How did Sirius lure Severus into the Willow? (was: James the Berk?)

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 105772

Kneasy wrote:

There is one aspect of this whole affair that (so far) no-one has
managed to explain:

Just what did Sirius tell Snape and why did Snape believe him?

They distrusted, perhaps even detested each other, yet we are
expected to believe that Snape would *ask* Sirius to divulge
'secret' information and that Sirius would supply it.
IIRC canon states that Sirius *told* Snape how to get past the
Whomping Willow, so it's not a question of eavesdropping on
a conversation.

<snip improbable but amusing conversation between Sirius and Severus> 


Neri:
My take on this is like that: Sirius just drops one taunting detail, 
like "What, Snivellus, you still didn't figure out how the door in 
the Whomping Willow works? It's the knob right beneath the bottom 
limb, stupid. But you'd better not try it. You know no one is allowed 
to go in there" (I can't do the British accent, sorry). This would be 
quite enough. Severus' curiosity is burning, he knows or guesses that 
the Marauders go in there, and he can't stand that they know more 
than him, and that they get away with breaking the rules. He sure 
knows that Sirius doesn't mean well telling him that, but this is 
obviously a dare, and Severus is 16, the age when passing on a dare 
is next to impossible. And how else can he find out what the 
Marauders are up to and get them expelled? It might take several 
frustrating full moons, but in the end he goes in there. It's 
practically unavoidable.

Kneasy:
The eventual out-come was not foreseeable at this stage.
Sirius says that he wanted to "teach Snape a lesson."
Some lesson. The back-lash should have been epic, no
matter what transpired.

Neri:
Agreed. Like James, Sirius was 16 and an idiot. Severus too wasn't 
showing much foresight. All of them were very stereotypical 16. I 
shudder to think Harry is just entering this age.

Kneasy:
But it wasn't, for one reason - DD
hushed it up. And this leads on to the most unbelievable bit
of all - Snape kept his mouth shut. He told no-one what had
happened. Given what we know about Snape, is that credible?
He has information that would get Lupin, Sirius, James, Peter
and DD into really serious hot water and he'd probably end up
looking like a hero to concerned parents - and he does nothing.

How did DD 'persuade' him to co-operate? Threaten to expel him?
Wouldn't work - it would give Snape even more incentive to pop
round to the Daily Prophet offices to offer an exclusive - "Cover-up
at Hogwarts! DD expels pupil whose sole concern was the safety
of fellow students! Board of Govenors to investigate!"

Neri:
You forget one thing. James did run after Severus and saved his life. 
Snape belittles this in the Shack (in PoA), but we know that as late 
as SS/PS Snape had still considered himself in debt to James. So the 
shaken 16 yrs old Severus, who had just saw Death in the form of a 
full-blown werewolf and was dragged back by James, is likely to see 
it this way even more. Or perhaps it was DD who gently but surely 
pointed this to him, in the best of DD's style.

Neri