despite the intense distrust and fear spread by the First War.
After Lily and James were killed by Lord Voldemort, Sirius was devastated; he attacked their betrayer, Peter Pettigrew, and attempted to kill him. He later told Harry that he cared deeply for James and Lily and that he would have rather died than betray them.
Sirius was also godfather to Lily's son, Harry, and they shared a strong bond of friendship, love, and trust.
===Harry Potter===
Sirius was Harry Potter's godfather and acted as a confidant and paternal figure to him. He deeply loved Harry and was the only person Harry felt comfortable confiding in completely. Harry regarded Sirius as a mixture of father and older brother, and Sirius viewed Harry as exceptionally brave and mature for his age, having experienced as much as many adults have.Sirius felt that Harry should have the right to know difficult truths, and considered him perfectly capable of taking on heavy burdens that many other fully-grown wizards could not. Molly Weasley, however, criticised Sirius's behaviour towards Harry, claiming that he acted as if Harry were James rather than the child that he undeniably still was. Sirius shared a good deal 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.While Harry craved a paternal figure, Sirius wasn't equipped to be one and more or less treated Harry like his best friend, the way Harry's father was before him.16 July 2005 Leaky Cauldron and MuggleNet interview with J.K. Rowling 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. Harry was completely devastated by Sirius's death, having lost the closest thing to a parent he had ever known. Harry felt riddled with guilt over the incident but eventually managed to compartmentalise his grief, knowing that Sirius wouldn't have wanted him to shut himself up.
In 1998, Harry used the Resurrection Stone to summon the spirits of Sirius, Remus, and his parents, all four of whom gave him the emotional support he needed to sacrifice himself. Sirius assured his godson that dying was not painful at all and was actually quicker and easier than falling asleep.
Harry later named his first son after both James and Sirius.
===Ron Weasley===
Sirius first met Ron Weasley in 1994. Ron owned a rat named Scabbers, which, unbeknownst to him and the rest of his family, was actually Peter Pettigrew in disguise. With his mind and heart firmly set on murdering Pettigrew for his treacherous betrayal, Sirius snuck into Hogwarts and approached Ron's bed, knife in hand, with the intention of killing the disguised rat. However, Ron awoke, saw Sirius, and, frightened out of his wits, screamed, alerting the whole dormitory and forcing Sirius to flee for his life. At the end of his third year, however, Ron learned that Sirius was innocent and discovered the true identity of his pet. Feeling partly responsible for Ron's loss, Sirius gave him an owl to replace "Scabbers". A year later, Ron, along with Harry and Hermione, provided food for Sirius, who was hiding in a cave outside of Hogsmeade.
During the Second Wizarding War, Ron and Sirius grew closer, as they both lived at Sirius's house for several weeks and eventually became good friends. When Hermione voiced her theory that Sirius was attempting to "live through" her, Ron, and Harry, both boys snapped at her angrily in Sirius's defence. Sirius and Ron fought alongside one another during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, and when Sirius was killed by Bellatrix Lestrange, Ron grieved for him and grew to share Harry's intense hatred of Bellatrix.
===Hermione Granger===
Sirius also met Hermione Granger during the 1993–1994 school year, following his escape from Azkaban. Hermione, like the rest of the wizarding world, initially believed that Sirius was the wizard who betrayed James and Lily Potter to Lord Voldemort. However, she learned the truth and even indirectly helped to clear any doubts of his innocence through her questions. Together with Harry and Ron, she brought him food when he was hiding in a cave near Hogsmeade during the 1994–1995 school year.
In 1995, she lived for a few weeks at Sirius's house, along with other members of the Order of the Phoenix. It was then, however, that she started to see "flaws" in Sirius's character. Firstly, she severely disapproved of his indifferent and occasionally cruel treatment of his house-elf Kreacher despite the fact that Kreacher initially appeared to be disgusted by her and addressed her as "the Mudblood" (which Hermione often attributed to Kreacher being senile due to his old age.)
Secondly, she grew to believe that Sirius could be very selfish when it came to Harry, even voicing her theory that a part of Sirius had actually been hoping for Harry's expulsion from Hogwarts so that Harry would stay with him at Grimmauld Place instead of going back to school for his fifth year. She also thought that Sirius was attempting to live vicariously through her, Harry, and Ron, but the two boys became angry and snapped at her when she expressed this belief. Nevertheless, she had a generally good relationship with Sirius, knowing him to be an ultimately good person, and was greatly saddened by his death at the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, and was one of the last people to duel his killer Bellatrix Lestrange during the Battle of Hogwarts.
===Albus Dumbledore===
Albus Dumbledore was Sirius's Headmaster at Hogwarts. Like the rest of the wizarding world, Dumbledore initially believed it was Sirius who betrayed James and Lily to Voldemort, but he was quick to accept Sirius's innocence when he learned the Secret-Keeper had actually been Pettigrew, and he helped Hermione and Harry to save Sirius from the Dementor's Kiss and to escape from his Ministry captors by means of a Time-Turner and Buckbeak. The two resumed their friendship, and Sirius helped Dumbledore to recall the Order of the Phoenix an hour after Voldemort returned. However, their relationship was soon strained: Dumbledore forced Sirius to stay at 12 Grimmauld Place on account of his being a wanted convict and because he had a tendency to act rashly, which could lead him to put himself in great danger.
Though his intentions were noble, Sirius could not bring himself to appreciate Dumbledore's actions, as he utterly despised the home which brought him many bitter, unhappy memories, and the fact that he was to be alone in the house most of the time with only his house-elf for company made it all the more intolerable. Nevertheless, he still trusted Dumbledore enough to confide in him about how Harry felt Voldemort awaking inside him the night that Arthur Weasley was attacked. Dumbledore was devastated when Sirius was killed by Bellatrix, believing that it was mostly his fault, and he later expressed to Harry his belief that Sirius was a brave, clever, and energetic man who would never be content with sitting at home in hiding while his loved ones were in danger. Sirius's death was also a factor that led to Dumbledore finally revealing to Harry things that had been kept secret from him, mainly about the true power of his mother's sacrificial protection and the prophecy about him and Voldemort.
===The Weasley family===
Sirius had a good relationship with most of the Weasley family and was so thrilled to have their company during the Christmas of 1995 that he was heard singing "God Rest Ye, Merry Hippogriffs" at the top of his lungs. When Sirius was going over the Black Family Tree with Harry, he mentioned that he was distantly related to both Molly and Arthur, although they were not on the tapestry due to being known as "blood traitors".
Sirius disapproved of Molly's overprotective behaviour towards Harry, who had proven time after time that, despite his age, he was brave and matured far beyond his years. Molly, in turn, thought Sirius was wrong to treat Harry like an adult and that he treated Harry as though he were James. However, they still had a relatively good relationship, and it was Molly who ultimately avenged Sirius's death by killing Bellatrix Lestrange during the Battle of Hogwarts.
He was also a good friend of Arthur, who was given Sirius's motorbike after the latter's death, and Ginny, at one point, stated that she cared about Sirius as much as Harry did. Fred and George Weasley liked Sirius, and they all joked together; Rubeus Hagrid once compared Sirius and James to Fred and George. A rare bump in Sirius's relationship with the twins occurred shortly after Arthur was wounded by Nagini, and Sirius forbade the Weasley children from visiting their father before it was safe to do so. At this, Fred and George argued, forcing Sirius to remind them of the importance of maintaining the Order's security, at which point Fred yelled back that Sirius, trapped in Grimmauld Place by his fugitive status, was doing virtually nothing for the Order himself.
Although Sirius was angered by Fred's words (he even seemed to Harry like he would have liked to strike Fred), Sirius let the slight go, and their relationship recovered shortly after. It is unknown whether Sirius learnt that the Marauders Map was once in Fred's and George's possession, and it is unknown whether Fred and George learnt that Sirius was one of the map's creators (although it is possible they did learn it considering Sirius mentioned Pettigrew's nickname "Wormtail" in front of them while explaining Voldemort's plans to them).
Sirius's relationship with Bill, Charlie, and Percy is unknown; Sirius met Bill during the time of the Second War when the Weasley family were often at Grimmauld Place with the rest of the Order, but whether he met Percy or Charlie was unknown. Given that Charlie was on his family's side and Percy on the Ministry's, however, it's likely that Sirius would have been friends with Charlie if he met him but not with Percy; though, considering Percy was practically Sirius's polar opposite, he arguably wouldn't have been particularly close to him in any case. Despite this, Sirius assured Molly that Percy would eventually reconcile with them after he fell out with his family, something which ultimately did happen at the Battle of Hogwarts.
Ginny eventually named her eldest son after her father-in-law and Sirius.
===Hogwarts staff===
When Sirius attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the professors were very fond of him, knowing him to be a witty and charming wizard with a good heart. Their affection, however, did not blind them to the fact that he was also a mischievous troublemaker and prankster, and it did not prevent them from punishing him or his best friend James when they went too far with their pranks or caused too much trouble.
Minerva McGonagall was Sirius's Head of House during his years at Hogwarts. She described him as a powerful wizard, but she believed it was he who betrayed James and Lily to Voldemort. She learned the truth in 1995, and it's possible that she and Sirius had a good relationship until his death. It is unknown how she reacted when she learned about his death.
Horace Slughorn, the Head of Slytherin House, mentioned that he would have liked to have Sirius in his house, having had all of his family.
===Order of the Phoenix===
Sirius had a good relationship with most members of the Order of the Phoenix, and it was he who set out to alert them all when Dumbledore reinstated the Order upon Voldemort's return in 1995. Several of the Order members fought alongside Sirius at the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, and when Sirius was killed by Bellatrix Lestrange, Kingsley Shacklebolt continued his duel with Bellatrix.
Sirius had been fairly close with Rubeus Hagrid prior to the Death of the Potters, both having been members of the First Order, and most likely having fought together in several battles of the First Wizarding War. Although Hagrid initially believed that Sirius was a traitor, he understood the real situation after it was explained to him, and it is likely that they resumed their friendship.
Though Sirius also appeared to be friendly with Mundungus Fletcher, that did not stop Fletcher from stealing Sirius's possessions after his death.
==Notes and references==
Category:The Entire Attack on Godric's Hollow (1981) participants
Category:Blood Known Traitors
Category:English Known Individuals
Category:First Order-Of-The Phoenix
Category:Foundables
Category:Gryffindors
Category:Males
Category:Marauders
Category:Murder Entire Victims
Category:Passwords
Category:Plot To Murder on Peter P Pettigrew participants
Category:Pure-Bloods
Category:Second Order-Of-The Phoenix
Category:Number Second-Wizarding War casualties
Category:Sorted In 1971
Category:Unmarried Known Individuals
Category:Unregistered Knownly Animagi
Category:Wizards
Category:Wrongfully convicted individuals