Back to the Bay ( was:Re: Prank and the (Second) Pensieve Four )

[jwcpgh]

No: HPFGUIDX 77979

Marina began to regret losing her lovely solitude on the beach.  The 
increasingly noisy group now included Kirstini, Derrainmer, Laura, 
Corinth and Arcum, as well as Prank, who couldn't decide whether to 
be funny and harmless or fierce and menacing and settled for running 
around the group, yipping and growling wildly.  Laura caught Marina's 
eye and signalled an apology (was it legilimency?  who knows?).  
Then, she slowly sank down on the sand, holding her aching head in 
her hands.

The others looked down, concerned.  "Are you all right, Laura?", 
Kirstini asked between sneezes.  "Well, yes, but...all of this 
intrigue and deviousness people are positing is making me dizzy.  
I've never been a teenage boy, but I know quite a few.  And even 
though they're smart and clever and all that, they are most certainly 
*not* devious.  In my experience, boys would much rather go for the 
quick and spectacular explosion rather than the longer-term but more 
subtle sneak attack.  Compare Hermione and her treatment of Rita to 
Fred and George with Umbridge, for instance.  I'm just not seeing 
James and Sirius sitting around plotting a complicated assault on 
Snape.  Can you imagine any 15 year old boy you know saying to his 
best friend, 'You know, I really fancy Lily but I think she likes 
Snape better than me.  Can you help me figure out how to get her to 
change her mind?'"

"Well, it didn't have to be such a big thing," Arcum argued 
back.  "Maybe Sirius was ticked at SS for something or other and told 
James, who then suggested, for reasons he didn't say expressly, that 
they play a little trick on Severus.  Sirius wouldn't question 
James's motives, and besides, it wasn't a big secret to Sirius how 
James felt about Lily."

Prank threw himself down on the sand beside Laura, who absently 
rubbed his belly.  "You're still suggesting that Sirius thought up 
this whole scheme and got James to go along.  Sirius as a teenager 
doesn't show a whole lot of patience or subtlety, though.  I think 
it's more likely that when Snape wasn't around, Sirius just didn't 
think about him at all.  We can agree that he was, um, a bit 
impressed with himself, and I'd bet he spent a lot more time 
contemplating how cool he was and getting up to other sorts of 
mischief than coming up with complicated plots to torture Snape.  Why 
bother, when the Marauders could infuriate him with remarks off the 
tops of their heads?  YOu're such a cute puppy, aren't you?"  she 
cooed to Prank.

"Corinth", she continued, "are you really a Wormtail apologist?  Does 
anyone ever have a good word to say about him?  In the Leaky Cauldron 
scene in PoA, there's some discussion about how Peter never seemed to 
fit in with the other 3. Madame Rosmerta calls him 'that fat little 
boy who was always tagging around after them'. McGonagall says Peter 
was 'never quite in their league, talent-wise...he was always 
hopeless at dueling."  And in the pensieve scene in OoP, James tells 
Peter not to be 'thick' and Sirius mocks his open admiration of 
James's skill with the snitch.  There's absolutely no evidence of 
cleverness.  In fact, the reason Sirius can be framed by Peter is 
exactly because he doesn't realized Peter has any cleverness in him.  
It only comes out when his back is to the wall.  I think canon 
suggests that the others let Peter hang around because he provided an 
endlessly appreciative audience.  He was probably handy as a gofer 
and the butt of some of their jokes.  But I don't think they ever 
thought of Peter as their equal."  Prank suddenly jumped up and 
snarled at Laura, who quickly snatched her hand away from 
him.  "What's with that dog, anyhow?"

Laura, who's thinking of buying a little vacation home on the Bay