Sirius Black

Lore & Background

Sirius Black is the last heir of the House of Black, a once notable Pure-blood Wizarding family. His parents, Orion and Walburga Black, were both Blacks by birth and second cousins. Sirius had a younger brother, Regulus Arcturus Black, and three older cousins: Bellatrix Lestrange, Andromeda Tonks (his favourite cousin and mother of Nymphadora Tonks), and Narcissa Malfoy (mother of Draco Malfoy). In line with the Black family tradition of naming children after stars and constellations, Sirius was named after the Dog Star.

Sirius's early life proved unhappy; he had come to hate most of his relatives, in particular his mother. He rejected his family's pure-blood elitism and reverence for the Dark Arts. At Hogwarts, rather than be sorted into Slytherin like the rest of his family, Sirius was placed in Gryffindor. In contrast to his home life, Sirius greatly enjoyed life at Hogwarts, where he was inseparable from his best friend, James Potter.

Sirius and James were immensely popular and known for their exceptionally good looks. Students liked his biting humour, and teachers respected his intelligence, though not his behaviour. His popularity was not universal, as a mutual hatred sprang up between James and Severus Snape. Sirius actively supported James, leading to Snape developing an equal and lifelong loathing of Sirius.

Sirius and James often went out of their way to bully Snape, whom they despised for his great interest in the Dark Arts. They also became best friends with Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin, whom they later discovered was a werewolf. To support Remus, Sirius, James, and Peter secretly became Animagi, which allowed them to safely accompany Remus during his transformations and keep him under control. Sirius's form is that of a huge black dog, from which his nickname Padfoot was derived.

Sirius ran away from home at the age of sixteen and took refuge with James and his parents. His outraged mother burned his name off the family tree. Sirius's Uncle Alphard left him a large inheritance, causing Sirius's mother to also remove Alphard's name. He was left financially independent by his uncle's generous bequest.

After leaving school, Sirius fought against Voldemort, eventually joining the Order of the Phoenix. He remained close friends with James and eventually attended James and Lily Evans' (now Lily Potter) wedding as their best man. When their son, Harry, was born, Lily and James named Sirius as Harry's godfather. When the Potters became aware that Harry was Voldemort's specific target, Albus Dumbledore advised them to go into hiding using the Fidelius Charm, a highly complex spell allowing a secret to be concealed within another person.

Trusting Sirius above all of their other friends, Lily and James wanted him to be their Secret Keeper. Sirius, however, worried that Voldemort would immediately suspect him of being the Potters' Secret Keeper and would target him; so he convinced the Potters to reassign Pettigrew as their Secret Keeper because he did not believe Voldemort would ever suspect a 'weak, talentless thing' like Pettigrew. As it turned out, Pettigrew was Voldemort's spy within the Order.

He betrayed the Potters to Voldemort, who subsequently tracked them down and murdered them. After giving his motorbike to Hagrid so that Hagrid could deliver Harry to the Dursleys, Sirius then tracked down Pettigrew, determined to kill him in revenge. However, Pettigrew outwitted him: confronted by Sirius on a city street, he created an explosion, faking his own death (leaving a severed finger behind as evidence) and killing twelve Muggles in the process.

Sirius was arrested, accused of murdering Pettigrew and the Muggles and of serving Voldemort, and was promptly thrown in prison by Barty Crouch, Sr. without receiving a trial. He spent the next twelve years in Azkaban, brooding over his friends' deaths and obsessing over Pettigrew's betrayal. Sirius states that, unlike most other Azkaban prisoners (who often became insane during their terms of imprisonment), he was able to keep his sanity because he knew he was innocent, and also used his Animagus form to ward off the Dementors, who are unable to perceive unsophisticated canine minds.

Reader's Guide

Sirius Black serves as Harry Potter's godfather and a key figure in the Order of the Phoenix. Introduced as a terrifying fugitive in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, he is revealed to be an innocent man consumed by twelve years of grief and rage, desperate to reclaim the family he never had with Harry. His most defining magical trait is his Animagus form: a huge black dog known as 'Padfoot,' used for stealth, reconnaissance, and his legendary escape from Azkaban. He is also a formidable duelist and a dedicated Order of the Phoenix member. His journey is punctuated by the horror of betrayal by Peter Pettigrew, the audacity of his prison break, the bittersweet reunion with Harry at Hogwarts, and his heroic stand in the Department of Mysteries against Death Eaters.