Who told James about the Prank?

[Cindy C. <cindysphynx@comcast.net>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51548

Oooh!  I missed this thread earlier.  Is it too late to hop in 
here?  

No?

Oh, good!

Elkins wrote:

> Who tipped James off about the Prank?
> 
> Pip [and Derannimer] suggests that it might have been Lily.


Elkins then stepped into Eileen's corner with this:

> I'm with Eileen here.  My money's on Peter.


Oh, I'm with Pip and Derannimer on this one.  It just has has has to 
be Lily, I think.

See, having Lily overhear the conversation between Sirius and Snape 
really works.  Lily would have every motivation to run off and tell 
James -- if the Prank works, James could be in trouble and get 
expelled, and Lily wouldn't want that, see.  'Cause she was in *LUV* 
and would do anything in the world to protect her beloved James. ;-)

And as others have said, Lily's saving Snape's life can create the 
life debt we need for Snape to turn away from the DEs once he is 
ordered to kill Lily.  See, we *really* need to have a reason for 
Snape to do that, and life debt always works better for me because 
it is so much less sappy than Snape's sickening, pathetic unrequited 
crush on Lily that haunts him through early adulthood.

Further, as Derannimer said so brilliantly and eloquently, having 
Lily save Snape is Ever So Bangy, whereas having Peter is 
Dudworthy.  And Bang is *Everything,* doncha know?  ;-)

Elkins digressed:

>I ended up having to break into the school gymnasium in the middle 
>of the night to retrieve the *bomb* that a friend of mine had 
planted 

Hey, I've always wondered about how that works.  Did you cut the red 
wire or the green wire?  :-D

Elkins (on why Sirius would tell Peter):

> Because part of the social function of the guy in the group of 
> friends who isn't *quite* in the same league as everyone else 
> is to serve as admiring audience to tales of the others' exploits.

This is true.  But there are two issues:  why would Sirius tell 
Peter, and why would Peter tell James?

See, I think there's a problem with Peter telling James about the 
Prank.  Where in canon does Peter ever Do The Right Thing?  
Admittedly, we don't have much to go on here.  We don't see much of 
Peter in his school days.  But we do know Peter's defining 
characteristic:  he never did anything unless he could see what was 
in it for him.  He only steps up when his back is totally against 
the wall.  He only duelled with Sirius when he was cornered.  He 
only went back to Voldemort when he was cornered.  So unless we come 
up with a motive for Peter to cross Sirius like that, I'll be 
skeptical.

So let me ask, then.  What was in it for Peter?

Or are you saying that Peter was already in with the DE crowd at 
that point at Hogwarts?  That Peter and Snape were both on the road 
toward becoming Ever So Evil, so Peter told James to save Snape so 
that Voldemort wouldn't lose a promising young recruit in Snape?

I dunno, I dunno.

> I don't find it at all inconceivable that Sirius would have
> told Peter that he'd just sent Snape down the tunnel.  

Maybe, maybe.  

But why would Peter do anything with the information?  Peter is a 
SYCOPHANT who seems quite intimidated by Sirius.  SYCOPHANTs are 
supposed to avoid trouble and conflict and taking a stand and 
accepting risk, right?  So why would Peter breathe a word of the 
Prank to anyone?  Wouldn't he worry that Sirius would wring his 
cowardly little neck for it?  I think that if Peter had to choose to 
let Lupin eat Snape or to take on Sirius, Snape would be dinner, 
frankly.

> The main reason that I am convinced that it must have been Peter 
> isn't one of Bang, per se, but of thematic consistency.

You mean . . . you mean I can't win anyone over with a garden-
variety *Bang?*  I have to talk about . . . about **thematic 
consistency?**

<gulp>

OK, you're on!

Right, then.  Thematic consistency.  I know *plenty* about thematic 
consistency.

There's lots of that there thematic consistency in the Lily-Told-
James scenario.  What does Lily stand for, thematically speaking?  
She stands for . . . uh . . . 

<thinks>

. . . protection!  Yeah, that's it!  Saving the life of young 
Harry.  Standing between someone and certain death.  That's her, uh, 
narrative function, too, in case you were wondering.  ;-)

So when Lily heard Sirius tell Snape about the tunnel, she ran right 
to James, protecting Snape just the way she protected Harry.  

Thematic consistency, you see.  That's important stuff.


Elkins:

> Personally, I don't think that Sirius told Peter about sending
> Snape down to meet Lupin after the fact.  I suspect that Peter 
> aided Sirius in the Prank in the first place.
> 
> And *then* went running to James.  

I dunno, I dunno.  As entertaining as this is, I'm not sure it 
works.  See, if Peter were equally responsible for Snape's grudge 
over the Prank, then Sirius would have behaved differently in the 
Shack.  When Lupin starts to tell the tale of the Prank, Lupin twice 
says that *Sirius* played the Prank, never mentioning Peter.  If 
Peter had been in on it, Lupin would surely have said Peter and 
Sirius, as Lupin knew Peter was right there.  

Further, if Peter had saved Sirius' bacon lo those many years ago, 
is there any doubt that Peter would have pointed this out in the 
Shack when Peter was casting about for some reason Sirius should 
spare Peter's life?  I'm thinking we would have heard at least 
one "You owe me, Sirius!"

Finally, it really *needs* to be Lily.  Lily doesn't have enough to 
do, and women in general don't have enough to do in the books.  So 
let's at least have Lily rat out Sirius, shall we?

Yeah, I think it was Lily.

Unless she was in on the Prank all along.  ;-)

Cindy – very glad Elkins didn't get herself blown up