Snape vs. Lupin

[Blaise]

No: HPFGUIDX 4663

Peg wrote:  

<<There are several references in the text to the fact that Snape 
didn't get along with James when they were all in school together.  
How did he get along with Lupin himself when they were young?  I 
strongly suspect the answer is "not well."  Besides the fact that 
Snape hated James and perhaps Sirius, Lupin's best friends, there was 
all the fallout from James' prank.  I suspect Snape and Lupin never 
exactly had close confidential chats between classes.>>

Yes indeed.  I can't imagine that Snape would have felt any increase 
of liking for a person who almost killed him, and I'm sure he blames 
Remus as much as Sirius for the attack on him.  

And don't forget all the references in PoA to the way Snape looked at 
Remus with loathing during the welcoming feast and at other times, 
how he tried to persuade Dumbledore that Remus would be helping 
Sirius after the attack on the Fat Lady, and how he told the 
Slytherins what Remus was at the end of the book.  No, I think we can 
be sure that Snape detests Remus at least as strongly as he does 
Sirius.  

<<You know, I think I would like to be a fly on the wall in the 
teacher's lounge during the year Lupin is teaching at Hogwarts--I 
will bet that the interaction between Lupin and Snape has been 
fraught all year, particularly on Snape's part (well, practically 
everything is fraught on Snape's part).  There was the business about 
Snape assigning the werewolf essay to Lupin's class, too.>>

So would I!  Or a fly on the wall when Snape is brewing the Wolfsbane 
Potion.  I bet he doesn't like that...   

<<Is the hostility all on Snape's side?  Or is there some on Lupin's 
side as well?  I haven't really seen much in the way from hostility 
from Lupin.  Even when confronting Peter in the Shrieking Shack, he 
doesn't seem furiously angry the way Sirius does, just grimly 
determined.  Does he just hide hostility well?  Does he exorcize it 
all once a month during the full month, so he's really 
extraordinarily mild-mannered the rest of the month?>>

Well, there are a number of theories about this from the world of 
fanfic and I'll hand out some of them.  WolfieTwins argue (among 
other things) that the Wolfsbane potion acts as a sort of sedative, 
numbing all strong emotions, so explaining Remus' remarkable self-
control.  

Others of us would say that this self-control is due to his long 
training of being a werewolf.  His fear of harming someone during the 
full moon extends to a control over his emotions at all times lest he 
let the wolf part of him gain any ground.  

Trying to work out what circumstances would make Remus angry is a 
favourite pastime of we fanfic authors! 

-Blaise, off to work on her story about Snape and the Wolfsbane 
Potion.