(Spoilers) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

[Storm Raven]

But would they actually get good training from him? His private lessons with Harry didn't go well.

I think that is probably true. Snape seems to be a skilled wizard, but a mediocre teacher.

 

[thatdarncat]

Biggest thing that I was waiting for that didn't happen: Ron and Hermione doing more than scowling at each other. Shouldn't there have been another formal dance this year? I was suprised at it's absence.

That would have happened over Christmas while they were visiting Mr Weasly in the hospital. Lucky Harry missed out on it this year!

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

And if you think I accept that Sirius is dead AND gone, you'd best think again. I don't buy it, not for a second. Either he gets rescued or he becomes a ghost. Dead? I'll wait and see. Of course, I'm interested in what that thing was? Execution device or way to investigate the afterlife? VERY odd that no one wanted to really discuss it.

I don't think Sirius will become a ghost. I only read the book once (before my daughter absconded with it for her five-week trip to another time zone), but doesn't Harry talk to Nearly Headless Nick about the possibility of Sirius coming back as a ghost? And the way Nick explained it, it seemed very unlikely that it could happen for Sirius.

Of course, I may have imagined that scene....

 

[WizarDru]

I don't think Sirius will become a ghost. I only read the book once (before my daughter absconded with it for her five-week trip to another time zone), but doesn't Harry talk to Nearly Headless Nick about the possibility of Sirius coming back as a ghost? And the way Nick explained it, it seemed very unlikely that it could happen for Sirius.

Of course, I may have imagined that scene....

Ah yes, you're right. I forget exactly why, but apparently only wizards can come back as ghosts, it's not really a very satisfactory experience...and I think some specific reason was given why Sirius probably wouldn't become a ghost. I had forgotten that.

 

[Sirius_Black]

Ah yes, you're right. I forget exactly why, but apparently only wizards can come back as ghosts, it's not really a very satisfactory experience...and I think some specific reason was given why Sirius probably wouldn't become a ghost. I had forgotten that.

**
Page 861 when Harry talks to Nearly Headless Nick

"Wizards can leve an imprint of themselves upon the earth, to walk palely where their living selves once tred," said Nick miserably. "But very few wizards choose that path."

Nick goes on to explain that he was afraid of death and the reader gets the impression that is why he stayed behind. As for Sirius, Nick sums it up with,

"He will not come back," repeated Nick quietly. "He will have...gone on."

**
Personally, although I obviously loved the character, I don't want Sirius back in any shape or form. To me, his death is Harry's first time dealing with a death that hits home with such force.

Yes, I know he lost his parents. But, he was a baby then and I feel the loss there is more of what might have been than what he had. Moreover, Cedric's death in Book 4 was traumatic, but he was not a close friend or family to Harry. Sirius was both. To me, if the books are getting darker and more mature, than Sirius' death is a fine example of a young teen dealing with an immediate loss for the first time.