A Sirius Defense

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 35033

Penny wrote:
>>
So ... as between Sirius & Snape, I'd side with the guy who's got 
some warmth, some substance, some oomph.  For all his 
shades of gray, I think I've finally hit on why I can't get too worked 
up about Snape.  He's not made me care about him.... because 
*he* doesn't care about anyone as far as we know.<<

True. But some of us rather enjoy speculating about  what it  
*would*  take to make Snape care about someone :-). Sirius, for 
all his dead sexiness, leaves me cold. Yeah, he's got plenty of 
charm. I can't help feeling suspicious of someone like that. I've 
met too many people who use their people skills, well, the way 
Voldemort used to use his. I'm not saying Sirius is Evil, just that 
his thoughtlessness and his patronizing (making Lupin an 
unwilling participant in the prank, his reasoning for 
choosing Pettigrew) might cause him and Harry some more 
grief somewhere down the road.

 Penny quoting me:

> 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,

Penny asked:
>Tunnel vision as an adult?  How so?<

Well, strangling Harry in order to get his hands on Scabbers, for 
example.  It may be that PTSD explains why Sirius doesn't plan 
beyond his immediate goal or reconsider on his own in the light 
of further developments, but it could also be that he's always 
been like that. Look at the way he reacts to Snape at the end of 
GoF. He knows, whatever passed between them as teenagers, 
that Snape has saved Harry's life (as Sirius has yet to do), that  
Dumbledore trusts him, and that Snape has just stuck his neck, 
or should I say his arm, out for Harry and Dumbledore once 
again. And yet he  can't manage anything but fury, fear and 
loathing.  (Snape  reacts the same way, but then we know Snape 
is messed up.) 

My theory, which I will call WOZ (for Wizard of Oz) is that Sirius, 
Lupin and Snape are like The Scarecrow, The Cowardly Lion 
and The Tin Woodman. Sirius is thoughtless, Lupin is cowardly 
(by his own admission!) and Snape is heartless.  In order for the 
story to have a satisfactory resolution, they will each have to face 
their flaws and overcome them, or be else be utterly defeated by 
them.  IMO, it is dramatically neccessary  that more than 
circumstance keeps Sirius from being a satisfactory 
replacement for  the father Harry has lost, for Harry himself has 
to step into those shoes. Indeed, it is this, and not going to live 
with Sirius, that produces Harry's patronus in PoA. 

It is to be hoped that Lupin, Snape and Sirius will take all three of 
the remaining books to resolve their situations, for as soon as it 
is done their stories will be over. Indeed, I am most worried 
about Hagrid. It seems he has  learned discretion (assuming he 
had permission to breed the screwts),shown courage and found 
love. He's doomed! (sob!)

Penny, quoting me:
 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).

Penny asks:
<<Aside from the fact that I wonder how exactly would Snape be 
forced to 
quit spying on the Willow & the Marauders.>>

A magical restraining order? But Siriusly,  if Snape was told that  
further evidence from him is inadmissable against the 
Marauders (does my evidence count for nothing?) and will only 
serve to prove that Snape has been spying on them against 
Dumbledore's orders, that would be reason enough for Snape to 
quit. Especially if he is threatened with expulsion if  he doesn't.  

Penny continues:
... I don't know that we 
*know* this was a happy thought for Sirius.  Snapping that 
Snape 
"deserved" it in the midst of the Shrieking Shack revelations isn't 
exactly evidence that Sirius *really* believes that Snape deserved 
it or 
believes that he (Sirius) was in the right (and rightfully "got away" 
with his prank).  Sirius might well have very different feelings 
deep 
down, which he masks with an outer facade of "well, he 
deserved it."

Well, in that case, would you argue that Snape didn' t _really_ 
ever intend to turn Sirius or Lupin over to the Dementors? That 
deep down he has Neville's best interest at heart? That his 
coldness is just a facade? IIRC all those arguments have been 
made on Snape's behalf.  Personally,  I don't think the characters 
are all just pretending, nor are they merely victims of 
circumstance. I think they have some real issues to work through 
and that this will be painful. Yes, they are going to have to suffer, 
and I think this is the real reason why some of us are so eager to 
prove that our faves  only need a little love and kindness for their 
true goodness to show. If only it were that simple...

Pippin