Snape and the Prank...some thoughts

[finwitch]

No: HPFGUIDX 47064

Melpomene wrote:
 
> NO! NO! NO!
> I absolutely can NOT sit on my fingers and "listen" to this!
> There is NO evidence ANYWHERE that Snape had done ANYTHING other 
than 
> snoop around and be disagreeable. Both Sirius (particularly 
immature 
> tattle-tale!Sirius) and Remus have had ample opportunity to tell 
> Harry and co. just what awful things Severus had tried to do--but 
no, 
> Not one word. Do you honestly think that if Severus had tried to 
slip 
> something into James' or Peter's pumpkin juice Harry wouldn't have 
> heard ALL about it from his loving Godfather?

In PoA, Sirius was busy forming a relationship with Harry; offering 
young Harry a home and being *very* glad of being FREE. Not in the 
mood of telling Harry anything about his school-days, was he? 
Of course, then Remus transformed and Sirius was busy saving Ron, 
Hermione, Harry AND Snape by dragging Remus away (the little rat 
wasn't in danger as we saw).

After that he didn't have the oppurtunity to discuss with Harry 
except via Owl-post. We don't know how much Sirius put in letters 
between the one including the permission slip and the one Harry 
writes in the beginning of book four. Yet, he must have told 
Harry /something/ that isn't shown, to save space as Goblet of Fire 
is much longer than the earlier books without all those letters, to 
avoid repetition and to keep some things secret. That, of course, 
makes it all free for speculation. We do know Sirius had sent Harry 
letters before Harry's scar begun to hurt (he kept them under the 
loose board and all)...

> But WHAT were the Marauders doing? Releasing a "full grown 
werewolf" 
> and wandering around freely with it FOR FUN! (ha bloody ha) They 
had 
> a few "close calls" which they later "laughed about"! 
> And WHO is lying in the bed he made? 
> HARUMPH!

Dumbledore didn't know that James, Sirius and Peter were animagi 
until the end of PoA. I seem to recall him admiring not the animagi, 
but that they were able to keep that fact a secret from him... That 
was one of the very few things that happened around Hogwarts 
Dumbledore didn't know of. Which would explain why he would consider 
more guilt on Snape - and quite possibly none on James, Sirius and 
Peter. James also happened to save Snape, thus earning a reward while 
Snape may have been punished for being out-of-bounds after hours, 
thus having caused lots of trouble.

Sirius and Peter were probably in the Gryffindor Tower at the time -- 
and while Snape might have heard (from Peter?) that Sirius 
had /plotted/ the thing, purposefully letting it leak to Snape how to 
get past the Whomping Willow... Lupin called it a trick- which means 
that he also believes that Sirius plotted to get Snape there; Sirius 
did not deny this, true, but he didn't confirm it either.

Considering how Sirius was /feeling/ guilty about letting James down 
having persuaded him to choose another Secret-Keeper and thus 
accusing himself of /killing/ them, and how *everyone* including 
Remus Lupin, believed he had killed Peter (who had tricked them all 
and was alive as a pet rat), it just might be that Sirius regretted 
having slipped a piece of information just as well - regretted enough 
to call it an attempt of slaying or a trick, or at least not correct 
it.

And what comes to the Four Map-designers going around illegally-- no 
one got hurt; they were young and thus not exactly required to figure 
out the possible tragic consequences; Lupin /was/ more himself, and 
more happy- perhaps only those happy things kept him from becoming 
what many other werewolves had become- dangerous, irresponsible and 
bad even without full moon, but instead the kind person we know. The 
company of his friends was the sort of spontane kindness, an act of 
true loyalty and friendship... There IS so much goodness in it as 
well (and anyway, everyone was supposed to stay in Dormitory so it 
wasn't like there were people around, or shouldn't have been). I 
don't, in the contrary, see that kind of goodness in Snape's attempt 
to get his fellow students expelled/going after Lupin... It's not 
like there was some major evil lurking about he needed to solve...

-- Finwitch