Sirius Black, Harry's godfather, is definitely dead, but we haven't seen the last of him. Harry holds a secret that's right under his nose that may be the key to contacting him ... even in the GREAT BEYOND. It's the two-way mirror Sirius gives him as a present. Harry finds the mirror after the damage has already been done and Sirius is dead. But Harry, too distraught to think of using it, throws it in the heat of guilt and grief, and breaks it. Will it still work? Will it act as a portal to the "other side?" I think it will.

I hate to say this out loud for fear of being stoned for heresy, but Sirius was never one of my favorite characters. When he died, I was sad for Harry, but Sirius was far too reckless a character for my taste. Because he was forced to be cooped up in 12 Grimmauld Place, his family's depressing and oppressive ancestral home, he began vicariously living through Harry. He encouraged him to go on with the clandestine Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons even though he must have known it would be strictly against Dumbledore's wishes to keep him AND Harry safe at all costs. He was, in many ways, reliving his glorious Marauder years, so much so, that at one point he calls Harry by his father's name, James. Oooooh, not good.

But Sirius has much to tell Harry about his past, information I believe only Sirius can deliver. Why was Sirius at Godrick's Hollow that night when he met up with Hagrid and gave him his motorbike? Why would people believe HE was the spy who ratted out the Potters and not Pettigrew? What did he know and when did he know it? Sirius also knows more about Lily than he's letting on and I think he needs to get this information from him to be able to move along on his journey. Of course, Lupin's still alive and I suppose he could get the same info from him, but it would hardly be as satisfying or dramatic, would it?

JKR won't bring Sirius back just so Harry can have a father figure. Harry has many and I think the point of the story is that Harry will become whole in the knowledge that he's reaped the benefits of everyone he's met along his journey.