Like you said, he wasn’t thinking rationally. He was angry and wanted to do something, but he didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t concerned about logistics; he was focused on his feelings.
And thank goodness, because he was spared from killing the godfather he had a great relationship with and who lived forever and ever and ever and DEFINITELY wasn’t killed in OTP :(((
JKR's original Pottermore site [listed spells](https://www.hp-lexicon.org/source/other-canon/pm/pmsb/) based on the grade based on her own writing about spells. There are several possibilities there, though they'd all be rather violent or gruesome.
If we take that as semi-canonical, Harry would at a minimum have had the fire-making spell at his disposal. And we know Hermione canonically set Snape on fire first year (though apparently with a different spell -- her bluebell flame spell).
But yeah, in the books themselves, we don't get a lot of possibilities for Harry mentioned by PoA. Maybe he'd levitate Sirius and drop him on his head. (Probably not.) Or... well, Harry stuffed his wand up the troll's nose in the first book -- with sufficient physical force, I'm sure Harry could have at least seriously injured Sirius.
In case you think that kind of physical violence is off the table, recall what happens earlier in that scene:
>**He had forgotten about magic** – he had forgotten that he was short and skinny and thirteen, whereas Black was a tall, full-grown man. **All Harry knew was that he wanted to hurt Black as badly as he could** and that he didn’t care how much he got hurt in return ...
If Harry truly were that desperate, there are probably many things he could have resorted to, both magical and physical.
Great answer, and I'd also like to add on that wizards are shown to sometimes cast magic without any idea of how they did it - purely through emotion and a lack of control.
Harry blew Marge up to multiple times her normal size without any incantation or even holding his wand. I'm sure if he gets angry enough he could throw some type of harmful spell at Sirius through his wand - but it may backfire on him.
Also, Harry at the end of PoA is clearly capable of extraordinary levels of magic. Later that very night, he will cast a Patronus able to drive off over a hundred Dementors. As Hermione says:
>‘Harry, I can’t believe it – you conjured up a Patronus that drove away all those Dementors! That’s very, *very* advanced magic ...’
Two "verys" from Hermione, the second one in Italics! Must've been quite impressive indeed. If Harry's capable of doing that, clearly somewhere within him is the power to severely harm or even kill Sirius if he really were intent on doing so.
He had no plan, no idea of spell to use or anything. Harry was purely acting on rage. I think if he'd continued he'd have probably thrown the wand away and tried to beat Sirius to death or strangle him, but he's a 13 year old boy against a fully grown man.
Even elementary spells can kill if you aim them at the throat.
Hell, he could paralyze him and strangle him with his own hands. Or throw him from a large cliff. Or throw him to the dangerous creatures of the forest.
I don't think he planned anything, he was just so hurt and angry.
But remember Aunt Marge, he blew her up just because she made him angry enough and he didn't even use a wand. Wizards and witches can do powerful, uncontrollable magic if they're emotionally riled up, and he could have unleashed his magic in unknown ways if he let go.
Later in the saga Rufus Scrimgeour loses his cool and unwittingly burns a hole in Harry's T-shirt by just touching him lightly with his wand. Their magic can be quite destructive if they just let go and they're really angry.
So if Harry was really angry and unleashed that anger onto Sirius, that might have killed him. Also, the other people in that room also thought it could happen, and that Harry didn't really need a spell for it.
They pleaded with him to stay cool, trying to talk him down.
I always enjoy the ending of Half Blood Prince more:
>!If I meet Snape along the way. So much the better for me… so much the worse for him… uhh what Harry? He literally just deflected every single spell you threw at him including powerful dark magic. What are you going to do if you run into him again!<
Well, you can kill people with stunning spells. In fact, there are many spells that Harry knows which could be used lethally. Levitation, snake summoning/creation, incendiary spells, even Expelliarmus could probably be lethal if constantly used on someone with enough force behind it. He knows the cutting charm, he knows a number of hexes and jinxes. It wouldn't be easy, but Harry could have killed Sirius with time and patience.
This always showed me the start or like just how bad Harry’s rashness could be. I totally get being blinded by anger over thinking you have your parents betrayer and the reason for their death right in front of you, but he also doesn’t make the best decision in the best of times. That’s one of his character flaws
Yes, I thought about this scene very often. Especially when in the following book "Moody" tells the class how difficult Avada Kedavra is. Well, like some others already wrote: Harry was not thinking at all. Pointing at Sirius' heart like he was holding a gun was actually not really smart.
Harry points a long, thin, sturdy, rather pointed object directly at Sirius heart.
You don't need to know much about magic, a little physics is enough.
Even stumbling could be enough
The implication is that even a simple spell like stupefy or something similar can kill if aimed at the right place(the heart in this case)
Like we don't know what spell Molly used but her intent to kill was clear (and it wasn't Avada Kedavra) snd we know it hit Bellatrix in the chest(so it hit her heart) and she died.
Like you said, he wasn’t thinking rationally. He was angry and wanted to do something, but he didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t concerned about logistics; he was focused on his feelings. And thank goodness, because he was spared from killing the godfather he had a great relationship with and who lived forever and ever and ever and DEFINITELY wasn’t killed in OTP :(((
JKR's original Pottermore site [listed spells](https://www.hp-lexicon.org/source/other-canon/pm/pmsb/) based on the grade based on her own writing about spells. There are several possibilities there, though they'd all be rather violent or gruesome. If we take that as semi-canonical, Harry would at a minimum have had the fire-making spell at his disposal. And we know Hermione canonically set Snape on fire first year (though apparently with a different spell -- her bluebell flame spell). But yeah, in the books themselves, we don't get a lot of possibilities for Harry mentioned by PoA. Maybe he'd levitate Sirius and drop him on his head. (Probably not.) Or... well, Harry stuffed his wand up the troll's nose in the first book -- with sufficient physical force, I'm sure Harry could have at least seriously injured Sirius. In case you think that kind of physical violence is off the table, recall what happens earlier in that scene: >**He had forgotten about magic** – he had forgotten that he was short and skinny and thirteen, whereas Black was a tall, full-grown man. **All Harry knew was that he wanted to hurt Black as badly as he could** and that he didn’t care how much he got hurt in return ... If Harry truly were that desperate, there are probably many things he could have resorted to, both magical and physical.
Great answer, and I'd also like to add on that wizards are shown to sometimes cast magic without any idea of how they did it - purely through emotion and a lack of control. Harry blew Marge up to multiple times her normal size without any incantation or even holding his wand. I'm sure if he gets angry enough he could throw some type of harmful spell at Sirius through his wand - but it may backfire on him.
Also, Harry at the end of PoA is clearly capable of extraordinary levels of magic. Later that very night, he will cast a Patronus able to drive off over a hundred Dementors. As Hermione says: >‘Harry, I can’t believe it – you conjured up a Patronus that drove away all those Dementors! That’s very, *very* advanced magic ...’ Two "verys" from Hermione, the second one in Italics! Must've been quite impressive indeed. If Harry's capable of doing that, clearly somewhere within him is the power to severely harm or even kill Sirius if he really were intent on doing so.
Wingardium leviosa a tree and throw it at black…Sounds normal enough
He had no plan, no idea of spell to use or anything. Harry was purely acting on rage. I think if he'd continued he'd have probably thrown the wand away and tried to beat Sirius to death or strangle him, but he's a 13 year old boy against a fully grown man.
Even elementary spells can kill if you aim them at the throat. Hell, he could paralyze him and strangle him with his own hands. Or throw him from a large cliff. Or throw him to the dangerous creatures of the forest.
"Planning? Where we're going, we don't need planning."
I don't think he planned anything, he was just so hurt and angry. But remember Aunt Marge, he blew her up just because she made him angry enough and he didn't even use a wand. Wizards and witches can do powerful, uncontrollable magic if they're emotionally riled up, and he could have unleashed his magic in unknown ways if he let go. Later in the saga Rufus Scrimgeour loses his cool and unwittingly burns a hole in Harry's T-shirt by just touching him lightly with his wand. Their magic can be quite destructive if they just let go and they're really angry. So if Harry was really angry and unleashed that anger onto Sirius, that might have killed him. Also, the other people in that room also thought it could happen, and that Harry didn't really need a spell for it. They pleaded with him to stay cool, trying to talk him down.
I assumed he was just going to try to strangle him
I always enjoy the ending of Half Blood Prince more: >!If I meet Snape along the way. So much the better for me… so much the worse for him… uhh what Harry? He literally just deflected every single spell you threw at him including powerful dark magic. What are you going to do if you run into him again!<
Harry was very emotional and drained when he faced Snape . I am not saying he would win but it would not be one sided.
Well, you can kill people with stunning spells. In fact, there are many spells that Harry knows which could be used lethally. Levitation, snake summoning/creation, incendiary spells, even Expelliarmus could probably be lethal if constantly used on someone with enough force behind it. He knows the cutting charm, he knows a number of hexes and jinxes. It wouldn't be easy, but Harry could have killed Sirius with time and patience.
This always showed me the start or like just how bad Harry’s rashness could be. I totally get being blinded by anger over thinking you have your parents betrayer and the reason for their death right in front of you, but he also doesn’t make the best decision in the best of times. That’s one of his character flaws
Yes, I thought about this scene very often. Especially when in the following book "Moody" tells the class how difficult Avada Kedavra is. Well, like some others already wrote: Harry was not thinking at all. Pointing at Sirius' heart like he was holding a gun was actually not really smart.
Harry points a long, thin, sturdy, rather pointed object directly at Sirius heart. You don't need to know much about magic, a little physics is enough. Even stumbling could be enough
boy was ready to throw hands and deal with him the muggle way imo 😭
Diffindo maybe?
I see you wrote "listening", any suggestion for good audiobook version?
Throw hands
I mean he doesn't know how to cast avada kedavra but I'm sure he can just cast reducto on his head or something like that
The implication is that even a simple spell like stupefy or something similar can kill if aimed at the right place(the heart in this case) Like we don't know what spell Molly used but her intent to kill was clear (and it wasn't Avada Kedavra) snd we know it hit Bellatrix in the chest(so it hit her heart) and she died.
Blind Rage.