A motive for Sirius (finally!)

[wynnde1 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 48376

Pippin wrote:

>I believe I have come up with a  motive for The Prank that doesn't 
>make Sirius look like a psycho but doesn't require  Snape to 
>have done anything  worse (in those days) than Sirius says he 
>did. 

<what follows is a condensed version of her theory> 

>If  Lupin was on the verge of suicide, could Sirius have seen The Prank as 
the only >way to save his friend? Even if Snape died and Lupin was held 
responsible, at least >Snape would have been paid back, and what could anyone 
do to Lupin that was >worse than what he planned to do to himself? I think 
that his attempt at murder did >haunt Sirius in Azkaban, and he made up a 
defense for it: Snape was spying, >Lupin wouldn't have wanted to die if Snape 
hadn't been spying on him, Sirius *had* >to do something to save his friend, 
it would have served Snape right if he *had* >died, and so forth.

>The alternative explanation, simple teenage thoughtlessness, 
>doesn't seem quite convincing to me as a reason  for the adult 
>Sirius to cling to the  belief that Snape had it coming.

Oh, my, Pippin - and you are hoping for a red robe for this? I'm still pretty 
new here, but I thought the red robes were for Sirius Apologists - and you've 
got him premeditating murder? (Dicentra, where are you?) Wow. I thought I was 
hard on Sirius just because I won't be able to really like him until I'm 
convinced that he feels true remorse. But even I don't have him planning the 
prank as a deliberate attempt to kill (or worse) Severus. YOW! <G>

It seems to me that *if* your scenario is accurate, then we need to really 
watch Sirius. You are right - your theory doesn't make him sound like a 
psycho, it makes him sound Evil. No matter how much snooping Snape was doing, 
that would by no means justify murdering him - even if Lupin *was* suicidal 
because of it. And yes, I realise we are talking about the mentality of a 
teenage boy. However, while I don't expect particularly deep or complex views 
of morality from ~15-year-olds, I do expect someone of that age to understand 
that murder is *wrong*. Particularly of the pre-meditated variety. If Sirius 
was planning send Snape in after Lupin, well aware that Snape's death was a 
distinct possiblity (and a  good thing for Lupin, as well), well, that's just 
plain Evil (IMO).

And, it also makes me question the real level of their friendship. Lupin, as 
we've seen him in canon, strikes me as the sort who would *never* want 
someone to be hurt at his (Lupin's) expense. And for Sirius to contemplate 
such a thing seems really twisted. Did he really think Lupin would appreciate 
being set up to murder a fellow student, even if he did *benefit* from it in 
some way? It seems to me that Sirius (if a normal, well-adjusted sort of 
person) would have difficulty justifying this course of action from any 
angle. So maybe it does make him look like a psycho, or, as I suggested 
earlier, Ever So Evil!

Then, there's the possiblity that *Lupin* was in on the plan, as well, which 
would not only give a bit more weight to the LYCANTHROPE theory, but it would 
also open the door for any number of Evil!Marauder conspiracy theories, 
wouldn't it?

Oh, I hope you're wrong about this. I still prefer to believe that Sirius 
told Snape how to get past the willow in a momentary fit of anger/lapse of 
judgement. I don't actually want the poor guy to be really Evil. 

:-)
Wendy
(Who was very excited to read her wee sister's first *real* post on the list 
last night about Snape and Javert - <waves hello to Robin> :-)


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]