Why Did Sirius Black Keep Acting SO GUILTY? - Harry Potter Theory

Harry Potter Theory

Tv & Film

4.7 • 701 Ratings

🗓️ 13 August 2025

⏱️ 15 minutes

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Summary

By the time we’ve finished Prisoner of Azkaban we’re meant to believe that Sirius Black was INNOCENT of the crimes for which he was accused.

For those who might be a little fuzzy on the details, Sirius wasn’t just some random fugitive — he was Harry’s godfather, a loyal member of the Order of the Phoenix, and once the closest friend of Harry’s father, James Potter.

And as we get closer to the end of the book/film, it’s finally revealed to Harry that the true traitor was Peter Pettigrew, not Sirius.

It was Pettigrew who had betrayed James and Lily to Voldemort.

It was Pettigrew who had faked his own death.

And it was Pettigrew who had framed Sirius for the murder of twelve Muggles in broad daylight.

Before we as readers — or Harry — learned the truth, the version of Sirius we were given was that of a dangerous, half-mad fugitive: the first wizard to ever escape from Azkaban, a man believed to have murdered thirteen people with a single curse, and someone whose very name could strike fear into the Wizarding population.

And after these initial revelations of Sirius’ innocence come to light, Harry’s relationship with Sirius blossoms almost overnight — I’d argue, a little too quickly. In a matter of pages, Sirius goes from “the man who betrayed my parents” to “the godfather I never had,” with Harry seemingly almost immediately ready to drop the Dursleys behind and go and live with him (although we know, he couldn’t do that).

But here’s my question: if Sirius was truly innocent, why didn’t he act like it? Why did so many of his choices — from the moment of his arrest to his escape and eventual return — seem to confirm the image of a dangerous, unstable man?

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Searching for a romantic summer getaway. Escape with Rich Girl Summer, the new Audible original
0:05.2	from Lily Chew. The exquisitely talented Philippa Sue, returning to narrate her fifth
0:10.2	Lily Chew title. This time, Philippa is joined by her real-life husband, Stephen Pasquale,
0:15.5	set in Toronto's wealthy cottage country, aka the Hamptons of Canada, rich girl Summer follows the story of Valerie,
0:22.1	a down-on-her-luck event planner posing as a socialite's long-lost daughter, while piecing
0:26.5	together the secrets surrounding a mysterious family and falling deeper and deeper in love with the
0:31.7	impossibly hard to read and infuriatingly handsome family assistant, Nico. Caught between pretending to belong and unexpectedly finding where she truly fits in,
0:41.3	Valerie learns her summer is about to get far more complicated than she ever planned.
0:45.8	She's in over her head and head over heels.
0:48.5	Listen to Rich Girl Summer, now on Audible.
0:51.2	Go to audible.com slash rich girl summer.
0:53.3	The following podcast contains audio extracted from videos on the Harry Potter Theory YouTube
0:59.3	channel.
1:00.4	By the time we finished Prisoner of Asgaband, we're meant to believe that Sirius Black
1:04.3	was innocent of the crimes for which he was accused.
1:08.1	For those who might be a little fuzzy on the details, Sirius wasn't just some
1:11.3	random fugitive. He was Harry's godfather, a loyal member of the Order of the Phoenix, and once the
1:16.8	closest friend of Harry's father, James Potter. And as we get closer to the end of the book,
1:21.7	film, it's finally revealed to Harry that the true traitor was Peter Pettergrue, not Sirius.
1:29.9	It was Pettergrue who had betrayed James and the elite of Aldermort. It was Pettergru who had faked his own death. And it was Petigrew who had
1:35.0	framed Sirius for the murder of 12 Muggles in broad daylight. Before we as readers or Harry
1:40.9	learn the truth, the version of Sirius we were given was that of a dangerous,
	...

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