Snape and the Prank: (WAS when did the prank take place?)

[scoutmom21113]

No: HPFGUIDX 83385

There are some interesting thoughts about Snape and the Prank, so I 
tried to pull all of the quotes out to analyze and then throw in my 
two knuts.  Here are the results: (all quotes from PoA, US Hb ed.)

Description of the tunnel (pp336-337): "Harry went next; he
crawled forward, headfirst, and slid down an earthy slope to the 
bottom of a very low tunnel. <snip>  They moved as fast as they 
could, bent almost double; ahead of them, Crookshanks's tail bobbed 
in and out of view.  On and on went the passage; it felt at least as 
long as the one to Honeydukes ... <snip> And then the tunnel began 
to rise; moments later it twisted, and Crookshanks had gone.  
Instead, Harry could see a patch of dim light through a small 
opening." 

Animagi (p354): "Now, my three friends could hardly fail to
notice that I disappeared once a month. <snip> But of course, they 
like you, Hermione, worked out the truth.... <snip> It took them the 
best part of three years to work out how to do it....Peter needed 
all the help he could get from James and Sirius.  Finally, in our 
fifth year, they managed it."

The Prank (p357): "Severus was very interested in where I went
every month. <snip> ....we – er – didn't like each other very
much. He especially disliked James. Jealous, I think, of James's 
talent on the Quidditch field ... anyway Snape had seen me crossing 
the grounds with Madam Pomfrey one evening as she led me toward the 
Whomping Willow to transform.  Sirius thought it would be – er
– amusing, to tell Snape all he had to do was prod the knot on the 
tree trunk with a long stick, and he'd be able to get in after me. 
<snip> if he'd got as far as this house, he'd have met a fully grown 
werewolf – but your father, who'd heard what Sirius had done, went 
after Snape and pulled him back, at great risk to his life ... Snape 
glimpsed me, though, at the end of the tunnel."

Thoughts:
1. "...the best part of three years to work out how to do it." This 
sounds to me like it was just under three years for James and Sirius 
to learn to transform.  It took until the fifth year before 
they "managed" to teach it to Peter.  If they discovered Remus' 
secret about half-way through the first year ("like Hermione" it 
wouldn't have taken them long), James and Sirius would have been 
able to join Remus by the end of their fourth year.  (It's easy
to imagine them slipping out and leaving Peter behind.)

2. Remus distinctly says that Sirius told Snape about the knot on 
the Whomping Willow. I can picture Sirius taunting Snape (a la 
Draco) about knowing how to get past it, annoying him to the point 
that Snape would think less about who gave him the information than 
how to find out Remus' secret.  

3. James "pulled him back, at great risk to his life..." This 
sounds like Snape was between James and Remus.  What was "great" 
about the risk?  If Remus attacked, Snape would have been the first 
victim. If James *could* transform, he would have been less at risk, 
and would have had his antlers to help defend himself.  Was James at 
great risk because he couldn't transform yet?  Or because there 
wasn't enough room to transform in the tunnel?

4. "...if he'd got as far as this house, he'd have met a fully grown 
werewolf..."  But "Snape glimpsed me, though, at the end of the 
tunnel."  If Snape saw Remus as a werewolf, as he must have or he 
wouldn't know the secret, then Remus must have transformed in the 
tunnel.  Madam Pomfrey left it awfully late if he transformed within 
minutes after she took him to the Willow. What if they had left the 
castle ten minutes later?...

5. Several people made reference to Snape calling Sirius a murderer 
at age 16.  I remember that too, but can't remember where in the 
books it is.  But presuming (very carefully not *assuming* <grin>) 
it is correct, the Prank could have occurred in their 5th year.  
Depending on what month Sirius' birthday is in, he was possibly
16 before the end of the year.  

6. Recent posters have criticized Remus for not doing anything to 
stop James and Sirius in the penseive scene.  The penseive scene 
occurred right after O.W.L.s, which take place at the end of the 
school year. If the Prank occurred shortly before the O.W.L.s, it 
makes sense that Remus would keep a low profile when around Snape so 
he wouldn't provoke Snape into saying something he shouldn't. If 
Lily's intervention prompted Snape's "mudblood" comment, what would 
he have said if Remus had tried to intervene?

7. Unrelated to the Prank - if Snape was jealous of James' talent at 
Quidditch, does that mean Snape played Quidditch too?

Ravenclaw Bookworm