Hate It All You Want, This Harry Potter Character Just Had to Die
Harry Potter is not a story where you want to get attached to characters too quickly.
Ever since Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter fans knew it was dangerous to fall in love with the characters as the story got darker and darker. Basically, they were right, because every new chapter since then has killed off one or more fan favorites.
One such tear-jerking death occurred in Order of the Phoenix when Sirius Black died, struck down by Bellatrix Lestrange's insidious Avada Kedavra. For Harry, who had just been reunited with Sirius as the only member of his family still alive, his death was devastating, even more so than the death of his friend Cedric Diggory in Goblet of Fire.
To this day, many fans believe that J.K. Rowling killed Sirius off too quickly, thus wasting the potential for Harry to spend some quality time with what was left of his family. However, the bitter truth is that Sirius' death had to happen at this point in Harry's life, whether we like it or not.
"This loss was a very impactful blow to harry and left him feeling very alone. You're meant to feel like Sirius should've been around longer because that's what life being snuffed out means. It's not meant to feel right," Redditor uncornered explained.
Basically, yes: Sirius died because J.K.Rowling wanted to hurt us (not in a bad way, of course). As Voldemort's yoke grew heavier with each chapter of the story, the stakes had to rise. First, Harry loses a friend, then a family member, then his mentor... only to have it become an absolutely tragic ensemble of deaths in Deathly Hallows.
"Sirius dying, and Harry being partly responsible is hugely important for his maturation," Redditor Emotional-Tailor-649 noted. "If Harry never failed and never experienced visceral loss it would all seem too easy for him? Not about a loss, but how you pick yourself up from it."
Still, we did get a glimpse of Sirius in Deathly Hallows, when he was briefly "brought back to life" by the Resurrection Stone among everyone Harry loved but lost. And of course, like everyone else, he was with Harry to the end.