Snape and the Prank...some thoughts

[Judy]

No: HPFGUIDX 47041

Ah, there have been a lot of Snape defenders 
around here lately, blaming Sirius entirely
for the Prank.  So, I've been wondering where all 
the Sirius Apologists are -- I've been expecting them!

Penny said:
> There's also just so much we don't know about the Prank. 
> What did Snape say or do to motivate Sirius to 
> tell him how to follow them? What were 
> Sirius' intentions?  
> ....we do *NOT* know what Snape did to 
> motivate the Prank. We can
> conjecture from now till sundown,
> but until OOP or Books 6 or 7 clues 
> us in, we're only guessing. 

This isn't my reading of the canon.  I think we *do* know what Snape
was doing -- he was sneaking around, trying to get the Marauders in
trouble. He was also being a slimy, oily, greasy-haired kid. And
that's it. Sirius has had two opportunities in canon to say what Snape
did to deserve the Prank, and that's all he's come up with.  Even if
Sirius was too traumatized (or preoccupied) to dish out the dirt on
Snape in the Shack, he had plenty of time in GoF (the "Padfoot
Returns" chapter) to say more. In Padfoot Returns, Sirius is trying to
figure out the lowdown on Snape's character, so if Snape had done
something awful, Sirius should have said so then. 

In Sirius' defense, however, we don't know his motivations, just as
Penny said. My interpretation is that he *wasn't* trying to kill Snape
or get him turned into a werewolf.  I think Sirius was just trying to
scare Snape, and hadn't thought through the consequences. He hadn't
considered how dangerous it would be.  

So, I'm inclined to give them both the benefit of the doubt.  I don't
think Snape did anything worse than snoop around, but I don't think
Sirius intended for anything horrible to happen to him, either. Sirius
intended it to be a *prank*, just as the name implies. 

-- Judy Serenity