Sirius Black from Harry Potter is a character that many fans love. While he was only in three of the books, he definitely had a big impact on Harry himself as well as on fans. His death is concerned by many as one of the most tragic in the series. While Sirius Black did have a lot of positive qualities, he also had many flaws. He was a rather complex character who had some unfair things happen to him, but he wasn’t always perfect. Some of the ways he acted were dramatic, and he could often take things too far.
Here are the ten times from the Harry Potter series when Sirius Black went too far.
BREAKING INTO HOGWARTS TO STAB PETER PETTIGREW
After Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban, it's safe to say that he was a little unhinged. This is understandable because he had been locked up for years in the company of Dementors. But, some of the things he did during his attempts to find and kill Peter Pettigrew went way too far. One of these times was when he broke into Hogwarts and stood over Ron’s bed while holding a knife. Even if he meant to hurt Pettigrew and not Ron, this wasn’t the way to go about it.
BECOMING AN ILLEGAL ANIMAGUS
The Marauders were known for their love and knack of breaking the rules. They were rather remorseless about the rules that they broke. While doing something difficult to help your friend is admirable, becoming an illegal animagus is taking things too far.
This might be a little more understandable if it weren’t for the fact that the Marauders took their newfound skills as animagi and used them to run around the grounds of Hogwarts with a werewolf. This wasn’t safe for anyone.
TREATING EVERYONE POORLY IN ORDER OF THE PHOENIX
During the Order of the Phoenix book, Sirius is somewhat understandably frustrated about his situation. Because the wizarding world still assumes that he’s a killer on the run, he can’t be out and about. He has to stay stuck in his childhood home that was a source of pain and trauma. Also, after being in Azkaban for 13 years, it makes sense he doesn't want to be trapped. But, this doesn't excuse the way he treated others around him. He was grumpy, rude, and sullen, and he especially took things out on Molly Weasley over their disagreements about Harry.
HIS CONSTANT DISREGARD FOR RULE-BREAKING
Sirius definitely wasn’t the only one who loved breaking the rules in his group of friends. Both he and James were notorious rulebreakers, and they didn’t have to do much to persuade Lupin and Pettigrew to go along with them.
While some rule-breaking is understandable, they were pretty extreme about it even going so far as to make the Marauder’s Map. And, the other issue is that Sirius never really felt that much remorse about his rule-breaking. Even in adulthood he was rather proud of it.
BREAKING RON’S LEG
While this might have been an accident, it goes to show how careless and reckless Sirius was during this time. While he might have meant to get Peter Pettigrew, grabbing and pulling Ron along in such a rough way was taking things too far.
He even broke Ron’s leg in the process which isn’t really a good way to start things off if you’re actually an innocent man.
PLANNING TO KILL PETTIGREW IN FRONT OF HARRY, RON, AND HERMIONE
When the trio first encounters Sirius Black in the Harry Potter series, he’s in a rather wild state, and he’s definitely not thinking logically. While some of his feelings and actions make sense, he definitely needed to relax. Instead of taking the time to explain everything and thinking about the consequences, he was willing to kill Pettigrew in front of three teenagers. This doesn’t seem like a good thing to do, and it’s weird that Lupin went along with it. Plus, killing Pettigrew would have kept him from proving his innocence, so it makes even less sense.
CONFUSING THE FACT THAT HARRY WASN’T JAMES
After Sirius is able to stop being on the run and stay at Grimmauld Place as a member of the Order of the Phoenix, he starts to become less of a caring godfather to Harry and see him more as a friend. It’s clear that he starts to want Harry to function more like a friend in his life than a godson. While in Goblet of Fire, Sirius was all about keeping Harry safe, he later becomes more concerned with getting his best friend back in the form of his son.
LEAVING GRIMMAULD PLACE AS A DOG
When Harry, Hermione, and the Weasley kids leave Grimmauld Place to catch the Hogwarts Express, Sirius insists on going with them.
Even though Dumbledore tells him not to and everyone advises against it, he can’t be swayed. This was a bad move because it puts him and the others at risk. It also jeopardized the Order of the Phoenix.
MAKING HARRY FEEL BAD FOR NOT BREAKING RULES
This is one of the most frustrating things that Sirius ever did. While he obviously cared about Harry, he wasn’t always the best at being a parent figure. His own frustrations from being cooped up made him lash out, and he encouraged Harry to break rules even if it put his safety at risk. He even acted like he was disappointed in Harry and guilt-tripped him for this, going so far as to make Harry feel bad for not being enough like James.
WHEN HE PULLED A DEADLY PRANK ON SNAPE
This is the moment where Sirius Black went way too far more than any other moment. While Snape had many flaws and did a lot of inexcusable things, too, this isn’t an excuse for Sirius to try to get him killed. Pulling a prank that would have sent him right to Lupin in his werewolf form was dangerous, cruel, and plain dumb. This also could have been horrible for Lupin, so he wasn’t being a good friend in this moment either.