when did the prank take place?

[Annalisa Moretti]

No: HPFGUIDX 83249

Ah, but remember, Snape implies in PoA (or was it GoF? Sorry, I can't 
remember when he said, but I know he said it) that Sirius, at least, 
was 16 years old at the time of the prank. At least, he states that 
he proved that he was capable of murder at the age of 16. One would 
assume he's speaking about the prank.

-- Annalisa

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "jwcpgh" <jwcpgh at y...> wrote:
> Kneasy raised an interesting point in his post # 83201.  I said 
that 
> the prank happened sometime after pensieve 2, which would make it 
> after 5th year.  But Kneasy pointed out that we don't actually have 
> any canon for that.  I had assumed that it happened at least that 
> late because of the way the story is told in PoA.  Remus says it 
> took the Marauders the better part of 3 years to figure out how to 
> transform.  Then he mentions Snape's suspicion that he (Remus) was 
> helping Sirius get into the school after the escape.  At that 
point, 
> the story of the prank comes out-or at least a somewhat expurgated 
> version of it. Because of the order in which Remus tells about the 
> Marauders, I made the assumption that the prank followed 
> chronologically after the Marauders learned to transform.  But 
> that's not necessarily the case, is it?  If it weren't for Remus's 
> offhand remark about Snape, the prank might not have come up at 
> all.  Furthermore, Sirius and James could have known where Remus 
> went on full moon nights well before they learned the animagus 
> spell.  So when *did* the prank happen?  And what, if any, are the 
> differing ramifications of it happening before pensieve 2 or after 
> pensieve 2?  Or do I just need to get a life?