Sirius Black’s Death in Harry Potter:
Sirius Black is one of the most loved characters in the Harry Potter series and his death in the fifth book- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the most tragic part of the book. Sirius is one of those characters that are unmistakably flawed and yet you can’t help but fall in love with him. He is Harry’s Godfather and was his father’s closest friend. Sirius saw Harry not just as a godson but also as a reflection of his father James. This aspect is portrayed extremely well in the fifth book as Sirius is also criticized for this. The book has many important plot points that got cut for the movie as this is the longest book in the series and they couldn’t possibly keep everything in the movie. The relationship between Sirius and Harry is important for the series and makes Sirius one of the most loved characters in the series.
One important plot point that was cut from the film and would have made a big difference and would have helped create a good understanding of a future tool in the story. So in the Order of the Phoenix, there is a scene where Sirius gives Harry a rather special Christmas gift and he tells him that the gift would help them both communicate without the use of chimneys or letters. It would help them see each other instantly and Harry could call Sirius if he was ever in need. Harry did not open the gift and simply kept it inside his trunk thinking that it could be an excuse for Sirius to get out of the house to help him which could be dangerous for his godfather. He decides not to use whatever was inside the package to save Sirius but this ends up being a huge blunder on his part.
Later when Harry has the vision that Sirius has been captured by Voldemort and is being tortured in the department of mysteries, Hermione urges that Harry must verify whether this is not just a trap. To confirm that Sirius is not at 12 Grimmauld places, Harry uses the chimney inside Umbridge’s office to contact Sirius. However, it is Kreacher who he gets to talk to at Grimmauld place and the house-elf lies to his face that Sirius is not home. This confirms Harry’s fears and he decides to get to Sirius in any way he can and we all know what happens after that.
After Sirius’s tragic demise, when Harry is packing his trunk at the end of the school year, he notices the unopened package from his godfather and when he finally unwraps it, he finds out what a missed opportunity that was. The gift is the mirror that Harry would later use to communicate with Aberforth in the Deathly hallows and Sirius had the other half of it. If Harry had opened the gift earlier, he could have used the mirror to contact Sirius and would not have been fooled by Kreacher. That was exactly the kind of situation for which Sirius had given the mirror to Harry but he failed to use it. This plot hole serves as a reminder that Harry was simply human and had too much going on in his fifth year. Sirius too was going through a difficult time even after getting out of Azkaban and therefore the tragedy that occurs at the end is even more impactful. This whole thing should have been included in the film because the communication device later comes into play without an explanation in the last two films.
