Prank

[bluesqueak]

No: HPFGUIDX 80209

Kirstini, wrote:   
> No, Pip didn't say that. She said:
> >>>Snape continually snipes at Sirius in OOP, for staying safely 
> at home, leading to the final comment of `why yes, I suppose I am' 
> when Sirius finally says `Are you calling me a coward?' This 
> suggests that quite possibly Sirius previously used a taunt of `
> coward' on him.<snip>
> Also, a public taunt of `coward' would mean that Snape would not 
> expect a snipe hunt. Half the school would be laughing at him if 
> he *didn't* go in.>>> 
> 
Kirstini:
>  - Pip's getting inside Snape's head here (gaah. Hope she's 
> feeling alright), 

It's OK, I'm a professional. But don't try this at home. ;-)

> trying to offer motivation for why Snape would take Sirius 
> at his word. She's not suggesting that Sirius taunted Snape as a 
> coward publically on this occasion, but that he had done before 
> and Snape, not knowing that there was a top secret werewolf at the 
> end of  the tunnel, assumed that this would happen again if he 
> didn't go through with it. 

Yes, exactly. Kirstini's expressed it a lot better than I did.

There is some evidence that Sirius did tell at least one other 
person about the Prank - James was not *told* by Sirius what he'd 
done. Lupin describes it as James 'who'd *heard* what Sirius had 
done' [Ch. 18, p.261, PoA]. This implies James heard from a third 
party.

It may have been Peter. Sirius would have been safe announcing 
loudly to Peter that Snivellus was too cowardly to go into the 
tunnel against school rules. Peter already knows the secret. 

Laura argues that calling Snape courageous 

>>assumes that Snape knew something dangerous was waiting for him, 
and we don't know that to be the case. Canon doesn't take a position 
on what Snape knew the night of the prank.
>> 

Laura could be right. The Prank could *almost* be a comedy of 
errors. Sirius thinks Snape knows or strongly suspects Lupin is a 
werewolf [he saw Lupin with Madame Pomfrey, he's very good at DADA], 
so thinks he wouldn't dare go down the tunnel. A lovely chance to 
humiliate dear Snivellus. Almost as good as taking his pants off. ;-)

Snape thinks werewolves would never be allowed at Hogwarts [see 
Lupin explaining that it was only by very special permission that he 
could attend Hogwarts], so doesn't actually suspect the truth. 

Sirius thinks Snape would never dare; Snape thinks it's the ordinary 
kind of dare and he can probably deal with whatever is at the other 
end. A lot better than he can deal with Sirius announcing loudly 
that Snivellus won't go into a dark tunnel on his own. 

And then when all hell breaks loose, Snape thinks Sirius *knew* that 
Snape had no idea what was at the other end of that tunnel.

Kirstini writes:
> Which is kind of cowardly in itself, actually. 
> I'm sticking with nosiness as primary motivation.
> 

Ummm. Well, *I* wouldn't go through a dark tunnel which is out-of-
bounds just because someone called me a coward. But I'm a girl. Boys 
are different, in my experience ;-) 

Given a choice of facing possible death and being publicly referred 
to as a coward, most boys seem to prefer possible death. Whether 
it's biological, or societal, I don't know. [grin]

Kirstini:
> Although, A Thought Occurs - do we know that Remus *wasn't* 
> removed from the school at this point? 

No. But the implication is that he wasn't. Snape was 'forbidden to 
tell anybody', which implies that Lupin [who Dumbledore saw as the 
innocent party] was continuing at Hogwarts. 

Laura writes:
>>
It's a good assumption that Sirius did underestimate werewolf!
Remus's dangerousness, because that creature (who wasn't Remus, imo) 
was never a threat to Padfoot and Company.
>>

Yup. Padfoot and Prongs were big enough to control Lupin. You'd 
think it would have occurred to Sirius that someone without the 
ability to turn into a large, hairy animal might have a few 
problems, though ;-)

The worrying bit about Sirius is that James seems to have been told 
by a third party. Even when Snape actually went into the tunnel, 
Sirius doesn't seem to have made the effort to tell anyone, or go 
get Snape out. Instead it was left to James to play the hero.

The problem with the 'the werewolf isn't really Remus' idea is that 
it is not supported by canon. Sirius's attitude is much more 
understandable if he thinks the werewolf *is* Remus, and Remus 
wouldn't hurt anyone.

Remus himself remarks that his mind is less wolfish while he is with 
the Marauders [PoA Ch. 18 p. 260]. Further, he can remember 
everything he does while he's a werewolf.

Unfortunately, his memory seems to fail him when it comes to taking 
his medication [evil grin - see 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/39146 and thread 
following for 'Lupin the werewolf-in-denial' ]

Pip!Squeak