PPMW background - Snape/Sirius

[MMMfanfic at hotmail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 29603

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Evil1ClaudeRains at a... wrote:
> In a message dated 11/21/01 5:06:29 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
> finwitch at y... writes:

> 
> Being I keep feeling as though I'm saying things that have already 
been 
> argued, and if I am/have, I hope you'll excuse me. 
> 
> I've been wondering if Snape testified for or against Sirius Black, 
if he 
> even testified at all or if Black had a trial.  Even if there 
wasn't a trial 
> or maybe Snape decided to stay out of it (either b/c he didn't want 
to help 
> Black or b/c he didn't want to make it known he was a former DE at 
the time.) 
> I'd've thought Snape might've known Pettigrew was a DE and Black 
wasn't.  
> 
> In GoF, during the 'The Pensive' chapter, Karkaroff says that 
Voldemort never 
> allowed the DE's to know each other's names, but surely Snape would 
recognize 
> Black and/or Pettigrew, what with all the 
> 
> <"Sneaking around, trying to find out what we (the marauders) were 
up to.."> 
> 
> he did when they were in school. Could Snape have held such a 
grudge against 
> Black to keep him in Azkaban? I could understand if he sincerly 
thought Black 
> was the one who killed those people/Pettigrew/sold Lily and James 
that he'd 
> want Black in Azkaban, but it seems he wanted him in there more 
because he 
> didn't like Black. 
> 
> <"You're pathetic! Just because they made of fool of you at school 
you won't 
> even listen-"-(harry, PoA, Ch.19)>    

I think Harry's interpretation of the events in the Shrieking Shack 
and Snape's motivation is definitely tainted and we cannot rely on 
his view that Snape was motivated by a schoolboy grudge.  I actually 
think that line totally p*ssed Snape off.  Notice how Snape was 
relatively calm until the trio showed that they didn't appreciate 
Snape 'rescuing' them.

> What I'm getting at is did Snape rise in Black's defense at all? Or 
even 
> consider it? Or maybe he really just didn't know Black's 
affiliations, or 
> Pettigrew's. Either way, as fond as I am of Snape, that man has 
serious 
> issues. 

Of course, Snape has issues -- that's why we like him.

But, it is likely that Snape does not know Sirius is not a Death 
Eater and hence has no reason to defend him.

It has really been discussed to death but let's recap our facts 
again.  If I'm Lord Voldemort and I have a spy in Dumbledore's camp, 
I would probably keep it to myself, tell stupid Peter to shut up 
during gatherings and probably use Polyjuice Potion to disguise 
himself.  A perfectly reasonable thing to do -- notice that 
Dumbledore didn't tell Sirius that Snape was their spy in Voldemort's 
Inner Circle either.  So Snape is very likely to be unaware of Peter 
or Sirius affiliations at all, especially if Voldemort has already 
begun to suspect a security leak among the ranks.

In the Shrieking Shack, my interpretation is that Snape did believe 
that he was saving the trio from two dangerous criminals at great 
risk of his own life.  And what did he get from those ungrateful 
brats?  They told him to stop interferring, that he was pathetic for 
trying to save their lives.  Especially that Potter boy.  That's 
Snape's POV, perfectly justifiable to me.

Also note that Snape did have a chance to get the Dementor to execute 
Sirius before Sirius had a chance to talk to Dumbledore -- Snape was 
the first to come around and what did he do?  He conjured up 
stretchers to carry everyone back to the castle, including Sirius 
Black.  Contrast this with what Sirius did when Snape was out 
cold ... :ducking tomatoes etc from Sirius's fans:

A more interesting question is -- if Snape's mission is indeed going 
back to Voldemort, would he testify to the Ministry to clear Sirius's 
name now once he has seen Peter Pettigrew alive with his own eyes, 
even at the risk of blowing his cover?

It is evident that by the end of GoF, Snape no longer considered 
Sirius as a murderer, just a nemesis like Harry.  Us Snape fans think 
Snape, despite his faults, would consider it his duty to do that but 
what do the non-fans think?