[HPforGrownups] Why Did Sirius Play the Joke on Snape?

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 24798

cynthiaanncoe at home.com wrote:

> In PoA, we are told that Sirius plays a "joke" on Snape that could
> have gotten Snape killed by following Lupin to the Shrieking Shack.
>
> I have always had trouble with this.  Lupin was lucky to be admitted
> to Hogwarts in the first place, and elaborate protections have been
> put in place so Lupin can attend school.  Wizards don't like
> werewolves, and Lupin is keeping it quiet that he's a werewolf. Lupin
> is one of Sirius' best friends.  Sirius knows all of these things, is
> smart, and is at least a fifth year student.
>
> So why in the world would Sirius deliberately set up a situation where
> Lupin, one of his best friends, kills someone and would thereby be
> expelled or worse?

Hmmm. Because Snape did something to *him* in particular, sufficient to
make him focus entirely on revenge and not past that point--spied on
him, caught him doing something, whatever? Secondarily, because Sirius,
for some nebulous reason, "feels" impulsive to me. I don't believe he
thought it through. Had he, he might not have done it, but I don't think
Sirius is the think-it-through type. He's a mover and shaker. Plenty of
very intelligent people do very dumb things for this very reason.

>  And why doesn't Lupin show any signs of ever having been at all
> peeved about being used like this?

Probably because they had at least two years at Hogwarts and X years
afterward to have fought about it, sniped about it, and worked it out,
so that it was not of sufficient importance to have been revisited in
the minute sample of Lupin/Sirius interaction that we've seen.

--Amanda


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