Prank redux

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 34940

Tex wrote:
>>Many astute Hogwarts students would have figured out Lupen 
wasa werewolf,  just as Hermione did.  Werewolves are 
interesting tokids. More so to wizard kids. There is a library.  A 
wizard _knows_what phase the Moon is in, and probably in 
which house, at any time. It's part of wizard life.

Snape's question for Black,  is: where does Lupin go during full 
moon? Or he may have followed the Maraudeers or just Lupin.<<

Judy:
>>'d say the books are pretty clear that Snape *didn't* know the 
Lupin was a werewolf.  I'd say this is a weak part of the plot -- 
Snape is smart, he should've figured it out.  But why would he 
run into the Shrieking Shack to face a deadly werewolf, if he 
knew?  Why not just tell his friends at school that Lupin was a 
werewolf?  (Perhaps he could have "let it slip" to the other 
Slytherins at breakfast, thus saving everyone a lot of time).  No, it 
seems clear that JKR intended Snape not to know about Lupin's 
lycanthropy.  Maybe Snape didn't have much contact with the 
Gryffindors, and didn't have much data about 
when Lupin was absent? <<

 
I think that at the time of the prank, werewolves must have been 
regarded as uneducable, as mentally ill or severely handicapped 
people were in the past (think Helen Keller). Lupin says, "It 
seemed impossible that I would be able to come to Hogwarts. 
Other parents wouldn't want their children exposed to me." 
Lupin's parents obviously thought he could be taught, but 
perhaps this was not a common belief.

There seems to be a fair amount of misinformation about 
werewolves floating around the wizarding world. Riddle speaks 
of werewolf cubs in CoS, so it must have been a widespread 
misconception about werewolves at that time. I have a feeling 
that, even in James'  time, most wizarding families considered a 
werewolf a disgrace and treated them even worse than the 
Dursleys treat Harry: either locking them in the attic and shoving 
food in under the door, or turning them out to wander or starve till 
they were picked up by the Ministry. Probably very few kids at 
Hogwarts in James' time had ever seen a werewolf at all, and 
those they had seen looked more like Escaped!Sirius.  

So even after Snape noticed that Lupin was disappearing every 
month (that's canon: Lupin says,"Severus was very interested in 
where I went every month.)" and  spotted Lupin crossing the 
grounds toward the willow with Madam Pomfrey (also canon), 
Snape never guessed "werewolf", just as I never guessed that 
my light-skinned blue-eyed blonde high school classmate might 
be an Afro-American (she was). 

Much as I enjoy shoveling speculation into the plot-holes, I think 
Sirius' motivation as given is enough. Now that Snape was 
watching the willow, they'd have to give up being animagi or else 
it wouldn't be long before The Marauders would  be expelled, 
Remus would be exposed, their furious and aggrieved parents 
would  _separate_  them (probably the worst consequence of all 
from a teenage point of view). No, something had to be done to 
stop Snape. Sirius probably figured Snape would get caught in 
the Willow and punished, not that he would be killed.  Sirius 
seems to have a very narrow focus, a sort of tunnel vision even 
as an adult, so he probably never stopped to think what it would 
be like for Remus if the worst happened, if Remus recovered his 
senses and found himself covered with blood, the torn remains 
of Severus Snape scattered all over the room (Pippin pauses 
while the Snape-haters savor the moment).  The "serve him 
right" sounds like something Sirius made up after the fact, to 
justify what he'd done in his own mind. Death's not a reality for 
teenage Sirius, it's something that happens to other people, not 
anyone *he* knows. Sirius hasn't had to relive this experience in 
Azkaban, since it's a happy thought that he got away with it, no 
one got killed and Snape had to quit spying on the willow (not 
stated in canon, but he must have, since he didn't find out any 
thing more).   Probably even Lupin felt at the time it was all for the 
best (death wasn't a reality for him either.) So Shack!Sirius hasn't 
reconsidered his actions from an adult perspective, which 
explains his lack of remorse. Lupin has, which explains his "er, 
amusing". 

What I wonder is how Sirius got off. Is it possible that he claimed 
that  *he* didn't know Remus was a werewolf? "Yes, Professor 
Dumbledore, I knew about the willow but I swear on Merlin's 
grave I'd no idea at all about Remus, I mean, how could I? .... I 
admit I wanted to get Snape in trouble. I thought if Snape got 
caught near the Willow, Slytherin would lose some points but I 
never dreamed...well, I suppose I've been  an idiot again, haven't 
I. Lucky thing James knew. Good old James." (The spirit of 
Merlin retaliates for this outrageous lie by dooming Sirius to 
spend twelve years in Azkaban.) Sirius would have to have been 
a splendid actor, but then we know he is, because he concealed 
the rest of his Marauder antics in any case.


This would add more fuel to Snape's fire in the Shack scene, for 
sure. Finally, an admission of what he's believed  all along but 
couldn't prove, that Sirius knew about Remus all the time. 

Pippin