Snape; Lupin's 'mistakes' again

[ftah3]

No: HPFGUIDX 34898

Jake Storm wrote:
> I think there may be canon to back up the idea that Snape knew. I 
don't have 
> PoA with me, but I read through the Shrieking Shack scene yesterday 
and 
> there's a bit where Snape is yelling at Harry that he would have 
been well 
> served if Snape had let Black kill him. He'd be 'like father, like 
son' in 
> that he 'refused to believe that Black would betray him'
> 
> Makes me think that Severus found out that the Secret Keeper was a 
DE, but 
> didn't know it was Peter, just that he'd spilled the beans, and 
that James 
> refused to believe Severus.

Well, I would gather that a lot of folks in the wizarding 
world 'knew' about Black's status as secret keeper, and his 
betrayal.  After all, it looked like Black betrayed the Potters, 
which led to Voldy's downfall, and then killed Pettigrew who 
valiantly tried to stand up to him, and ended up in Azkaban.  It 
would surprise me a great deal if Snape and everyone else *didn't* 
know that piece of fiction, considering the all around impact of 
those events!  

What I got from that bit is that it's canon evidence that Snape 
believed that Black had been Potter's secret keeper, and at some 
point, most likely in retrospect (imho), figured it should have been 
obvious to too-smart-for-his-own-good Potter that nasty rotten Black 
would betray him....  :)

For the record, I agree that I wouldn't like for Snape to have known 
about the Fidelius.  Too pat.

On another subject, has anyone speculated that as for Black having 
suspected Lupin as being the spy, there might have been some reason 
related to, I dunno, Lupin's personality that suggested it?  I.e., 
something other than, say, general distrust of werewolves?  

Firstly, it seems potentially a little odd that Black would suspect 
Lupin just because of general prejudice against werewolves.  He's 
been friends with Lupin, even helped him run around in dangerous 
form; and Lupin seems a little surprised that Black suspected him, 
indicating that Black had at least never acted with overt prejudice 
against Lupin on the basis of simple werewolfness.

Secondly, was thinking about this in conjunction with people 'making 
excuses' for Lupin's mistakes, especially his admission that he and 
the other Marauders 'laughed' about some of the close calls they had 
when letting wolf-Lupin run loose; his questionable method of 
teaching Neville to overcome his fear of Snape; forgetting to take 
his potion; and being quite ready to kill Peter. 

Was thinking...the 'Jekyll & Hyde' type is one way of looking at 
Lupin; but what if he's less split down the middle?  What if he's 
actually a bit...wolfy?  He acts mild-mannered and nice, because he 
*is* generally mild-mannered and nice; but even the mild-mannered 
nice people can have dark emotions and urges.  For Lupin, his dark 
emotions/urges actually take substance, in that he turns into a 
fierce, snarling, killer beast during the full moon.  So, what if he 
never actually gets rid of that aspect of himself?  I.e., it doesn't 
go away, just wanes (like the moon); and, along those lines, what if 
he really doesn't think of certain things as 'wrong'? Humiliating 
someone who really gets on his nerves isn't a bad thing; scaring a 
few locals could be bad if he'd actually hurt them, but he didn't so, 
la!  And as the change draws rapidly nearer, and the dark side of him 
begins to surface, the *last* thing he wants when he sees enemies 
near (on the Marauder's Map) is tie himself down with a conscience-
invoking wolfsbane potion.

I'm exaggerating a little, above.  Because I don't see it as 
evilness, just a bit of "I'm a mild-mannered teacher, not a 
saint"ness.  And if he had a bit of a wicked streak, which he only 
let his close friends see, it would make more sense for Black to 
think that Lupin was the type to maybe be amenable to Voldemort's 
ways and thus become a spy.  Whereas, on the other hand, Pettigrew 
would maybe have been constantly with the "oh yes, I totally agree 
with you, James/Sirius, terrible, terrible what the Dark Lord is 
doing" in his little yes-man way, and also being a big puss, thus 
precluding suspicion.

Just wondering out loud.  Hope I was somewhat coherent.

Mahoney