Dumbledore's instructions to Sirius?

[grrliz]

{I searched multiple options and came up with nothing; the only thing sort of related are Why Did Sirius Have To Die (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=18176) and The Return Of Sirius Black (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=11319), but they don't really pertain specifically to my query.}

I was reading the scene in OotP where everyone is arguing about whether or not to tell Harry about what's been going on (the "Order of the Phoneix" chapter). "What's wrong, Harry is that you are not your father, however much you might look like him!" said Mrs Weasley, her eyes still boring into Sirius. "You are still at school and adults responsible for you should not forget it!"
"Meaning I'm an irresponsible godfather?" demanded Sirius, his voice rising.
"Meaning you have been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and --"
"We'll leave my instructions from Dumbledore out of this, if you please!" said Sirius loudly.We know that Sirius ignored Dumbledore's instructions to stay home, since he kept acting "rashly" by going to Platform 9 3/4 or using the Floo Network. But what I'm intrigued by is Molly saying "stay home and --" as if there is another instruction Dumbledore gave Sirius. The way Sirius cuts her off at first seems like he's upset about how she mentions his role is to stay home and out of trouble, but upon repeated readings seems to imply to me that he has another, more secret instruction that a) Molly might accidentally reveal in her anger, and b) that is not part of the information he wishes to give Harry at that time.

What could this "second" instruction from Dumbledore be?

[lostregiel]

I don´t think there are many choices regarding that. I think Dumbledore just told him to stay at home, and perhaps not to encourage Harry to do anything rash. I think that it probably had something to do with Harry, and that´s why Sirius didn´t want Harry to hear it

[grrliz]

But that's the question: if it did have something to do with Harry, what might it be? I'm personally leaning towards some bigger mission related to the Order as opposed to something specifically about Harry, but what that mission is yet I haven't decided.

::edit:: Knowing that Sirius was stuck in the house all day, what kind of covert operations could he be doing on behalf of Dumbledore for the Order? The Black family home is full of mysterious things, and we still don't know a lot about it. Could he be using the portraits to spy on the homes of Death Eaters? Is he secretly extracting information from Kreacher? There are any number of things he could be getting up to while everyone else in the Order is going about their every day missions.

[atherella]

Good question grrliz! :)

It's funny that you posed that question right after I re-read that part and noticed the same thing enough that I put a marker in that page.

It's true that it could be something as simple as making sure not to encourage Harry to do anything dangerous, be kinder to Kreacher, etc...but you bring up a good point, it is quite possible it may be something more. I wish I had a thought on what else it may be, but really, this, if it is something more, may be one of JKR's mysteries that we will find out about more in the upcoming books. While Sirius may be dead, I don't think we've heard the last of him by any means. (NO, I don't think he'll come back from the dead. And yes, he is dead, JKR has confirmed it in several interviews I've read).

This is a great question, I look forward to hearing what people may come up with.

[lostregiel]

Well, we all know by know that Sirius was not very well ( mentally, I mean ), and I don´t think Dumbledore would have trusted him with something like that. And if Sirius was feeling so useless was precisely becasue he had nothing to do, and do you remember Snape teasing him about the housework? That was probably all Dumbledore asked him to do.
It would turn out interesting if there was somthing else, but I don´t believe it.

LOSTREGIEL

[MagicMuggle]

I really don't know about Sirius being not well mentally...I think it was being free, but confined to the house that really made Sirius seem unstable...If he was able to leave the house once and a while...Ithink he would have been fine.

As for the question up there...I think the second part of Dumbledore's orders were to keep your nose clean...or not draw attention to yourself.

[Fool]

and don't tell Harry anything more than he needs to know

[grrliz]

... do you remember Snape teasing him about the housework? That was probably all Dumbledore asked him to do.

he he he
"What's wrong, Harry is that you are not your father, however much you might look like him!" said Mrs Weasley, her eyes still boring into Sirius. "You are still at school and adults responsible for you should not forget it!"

"Meaning I'm an irresponsible godfather?" demanded Sirius, his voice rising.

"Meaning you have been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and clean the fricken house!"I'd like to hope it's something more than cleaning the house. :)

As for "and -- don't tell harry more than he needs to know" we already know that Dumbledore said this in general to everyone, not just Sirius. Plus, Sirius wouldn't have cut Molly off to hide the fact that harry isn't supposed to know more than necessary if he already knew he wasn't supposed to know more than necessary (if that makes any sense :)).

[fleur magique]

The instructions may have been for him to stay at home and let the other people in the order handle things outside.

[winter snow]

Maybe the instructions were to stay in the house and stop acting rashly and stay out of trouble.
Maybe Sirius just cut her off because he wanted Molly to stop yelling at him. At some points in arguments, someone has to cool down and recede so the arguing doesn't escalate, and the two of them were going at it pretty hot and heavy. Perhaps Sirius just decided he'd had enough?

[RemusLupinFan]

I think it's likely Dumbledore's other instruction to Sirius was to let the other members of the Order take care of everything, and/or not to do anything reckless, as previous people said. I agree that Sirius cut Molly short because he wasn't eager to be reminded of instructions that he obviously didn't want to follow, and the argument was definitely at a point where either one of them could have exploded and caused an ugly scene.

[IceKat55]

Wow.....very good point. Sirius interrupted her. And usually, when Rowling writes a character being interrupted, something important or revealing is about to be said.

I was furious that Hermione interrupted Luna in the DoM, when she said "you know what could be" behind the locked door...Luna was probably about to tell us exactly what was back there!! :lol:

[grrliz]

Wow.....very good point. Sirius interrupted her. And usually, when Rowling writes a character being interrupted, something important or revealing is about to be said.

I was furious that Hermione interrupted Luna in the DoM, when she said "you know what could be" behind the locked door...Luna was probably about to tell us exactly what was back there!! Yes, exactly! It's like on tv / in the movies when one character has some terribly important news to tell another character and it goes something like this:

Character 1: I have some really impor...
Character 2: OMG, guess what, blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda, now what were you saying?
Character 1: Oh, nothing, nevermind.

[winter snow]

Wow.....very good point. Sirius interrupted her. And usually, when Rowling writes a character being interrupted, something important or revealing is about to be said.

I was furious that Hermione interrupted Luna in the DoM, when she said "you know what could be" behind the locked door...Luna was probably about to tell us exactly what was back there!! :lol:

Yes that was annoying! I thought about it and put it down to this: We weren't supposed to know about that yet! ARRG! What is behind there?

[Gwenog Jones]

I was furious that Hermione interrupted Luna in the DoM, when she said "you know what could be" behind the locked door...Luna was probably about to tell us exactly what was back there!!
I know!! She probably would have said something that Hermione would have shot down, but it would probably be somewhat right!

Back to Sirius interupting Molly..
I don't think she was going to say anything that should have been kept secret. Sirius probably interupted her out of anger, because he couldn't deal with listening to her yell at him anymore. It was probably something like .. and make sure Harry doesn't learn more than he needs to know.

[serious]

Wow.....very good point. Sirius interrupted her. And usually, when Rowling writes a character being interrupted, something important or revealing is about to be said.

I was furious that Hermione interrupted Luna in the DoM, when she said "you know what could be" behind the locked door...Luna was probably about to tell us exactly what was back there!! :lol:

lol so was i.

i've wondered whether he had some important instructions, but i think it was more likely to stay in the house and try to keep his temper in check with kreacher and snape.

[MadMagic]

I always kind of assumed it was something obvious like, "stay home and don't do anything stupid". I never considered that it could be important, but JK does have the tendency to hide important revelations with interruptions. If he did have some important instructions relating to the order which were commly known though, I don't think that Snape would have been as ready to criticize Sirius for only sitting around him mothers house (although I guess Snape does hate Sirius). I feel like Sirius would have defended himself, maybe by revealing this cut off 'and' if it was something important.
Unfortunately we won't know what his other instructions were unless JK feels it necessary to reveal them :shrug:

[StephyJ_83]

Knowing that Sirius was stuck in the house all day, what kind of covert operations could he be doing on behalf of Dumbledore for the Order? The Black family home is full of mysterious things, and we still don't know a lot about it. Could he be using the portraits to spy on the homes of Death Eaters? Is he secretly extracting information from Kreacher? There are any number of things he could be getting up to while everyone else in the Order is going about their every day missions.
I don't think he was secretly extracting information from Kreacher. If he was, he would have known where Kreacher was when he left the house. He obviously didn't know, because he would have known that L.Malfoy's plan was.

I really don't know about Sirius being not well mentally...I think it was being free, but confined to the house that really made Sirius seem unstable...If he was able to leave the house once and a while...Ithink he would have been fine.

Yeah, imagine spending 12 years in Azkaban, being freed but on the run, and then being couped up in the house you hate, with a portrait of your awful mother, a house elf you loathe, and not a lot of 'kind and social' people around to keep you company. If Sirius wasn't well mentally, you can't blame him; it's easy to see why. Heck, I probably would be too!

Dumbledore was just trying to keep Sirius alive. :sad: It may not matter what he instructed Sirius to do, but it would not have been anything to risk his recapture or to risk exposing anything that the Order was up to.

[IMAWIZARD]

Dumbledore was just trying to keep Sirius alive. :sad: It may not matter what he instructed Sirius to do, but it would not have been anything to risk his recapture or to risk exposing anything that the Order was up to.
I agree, Dumbledore wouldn't want to risk someone that Harry loves so much when there are other Order members who can do what needs to be done. I don't think there is much more to it than that, but JKR is pretty sneaky!

[offca]

Like many of you - I just thought Sirius interrupted because of anger, as Molly touched the "touchy" point - Sirius hated to sit at home, and he didn't need to be reminded of it...

I am not sure if Molly was angry enough to reveal some secret, if she was the one to emphasize the need of not saying anything to kids... I know that if someone is angry, or upset has a tendency to say more that would ever say in "normal" state of mind and emotions... but I think that probably she just wanted to repeat the same idea, just with different words. She was talking with strong paternal/teacher like style, so I don't think she was about to say something really important...

But anyway - good question.

[godrics hollow]

stay at home and... be a good lil girl? thats the best instruction i can think of because if sirius got an instruction that was actually worthwhile and could mean the war for the order i think he wouldnt be too upset

[Paintball]

I thinks Sirius was kind of a spy who told Dumbledore everything that Harry told him. It was because of Sirius that Dumbledore knew early on of Harry's dreams. I think his instructions were to stay close to Harry and give him an adult he could trust and lean on.

[PropayneBunnie]

I'll chance a shot at this, after the 'Stay at home' i'd have to say it would be something more mundane to try and satiate his anger instead of something along the lines of 'Dont do anything rash' which would in turn really only push this anger and desire to be rid of his house arrest to the boiling point and he'd just burst on out. Dumbledore would know better and just give him something completely out of the blue like 'dont forget to spruce the place up a bit' (yeah yeah, i'm gonna hear about that one, i know, i'm running low on creativity at the moment :D) just to keep sirius calm. Just my thoughts on the matter.

[silver ink pot]

I was reading the scene in OotP where everyone is arguing about whether or not to tell Harry about what's been going on (the "Order of the Phoneix" chapter).We know that Sirius ignored Dumbledore's instructions to stay home, since he kept acting "rashly" by going to Platform 9 3/4 or using the Floo Network. But what I'm intrigued by is Molly saying "stay home and --" as if there is another instruction Dumbledore gave Sirius. The way Sirius cuts her off at first seems like he's upset about how she mentions his role is to stay home and out of trouble, but upon repeated readings seems to imply to me that he has another, more secret instruction that a) Molly might accidentally reveal in her anger, and b) that is not part of the information he wishes to give Harry at that time.

What could this "second" instruction from Dumbledore be?

Wow! What an awesome thing, Grrliz! An interruption - you know what that means! There's something hidden there - I'll have to think about this one!

How funny if it was "hold your temper" - and he is in the middle of a confrontation with Molly. :evil:

I know - "Don't drink up all the butterbeer!"

[grrliz]

Wow! What an awesome thing, Grrliz! An interruption - you know what that means! There's something hidden there - I'll have to think about this one!

How funny if it was "hold your temper" - and he is in the middle of a confrontation with Molly. :evil:

I know - "Don't drink up all the butterbeer!"Heh, I'm beginning to think now it could have been "Stay home and .... [insert something from the 101 Things Sirius Could Have Been Doing Instead Of Sulking (http://www.cosforums.com/showthread.php?t=33899) thread here]" ;)

Honestly, though, I'm surprised this thread was suddenly randomly revived! I haven't thought of any new angles to it, but it's making me think.

[anabel]

Actually, staying in HQ and conveying messages from all the members who dropped in was an important job. We don't know how the members of the order communicated, but it may well have been to do with 12GP. Sirius didn't like the job he had to do, but is was important nonetheless.

[Romy]

Good thought grrliz. :cool:

Of course, it could have been something simple like "and not do anything rash" but then again there would have been no point in Sirius having to interrupt her. Perhaps he really was doing something for the Order. Although, I can´t see him not wanting Harry to know about it if Molly was going to say it. Usually Sirius was the one who wanted Harry to be filled in on everything. Anyway, even if he was doing something for the Order, I don´t think it will have much of an effect on his death. Unless Molly was going to say "that´s why Dumbledore reminds you to stay at home and not switch bodies with <insert name>." but I don´t believe in any of the switching theories. But it´s likely we´ll find out about what Sirius was doing in Grimmauldplace all year long besides sulking.

[Wab]

Or it could just be that sitting at home doing what he was told was so much against the image of a devil-may-care wild boy that he was trying to build in Harry's mind.

[silver ink pot]

Wab: I thought about that too.

In the beginning of the book, when Harry is sitting on the playground doing nothing, he is thinking about Sirius telling him to "keep his nose clean" and stay out of trouble - not very exciting.

Maybe Sirius didn't want Harry to know that his "job" was the same thing - just to keep his temper and not cause trouble.

:cool: And to keep "cleaning the house." No, Sirius wouldn't have wanted Harry to know that, lol.

[KlutzyFreak]

Good question!

"Meaning you have been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and-"
I have to agree with you guys, Dumbledore probably told Sirius not to do anything stupid. After all, he was prone to do something rash that would put himself and others in danger, since he spend 12 years in Azkaban even though he was innocent, (that had to have left some mental scars in him, since I doubt the Dementors gave him a magazine to read or talked to him about the weather... :nc: ). So Dumbledore and Molly knew he would do something impulsive and stupid the moment he got a chance to, and he did...*coughveilcough*

[grrliz]

Of course, it could have been something simple like "and not do anything rash" but then again there would have been no point in Sirius having to interrupt her. Perhaps he really was doing something for the Order. Although, I can´t see him not wanting Harry to know about it if Molly was going to say it. Usually Sirius was the one who wanted Harry to be filled in on everything. Anyway, even if he was doing something for the Order, I don´t think it will have much of an effect on his death. Unless Molly was going to say "that´s why Dumbledore reminds you to stay at home and not switch bodies with <insert name>." but I don´t believe in any of the switching theories. But it´s likely we´ll find out about what Sirius was doing in Grimmauldplace all year long besides sulking.I'm also not big on the body switching theories :). Here's the interesting (or not so interesting ;) ) thing though: because of the great battle between Molly and Sirius about letting Harry find out certain things that have been going on, we assume that because Molly wants to tell Harry nothing that Sirius wants to tell Harry everything. But he doesn't. When Molly and Lupin finally put an end to their little Voldy Information Session, Sirius doesn't fight them "Sirius half-shrugged but did not argue." We know there are two major things they're keeping from Harry at this point: his mental connection with Voldemort via his dreams, and the prophecy. What else are they keeping from Harry?

"Meaning you have been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and-"I guess my point in wondering if there's something more to it is the redundancy of Molly saying something like "Meaning you have been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and don't act rashly" or "Meaning you have been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and stay at home". There's not really any need to add an "and" if she's just going to tell remind him about staying home and not acting rashly; she's already said all that in the first part of her sentence.

[godrics hollow]

he got a chance to, and he did...*coughveilcough*


the stupidest thing ever! he went and hid behind a veil that killed u :p (i know he didnt hide there so dont yell at me) haha i remember playing die an go seek then hiding behind a curtain and hopin no1 would find me :D lol i still stick to sirius' instructions having to do with bein a good boy

[RemusLupinFan]

Here's a brainstorm of a couple of endings I thought of for Molly's sentence (some of which probably don't make sense, but I'm going to throw them out there anyway :)). Some of these are more likely than others, but I've tried to give a reason as to why Sirius would have hated the hypothetical instructions he could have been given:

--"Meaning you have been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and take care of yourself." (This would get under Sirius' skin because this would mean to Sirius that Dumbledore sees him as a bit unfit to do anything.)

--"Meaning you have been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and remain there." (This would really hammer home the necessity for Sirius to stay at Grimmauld Place and not leave it at any time for any reason. Obviously Sirius would hate to be told he was essentially confined to quarters without any hope of ever leaving.)

--"Meaning you have been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and continue your job <insert activity>" (This would work if Sirius didn't like whatever he had to do.)

--"Meaning you have been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and let the other Order members take care of everything." (Sirius would hate to sit by and watch everyone else take care of things, he would want to be involved in any way possible.)

--"Meaning you have been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and await further instructions." (Again, Sirius would hate to just sit there waiting for someone else to tell him what to do, he would want to take matters into his own hands.)

[Credo Buffa]

If he did have some important instructions relating to the order which were commly known though, I don't think that Snape would have been as ready to criticize Sirius for only sitting around him mothers house (although I guess Snape does hate Sirius). I feel like Sirius would have defended himself, maybe by revealing this cut off 'and' if it was something important.

. . . unless Snape didn't know what Sirius was doing, either. I wonder if maybe Sirius's "job" didn't have something to do with Snape, which would explain 1)why Sirius seemed to hate it so much, and 2)why Snape himself might not know that he was doing anything more than sitting around the house. I know that Dumbledore says that he trusts Snape, but maybe that's just a convenient cover for his wanting to make absolutely sure that Snape isn't giving information to Voldemort or other Death Eaters. Maybe it was Sirius's job to "spy" on him when he was in the house. . . see if he was snooping around where he shouldn't be or things like that. That would definitely explain the increased tension between them, if Sirius was forced to follow Snape around, and Snape couldn't get away from Sirius.

I don't know if this has any weight to it. Just an idea. :shrug:

[Romy]

--"Meaning you have been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and remain there."Makes most sense, in my opinion. Perhaps with "stay at home" she means the general need for him to stay there and with "remain there" she´d refer to any future plans of leaving that Dumbledore might see coming.

[offca]

Sirius interrapted Molly before she said anything (I know that's obvious, but I want to emphasize, that it is the first thing what made Sirius angry, and maybe his imagination about possible ending). Which means - He probably was anger more with the basic fact, that Molly was jumping on him in that way, touching very painful point. He just wanted to stop her, and finish with that (what probably in his eyes was humiliating).
I think it was more about the bare fact that she dare to make a comment on his staying at home and "doing nothing" (in Sirius's eyes).

And how angry you must be to slip something like "and don't switch bodies with..."? I just think it is almost impossible... something smaller - yes, but this big?

[grrliz]

. . . unless Snape didn't know what Sirius was doing, either. I wonder if maybe Sirius's "job" didn't have something to do with Snape, which would explain 1)why Sirius seemed to hate it so much, and 2)why Snape himself might not know that he was doing anything more than sitting around the house. I know that Dumbledore says that he trusts Snape, but maybe that's just a convenient cover for his wanting to make absolutely sure that Snape isn't giving information to Voldemort or other Death Eaters. Maybe it was Sirius's job to "spy" on him when he was in the house. . . see if he was snooping around where he shouldn't be or things like that. That would definitely explain the increased tension between them, if Sirius was forced to follow Snape around, and Snape couldn't get away from Sirius.No, that makes a lot of sense to me. Lupin is always doing mysterious work for the Order that no one seems to know about, or rather that the kids don't seem to know what he's doing (then again, they're not really privy to the nitty gritty of things in the Order). However, Sirius as a spy on Snape isn't all that practical, since he can't do it unless Snape is actually at Grimmauld Place (and I have a feeling he tries to spend as little time there as possible). But it might be interesting if he is sneaking around when he is there. (I'm picturing him in league with Kreacher, helping him salvage dark objects that Sirius is trying to throw out. :p)

They're bent on throwing out all remnants of the Black family legacy at Grimmauld Place, but Sirius knows one of the things he's not allowed to destroy is the portrait of Phineas Nigellus. Phineas seems hesitant to help Dumbledore out at all, but he seems bound by some sort of Headmaster oath to serve the current Headmaster at Hogwarts; can portraits have the same loyalty as house elves to serve the masters of the homes they're in? Might Phineas Nigellus have another portrait elsewhere, besides Grimmauld Place and Dumbledore's office? Might Sirius use this portrait to spy on the homes of other Pureblood families? Because The Nigellus family line would most likely include other pureblood families we know to have Death Eaters. (Then again, I suppose that would mean it would work both ways and those families could spy on the Order. Meh, I don't know.)

And how angry you must be to slip something like "and don't switch bodies with..."? I just think it is almost impossible... something smaller - yes, but this big?Molly can get pretty angry and say some pretty nasty things though: "He's not your son," said Sirius quietly.

"He's as good as," said Mrs Weasley fiercly. "Who else has he got?"

"He's got me!"

"Yes," said Mrs Weasley, her lip curling, "the thing is, it's been rather difficult for you to look after him while you've been locked up in Azkaban, hasn't it?"And while it's no secret that Sirius spent time in Azkaban, I think it does show she is capable of losing control and blurting out inapproriate things that she shouldn't be saying.

[negaprion]

I really do think that something else is going on with Sirius and it is mentioned subtly again. After Harry tells Dumbledore of the attack on Arthur, Dumbledore sends Fawkes to keep an eye on Umbridge, but then sends Phineas Nigellus to check that the coast is clear at headquarters. What is Serius doing that Harry and the Weasley kids can't know about?

[grrliz]

I really do think that something else is going on with Sirius and it is mentioned subtly again. After Harry tells Dumbledore of the attack on Arthur, Dumbledore sends Fawkes to keep an eye on Umbridge, but then sends Phineas Nigellus to check that the coast is clear at headquarters. What is Serius doing that Harry and the Weasley kids can't know about?That always struck me as funny as well. What are they worried about? The fireplaces at Hogwarts are being watched, so they don't need to check that the coast is clear in the floo network because they're not travelling that way. They're taking a Portkey, which presumably transfers them directly from Dumbledore's office to Grimmauld Place, with no stops in between. Why does the coast need to be clear?

[offca]

Oh, well... having information, that Sirius smelled like Mundungus, with some drink... DD might be afraid that Sirius is not prepared to have sudden guests - especially children...

He was lonely and in despair, and we know he started to drink - you never know... :(

[silver ink pot]

I really do think that something else is going on with Sirius and it is mentioned subtly again. After Harry tells Dumbledore of the attack on Arthur, Dumbledore sends Fawkes to keep an eye on Umbridge, but then sends Phineas Nigellus to check that the coast is clear at headquarters. What is Serius doing that Harry and the Weasley kids can't know about?

That is one weird phrase! :huh: :huh: :huh: I'm going to think about that one! From reading the state that Sirius was in - unshaven, smelled of stale drink, and still in his day clothes - it sounds as if they wanted to make sure that he wasn't on a bender! So I think I agree with you, offca.

I thought of another ending to the sentence:

--"Meaning you have been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and . . .

make friends with Kreacher!"

:p

[anabel]

I really do think that something else is going on with Sirius and it is mentioned subtly again. After Harry tells Dumbledore of the attack on Arthur, Dumbledore sends Fawkes to keep an eye on Umbridge, but then sends Phineas Nigellus to check that the coast is clear at headquarters. What is Serius doing that Harry and the Weasley kids can't know about?
Maybe that means Sirius was doing important secret stuff that the children were not supposed to know about?
Of course he could have an alcohol problem and he is likely to be depressed, given the circumstances but is your kitchen always clean and tidy if you think nobody is likely to come round that day? (Mine isn't, I'll admit!)
What was going on at 12GP that we don't know about?

[Credo Buffa]

They're bent on throwing out all remnants of the Black family legacy at Grimmauld Place, but Sirius knows one of the things he's not allowed to destroy is the portrait of Phineas Nigellus. Phineas seems hesitant to help Dumbledore out at all, but he seems bound by some sort of Headmaster oath to serve the current Headmaster at Hogwarts; can portraits have the same loyalty as house elves to serve the masters of the homes they're in? Might Phineas Nigellus have another portrait elsewhere, besides Grimmauld Place and Dumbledore's office? Might Sirius use this portrait to spy on the homes of other Pureblood families? Because The Nigellus family line would most likely include other pureblood families we know to have Death Eaters. (Then again, I suppose that would mean it would work both ways and those families could spy on the Order. Meh, I don't know.)

Oooo. that's an interesting idea! It does seem to me that there must be more to the Phineas Nigellus portrait than just bugging Harry. Also, his reaction upon learning of Sirius's death is really interesting. Harry assumes that he goes from his portrait in Dumbledore's office back to Grimmauld Place. . . but perhaps he went somewhere else. . . :huh:

And, aside from Phineas, there could be dozens of other portraits of Black family members around the house that could infiltrate into the homes of Death Eaters. Sirius could have had a whole slew of portraits to monitor.

[GGCSnowyOwl]

Perhaps it was "...and don't transfigure and sneak out"? Not sure why that would be so important as to keep it from Harry, though.

This is a good question - I can't imagine it's as simple as "keep your nose clean." There must be a reason Sirius said "we'll leave my instructions from Dumbledore out of this, if you please!" in a conversation about Harry & James and Sirius. Perhaps it's "...and not egg Harry into doing rash things too, as you used to do with James." Remember Snape's Worst Memory -- Sirius was bored then and James tormented Snape to cheer Sirius up....

[IMAWIZARD]

I really do think that something else is going on with Sirius and it is mentioned subtly again. After Harry tells Dumbledore of the attack on Arthur, Dumbledore sends Fawkes to keep an eye on Umbridge, but then sends Phineas Nigellus to check that the coast is clear at headquarters. What is Sirius doing that Harry and the Weasley kids can't know about?
Good one. I didn't pick up on that. Could be just making sure Sirius isn't too drunk, but leaves it open to suspicion.
I think the making friends with Kreacher is a good thought too.

[esmerelda]

Good one. I didn't pick up on that. Could be just making sure Sirius isn't too drunk, but leaves it open to suspicion.
I think the making friends with Kreacher is a good thought too.

I didn't pick up on this either. I don't think it can refer to checking that Sirius is sober. I mean, what would they do if the coast was not clear, and Sirius was drunk? Call off the portkey until the next morning when he's sobered up?

I like the theory that there are other portraits to be monitored. I never thought about where Phineas Nigellus went after the DoM battle. If the Blacks liked him enough to put his portrait up, I'm sure other family members did too. Perhaps Bellatrix or Narcissa have portraits of him too.

[Paintball]

I still think it was somrthing like "and be here for Harry when he needs you"

[Meldy]

"What's wrong, Harry is that you are not your father, however much you might look like him!" said Mrs Weasley, her eyes still boring into Sirius. "You are still at school and adults responsible for you should not forget it!"
"Meaning I'm an irresponsible godfather?" demanded Sirius, his voice rising.
"Meaning you have been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and --"
"We'll leave my instructions from Dumbledore out of this, if you please!" said Sirius loudly.


I didn´t realized that in my many readings of the book.
I don´t know, it may be something important. Howver I can´t imagine what.
Snape did say that Sirius didn´t do anything for the order, but maybe Sirius work is confidential and he couldn´t tell Snape. That would be really frustrating, imagine he wanted to tell him but he couldn´t.
I don´t know what to think, with JK everything is possible!!!

Kisses.

[Danielf22]

Its very possible that he could have been doing something important, it always struck me as odd about the whole coast is clear thing. JKR likes to drive people nuts with little clues that mean something, and loads that dont. To be honest it could mean anything- he could like to walk around the house in the buff, or having relations with a bunny that he conjured up, we simply dont know.

[sirius723]

or having relations with a bunny that he conjured up
:lol: i hope it's not that!

but you're right, it could be anything. and i'd like to believe that dumbledore had more instructions for sirius than we know about, i'm just not sure what they could be. plus, if he did have an important job, it'd be easier to not let snape's taunts that he's useless to the order get to him, because he'd know that he really is useful.

[Psycho]

maybe the taunts and stuff were put on for Harry because Sirius hides in the viel and meets James and Lilly or something or that Harry needs to have a REAL reason to kill sum1 or hurt them to do a unforgivable curse... he couldnt AK Voldy just with his parents being dead, he is in a state about it but he never knew them, Sirius got the closest to him, now Sirius is "dead" Harry will want to destroy Voldy and make him suffer. Thats my theory :)

[Danielf22]

I honestly dont think Harry will ever use the AK curse- that is a curse for Evil wizzards. Through it all she is keeping him as pure as she can, that would really disappoint me if he used that on someone.

[LilCubanita67]

I don't think DD had anymore instructions for Sirius...maybe to just clean up the house?

[Psycho]

>>as pure as she can<<
read book 5 :p
he sounds like a rat crawled up his *somewhere* and died :)
I think it would be a good twist and would end in a happy ending, but i think Harry is destined to be a little boy all his life. He hasn't grown up at all and is the little kid who lived still, i hope to see him grow out of this soon.

[Meldy]

"Meaning you have been known to act rashly, Sirius, which is why Dumbledore keeps reminding you to stay at home and-"
Maybe it isn´t important, but maybe there´s another instruccion Sirius was given. I don´t know what.

[asrivathsan]

May be its just that he is not supposed to tell harry about the prophecy.... thats why she stopped abruptly