Sirius Black

Sirius belongs to the parents’ generation: James Potter’s closest friend, a Black who broke with the family creed, and a prisoner whose reputation arrives before his explanation. The third book is his book. Reading him earlier, as only a wanted poster, is the experience the plot wants you to have once.

He is capable of great loyalty and of treating a child as a lost friend rather than a boy who needs an adult. Both are canon. The journal will not sand the second one down.

His death and the house he leaves behind are fifth-book losses. Stop at the godfather if you are not there yet.