TBAY: Prank and the (Second) Pensieve Four

[marinafrants]

No: HPFGUIDX 77895

Marina sits on a sun-warmed boulder near the waterline, watching 
Prank chase his tail in endless, futile circles.  This is fairly 
routine activity for the pup, but Marina doesn't mind.  It's cute to 
watch, and even a cat lover like herself enjoys playing with a big, 
frisky puppy once in a while.  Marina whistles and snaps her fingers 
and whistles, and Prank runs over, tongue lolling, to put his shaggy 
head on her knee.  Marina rubs behind his floppy ears as she listens 
to Kirstini expound her latest theory.

> "Sirius planned the Prank in advance.",

says Kirstini, after convincingly explaining why the timing just 
doesn't support the conventional "Peter tells Lily and Lily tells 
James" theory.

>"Not necessarily to any great degree, but he had had it in mind for 
a while, just toying it over in
> his mind - "yeah, wouldn't that greasy little slimeball like to 
know
> the *real* reason we disappear at full moon, heh heh heh...",
> something like that. However, at some point in his mind, it became 
a
> little more solid, and he mentioned it to Peter.

*Oh, great, yet another "Sirius attempted premeditated murder" 
theory,* Marina thinks with resignation, but decided to hold her 
tongue until she has heard the whole thing.

> James must have grown up enough to
> shoulder the responsibility of marriage and a family, and judging
> from Sirius' behaviour in the Gryffindor fire, Sirius wouldn't have
> liked this. I'm going to source this turn around as beginning
> slightly before the Prank, because (am I right in thinking?) James
> was already Head Boy at this point.

At this point, Marina can't resist an interruption.  "He couldn't 
have been Head Boy," she says.  "We know from PoA that Sirius was 
sixteen when the Prank took place, therefore it must've been sixth 
year.

Kirstini glares.  "Now you're just being nitpicky.  Even if James 
wasn't Head Boy yet, he must've started showing at least *some* 
leadership and maturity in sixth year in order for Dumbledore to 
choose him, so it's not much of a stretch that he would've started 
to turn around some time before the Prank, and that Sirius would've 
resented it."

"Point taken," Marina sighs.  "Do continue."

>So he mentions it to Peter, whose
> opinions don't really count, and who is stupid enough (Sirius 
thinks)
> to think it a good idea. Peter, however, takes the idea a lot more
> seriously than Sirius thought he would - as we've seen from the
> werewolf question bit of the Memory, he has a history of doing 
this.

<snip>

> *Then*, events pan out as Derranimer suggested, and they change the
> entire dynamic of the group. James and Lily are thrown together,
> causing Sirius a lot of resentment, which he takes out on Wormtail.
> Wormtail, subconciously decides that his first experiment in moral
> behaviour hasn't really been a success, and it's back to the 
drawing
> board on that one. Lupin is probably appalled by Sirius' 
behaviour -
> it probably hits home to him a lot harder than to the others - and
> here's the beginning of the seed sown by which they both suspect 
each
> other and not Wormtail of being the spy. Sirius is isolated (this 
is
> why I don't think James can have known in advance) and resentful 
for
> some time, and instead of blaming it all on his own stupidity,
> cyrstallises it into loathing of Snape, which is how we get to the
> hospital scene in GoF and the kitchen confrontation in OotP. Sirius
> didn't *hate* Snape before hand - his life had just never really 
been
> of any consequence to him. Now he has a "valid" reason for all the
> hatred we see - it's more of a hatred of equals than of bully and
> victim. "
> Kirstini stopped talking, finally, to scratch Prank lazily behind 
the
> ears.

"Wow," says Marina.  "That's a good one.  Most people are content 
with just blaming Sirius for every bad decision Snape ever made in 
his life, but you're saddling him with responsibility for all of 
Peter and Remus' mistakes, too.  Forget Voldemort, sixteen-year-old 
Sirius was the true source of evil in the wizarding world.  I bet if 
we try hard enough, we can pin the breakup of the Beatles and the 
hole in the ozone layer on him, too."

"Sarcasm will get you nowhere," Kirstini smirks, unimpressed.  "You 
want to shoot down my theory? Show me some canons."

"You want canons? I'll give you canons.  First of all, your theory
doesn't really solve the timing problem.  No matter how long Sirius
might've premeditated the Prank, in the end you still have Sirius
bragging to Peter, Peter running to tell Lily, Lily confronting 
James, and James dashing off to the rescue, all in less time that it 
takes for a very eager Snape to travel the length of the tunnel.  
Peter taking the time to think it over in advance shaves off at most 
a couple of minutes."

"Yeah," says Kirstini.  "But maybe they were the crucial couple of
minutes that made all the difference."

"Sounds shaky to me," says Marina.  "And anyway, there are other 
points to consider.  It's already been pointed out that Peter 
wouldn't have gone to a teacher, because that would be snitching.  
Trouble is, he wouldn't have gone to Lily for the same reason."

"No way," Derrainmer puts in.  "Going to a classmate, even a disliked
one, is not the same as going to a teacher."

"But Lily wasn't just a classmate," Marina points out smugly.  "This 
is sixth year, remember?  Lily was a *prefect.*"

Kirstini shakes her head.  "We don't know that.  James' example 
proves that you don't have to be prefect in order to become Head Boy 
or Girl."

"In theory, no," Marina agrees.  "But do you really think Dumbledore
would choose a notorious former troublemaker who'd never been prefect
for Head Boy, and then pair him with a Head Girl who's never had any
prefecting experience either?  Why, they'd spend most of the year 
just trying to figure out the logistics of the job.  That's a bit too
inefficiently eccentric, even for Dumbledore."

"Lily wasn't prefect in fifth year," Kirstini points out.  "Otherwise
she would've used her authority in the Pensieve scene."

"True," says Marina.  "But if you don't have to be prefect to become
Head Girl, I don't see why you have to be prefect in fifth year in 
order to become one in Sixth.  Fifth-year Lily showed willingness 
and ability to confront James and Sirius about their bullying -- 
something Remus failed to do, even though he was made prefect for 
precisely that reason.  Whoever the female Gryffindor prefect was in 
fifth year, she didn't do much good in that respect either.  Lily 
was the logical choice for the job in sixth year.  And that puts her 
in a position of authority, and disqualifies her as someone Peter 
could run to without being branded a snitch."

"Maybe," says Kirstini.  "But you're still working on speculation 
here."

"So are you," snaps Marina.  "And anyway, I'm not done.  Because in 
all your speculations about Peter's actions, you're forgetting the 
biggest and most obvious question."

"Which is?" prompts Kirstini.

"*Why didn't Peter go to Remus?*"

There is a lengthy silence.  Kirstini and Derrainmer look at each 
other,then at Marina, then at each other again.

"That is a good question," says Kirstini after a while.  "Remus 
would be the sensible choice..."

"He's the blindingly obvious choice!" Marina yells.  She's getting 
quite worked up over her own argument now.  "He's the one who's 
being set up for a fall!  He needs no explanations or advance 
groundwork to realize the gravity of the situation!  He's guaranteed 
not to run to a teacher. And he's the only one who's in a position 
to stop the whole thing simply by going to Sirius and saying, 'don't 
do that, you moron.'  If Peter knew about the Prank in advance -- 
long enough to ponder the moral implications and to carefully lay 
the groundwork for approaching Lily -- then he had plenty of time to 
warn Remus.  If he didn't, it must've been because the Prank came 
into being on extremely short notice, at a time when Remus was 
already unavailable due to the full moon!"

Marina stops and catches her breath, bending down to pet Prank, who 
is cowering at her feet, frightened by all the shouting.

"I could also add," she mutters darkly, "that while Sirius is 
capable of doing extremely stupid and reckless things in the heat of 
the moment, he is far too intelligent to spend an extended period of 
time plotting a murder without ever realizing that he was, in fact, 
plotting a murder. But since it appears to be the fashion this year 
to deny Sirius any redeeming human qualities whatsoever, under any 
circumstances, I suppose it won't do much good.  Come on, pup."  She 
gives Prank another pat and gets up.  "Let's go for a walk."

Marina
rusalka at ix.netcom.com