[HPforGrownups] Re: Who Trusts Snape?! (OofP spoilers)

[T.M. Sommers]

No: HPFGUIDX 71717

kiricat2001 wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "T.M. Sommers" <tms2 at m...> 
> wrote:
>>
>>He had the opportunity when he was caught; instead he just 
>>laughed maniacally.
> 
> That is Fudge's story, not Sirius'. And we know how Fudge likes to 
> keep up appearances.  Doesn't it make a better story to tell people 
> about how he was one of the first on the scene (which he does say) to 
> confront a howling, cackling, maniacal Death Eater?  Certainly sounds 
> more impressive that saying, we found this distraught young man 
> clutching his wand and talking about how a rat killed the Potters. 

Yes, it's Fudge's story, and Fudge is not absolutely reliable, 
but it's the only evidence we have, and no one, not even Sirius 
after his escape, denied it.

> I 
> find it perfectly believable that Sirius did try to tell people his 
> side of the story.  And I also find it believable, given the tenor of 
> the times, that no one in authority listened to him.

Believable, yes, but unsupported by the evidence.