Sirius don't need no stinkin' remorse

[melclaros]

No: HPFGUIDX 47750

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "dicentra63" <dicentra at x> wrote:
> No, really.  This apology issue comes up from time to time, and it
> really perplexes me, especially in the case of the Pr*nk.  We *so*
> don't know what happened, especially in the aftermath thereof, that 
we
> can't really go around saying that "Sirius should apologize to 
Snape"


me:
This is my 2nd attempt at this...my computer hiccuped during the last 
one....anyway, I agree. We don't know yet. But (and you knew this was 
coming, didn't you?)if we can't say "Sirius should apologise" then we 
certainly can't say he shouldn't. There's a lot to learn.

Dicentra:
> Consider the following:
> 
> When Snape entered Hogwarts, he knew more curses than most 7th 
years.
>  He was *not* someone you messed with; Sirius would know that.  
Sirius
> would have assumed that Snape would go into the tunnel armed--if he
> went at all--and therefore could have defended himself against
> Wolf!Lupin.  > it's more manufactured than real).

me:

Okay, Severus had a "rep". But HE is convinced, or has convinced 
himself that HE, at 16 could not have defended himself against a 
werewolf. How many fully grown/qualified wizards could? I really 
think in this case, we really have to go with the judgement of the 
one who would have had to do the defending...unless he has forgotton 
that he did in fact have his silver wand with him that night.


Dicentra
> Sneaking around trying to get MWPP expelled is not as insignificant 
as
> most people make it out to be.  Getting expelled from Hogwarts means
> that you never become a fully qualified wizard, 


me:
Let's go with that. Let's assume that Severus has decided that this 
would be a good way to get those annoying Marauders expelled. His 
plan backfires. He'd then sulk around mumbling "curses, foiled again" 
for a while. He might even try something else even sleazier the next 
year, althoug that would be unlikey as he'd be under Dumbledore's 
watchful eye. 
It couldn't have been that simple. Even SNAPE couldn't build that 
dissapointment up into what he's hissing and spitting about 20 years 
later.

Dicentra:
 Considering that Lupin was going to have a
> hard enough time getting a job as a werewolf, preventing him from
> becoming a fully qualified wizard would sentence

Me:
Which brings us to the age-old question: "Has Sirius apologised to 
Remus?" but I won't belabor that point here.



Dicentra:
> "Sirius Black showed that he was capable of murder at the age of
> sixteen," he breathed.  "You haven't forgotten that, Headmaster?  
You
> haven't forgotten that he once tried to kill *me*?"

Me:
Now I may be VERY wrong here and I apologise in advance if I am, but 
Isn't it true that when Snape made that statement he was *unaware* 
that Black had just been shown to be innocent of a)betraying the 
potters and b) the blowing up the street and all that episode?  As 
far as Snape knows at that moment, Sirius Black is, in fact, a Mass 
Murderer and he has no reason to believe anything else. When I read 
that line I didn't see it as anger over the Prank as much as fury 
over the murders that followed it. Snape now sees in the Prank, 
Sirius' capability to do such things.  He's shaking with fury because 
in his mind Black should have been dealt with properly at the age of 
16. 
>From that point of view, he's right.

(Again...if I've screwed up the timing on this one...sorry...i still 
haven't been able to retrieve the book out of the 12 year old son's 
chamber of secrets. yuk.)



Dicentra: 
> "My memory is as good as it ever was, Severus," said Dumbledore 
quietly.
> 
> I don't think Dumbledore saw it as attempted murder.  I don't think 
he
> agrees with Snape on this point at all and is reminding Snape that 
his
> perspective on the Pr*nk hasn't changed with time.


Me:
I see some of that too. I see him thinking something along the lines 
of "It's six of one, half a dozen of the other, Severus." He was the 
neutral 3rd party and knew the dynamics of the group at the time.
However, there is that niggling little line brought up here in this 
thread in which Dumbledore tells Harry that James saved Snape's life. 
Dumbledore says this. He doesn't say, "Professor Snape believes your 
father saved his life." It looks to me that Dumbledore, if nothing 
else, recognizes that young Severus' life was, indeed in some 
jeopardy.



Dicentra:
> Sirius is capable of tremendous remorse: if he's not feeling
> remorseful about the Pr*nk, maybe it's because he doesn't need to.

Me:
That may well prove to be true. But a response such as his "He 
deserved it" is hardly reassuring on that front. 

Melpomene