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

[Brenda M.]

No: HPFGUIDX 105993

>>> Kneasy wrote: [snip]
> 3a. Guess, or - 3b. Admit defeat.
> It's at 3a. that the divide occurs - and it's more a matter of 
*degree* than anything else. Just how far do you go? [snip]
> Except in my (hopefully) humorous posts I feel uncomfortable making
> guesses that are more than very vague. Though the logic be tortuous 
and the canon in paper-thin shreds, back-to-front and twisted in 
knots, I dislike making suppositions that don't have at least a 
little something behind them. [snip]
> How does this tie in with my response to your post? Well, you've 
made a fairly specific couple of guesses - blackmail or throwing 
Snape out into the cold, cold world during school holidays. From your 
own post you contradict yourself - would the DD you see and admire 
submit to blackmail? Would he deliberately impose physical or 
psychological hardship on a student? The DD I see wouldn't.


Brenda: You say "How did you reach them? Any evidence? Any at all?"

This is my fault, I apologize. I was assuming that it would be 
somewhat clear how my logic was laid out. So here it is -- my 
speculation as to HOW DD 'blackmailed' SSSnivellus (irresistable) to 
keep his mouth shut (about the whole Shrieking Shack fiasco and 
Lupin's nature):

(1) DD kindly reminds Snape that he is also half-human and he must 
treat all the students same -- that is, IF Lupin gets expelled from 
this (Howler!parents), so must Snape.
(2) Snape is another orphan who stayed at Hogwarts for the summer and 
DD tells him he can't grant him this priviledge if Snape were to go 
blabbing.

So how did I reach these specific scenarios?

I was thinking whatever 'blackmail material' DD had against Snape, it 
had to be something very PERSONAL for Snape that it was worth missing 
his *one* chance (perhaps the only) to see Sirius and Lupin expelled. 
This got me pondering. From which instances do we see characters 
having to weigh the benefits of doing something they *want* and 
something they *should*? Desire vs. Duty, so to speak.

(1) From Shrieking Shack scene in PoA where Lupin explains that he 
had been tempted to inform DD of Padfoot!Sirius but he was afraid of 
betraying his trust. DD had allowed him to attend Hogwarts despite of 
his condition when no other Headmasters would. Then I remembered 
seeing some HPFG posters saying "Snape is a vampire". (I still have 
*no clue* how people got this idea and I would love to see how they 
argue on that.) The half-animal-blood nature makes some characters 
live in great fear of being discovered, I can name Hagrid, Madame 
Maxime and Lupin. What if this was what Snape was afraid of that he 
would oh-so-painfully let this go? Sounds very personal and risky 
enough.

(2) Tom Riddle closed the Chamber of Secrets and blamed Hagrid from 
the fear of not being able to stay at Hogwarts for the summer. IMO 
Tom Riddle LOVED being the Heir of Slytherin, he loved the idea 
of 'purging those who are not worthy of studying magic'. Then why did 
he close it? To him, going back to orphanage for the summer was 
simply too painful to bear that he would rather close the Chamber. 
Not to mention providing some degree of closure to Moaning Myrtle's 
parents, but I doubt TR cared about that too much. And I thought this 
was a nice parallel to how Snape would have felt after Shrieking 
Shack Fiasco.
[Also, it was only for the SUMMER, Snape wouldn't necessarily freeze 
in snow during England's summer, would he?!]

Another point I should have made clear: I do *not* think DD had every 
intention of actually going through with this blackmail thing. I 
think he was somewhat 'bluffing' to test Snape, to simply remind him 
what is at stake. From OoP we know DD to be an accomplished 
Legilimens, he was using Snape's personal fear as a leverage, so to 
speak. He was convincing Snape NOT to do what he desired. DD knew 
what Snape would ultimately choose. And it makes sense to me that 
most students generally fear their Headmaster (who is widely known as 
the greatest wizard in WW btw), I daresay Harry was probably the 
first one to yell at him and wreck his possessions?


>>> Me earlier: I meant to say he resembles God in many ways, 
> much more than other characters in Potterverse (that we know of). 
>>> Kneasy "bites": I don't bite; well, not often.
> And I really don't think you ought to read post 65696; it'll only
> raise your blood pressure. <<<


Brenda: HAHAHA, how cunning of you (and I mean it the good way, 
hehe), pinning reverse psychology on me ;P 
I will respond to that *if* I see anything missing from the whole 
thread, as I'm certain it has been a hot topic...


Brenda