[HPforGrownups] How did Snape see Lupin the night of the Prank?

[Rita]

No: HPFGUIDX 50751

 
 
Maria:
 
Thanks, they helped a lot (and they weren't ramblings, either <g>).

Me:
you'e welcome, I've got the 'knight-in shiny-armour"compex and can't help
coming to the resce of anyone in distress ^__-! Please, please, please go
tell my Prof that I'm able not to ramble when I write, she doesn't believe
it!

Maria:
 That does seem to be a good explanation - that the entrance to the Shack
was not blocked by an actual door. But I seem to have more of my ramblings
on the topic. 
I really don't see a good reason *not* to install a door. 

Me:
Neither do I, I absolutely agree with you when you say:
"Wouldn't it be rather dangerous for Wolf! Lupin to run around in the
passage instead of the house? Besides, why have the house if you can just
keep the wolf in the passage?"

To your 2nd question I would answer that if the passage could be good enough
for W!R,well, it would be kind of mean to send Human!Remus to spend hours in
a hole underground; it's already so difficult to be a sort of beast part of
your life,  to have to live some of your hours as one even when in human
form it's really depressing! Lupin was led in the SS before his
transformation and we don't know how long it took him to turn into a wolf,
maybe hours, maybe 1 day, can you imagine how it would feel to be 'buried'
nderground for so long?
 
Maria:
Ooh, what if there *is* a door, but that particular night (not the Prank,
but in PoA) it was open - Padfoot!Sirius probably wouldn't have closed the
trapdoor when he was dragging Ron in there 

Me:
Quite possible but it had to be open also on the night of the Prank. Or we
might assume that Snape arrived to the trapdoor and while opening it James
cames and manages to pull him away but not before Snape manages to catch a
glimpse of W!R in the process of opening the door.

Maria:
Or, maybe the hole is too small for a werewolf? No, doesn't work. If Padfoot
 a huge dog ("bearlike") was able to get through - and he obviously is at
least as big as the werewolf, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to keep
him in check - then Lupin would definitely be able to get through the
trapdoor.

Me:
That's what I thought too for a moment and then dismissed the idea for the
reason you give.
 
Maria:
So, do we stick to the idea that no one saw any need to install a door, and
Snape saw Lupin through the open hole, pacing in the room above? 
 
 Me:
I'd say that for lack of evidence this is the best we can get out of canon
even though Catlady pointed out something which is quite sensible, on the
night of the Prank Snape could see W!R through a opening in the door created
by Mad W!R.
Others (Steve and Judy) proposed a magical barrier to block the passage but
there's nothing to support this view so I pefer to stick to what we can
infer from canon, that is, there's no door at the end of the passage.

R.