How did Sirius Lure Severus into the Whomping Willow?

[demetra1225]

No: HPFGUIDX 106052

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "finwitch" <finwitch at y...> 
wrote:
> Indeed. James strongly disapproved of Dark Arts (it was Dark Arts, 
> not Defence Against Dark Arts) and Sirius as well... Snape, 
> however, "knew more curses when he came than most do at the end of 
> 7th year" - and it seems to me, is an addict to Dark Arts - so of 
> course Snape became their enemy. [snip]
 
> And as reckless, thoughtless and whatnot as Sirius and James were, 
I 
> don't know how Sirius lured Snape into the Shack - was it even by 
> intention? They did _not_ know any Dark Arts. [snip]

Demetra:
We are told in the books that James hated the Dark Arts.  I am 
inclined to agree that James did not know the Dark Arts.  We are also 
told that Snape knew many advanced curses and knew the Dark Arts.  
But *addicted* to the Dark Arts - where did that come from?  I can't 
think of one thing in canon that says this.  

And in all of this, Sirius is the unknown.  We've seen that the house 
he grew up in was full of dark artifacts.  We've heard what his 
mother was like.  I think it is clear that he grew up in a family 
that, at the very least, dabbled in the Dart Arts.  So why would you 
assume that Sirius didn't know any Dark Arts?  I would assume that he 
did.  

The question then is what happened that made him split from his 
family and the Dark Arts?  I assume that it was James.  In the 
pensieve scene in "Snape's worst enemy", I think it is apparent that 
Sirius and James were the ringleaders.  They were very close friends 
(as an aside, I see more "shippiness" in James/Sirius then in 
Remus/Sirius, even though I am sure it wasn't JKR's intent).  At any 
rate, my point is that James and his passionate hatred of all things 
Dark is probably what made Sirius split from his family and why 
Sirius hated the Dark Arts.  If it wasn't for his friendship with 
James, Sirius could well have taken the path of Snape and the "gang 
of Slytherins".  

Demetra