Sirius Luring Snape

[drliss at comcast.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 106534

Alla;

The problem is that it looks like Sirius did have a conversation with 
Snape and  incredibly enough Snape bought it and went there. There 
must be something else, which we don't know yet.

Here is the quote:

"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. Well, of course, Snape tried it - if he'd 
got as far as this house, he'd have met a fully grown werewolf" -PoA, 
brit,ed., p261

Snape believed Sirius' words of his own free will? If it is so, then 
he was an idiot, which even I doubt. 

Why does remus say -"of course Snape tried it?" Why is he so sure?


Lissa:

Thanks for the quote- I knew it was there somewhere, but couldn't remember off the top of my head.

Like so many things, that quote's vague enough to leave a lot of room for interpretation.  Sirius COULD have had a conversation with Snape, or put him under an Imperius curse, but it's hard to tell.
The thing about that quote is it's Lupin telling the Trio about Sirius luring Snape.  I doubt Lupin was there for the actual conversation/lure/whatever though.  Lupin is sensitive enough to the consequences of his lycopanthy that he probably would have whacked Sirius upside the head if he'd heard him trying to lure Snape.  There's absolutely no doubt in my mind- just based on the kind of person Lupin is- that he had no idea this prank was happening.

That means that Lupin's version may not be accurate.  He may not know exactly how Sirius got Snape to do it- and he may not want to know.  "Telling him" seems like a quick, generic way of summing it up.  Especially when you have a traitor-turned-rat on your hands that you're much more interested in at the moment anyway.  Not to mention this can't be Lupin's favorite memory to talk about, anyway.  And I'm sure it's not Sirius's, given that he does seem to have grown up a bit.  

I also think Sirius did not spend a lot of time planning this prank.  If he did, he probably would have thought about the implications it would have on Lupin.  (I always had the impression that Sirius had a more "romantic" idea of what it was like to be a werewolf, he never really thought about the effects on Lupin himself, or the consequences.  At that point, I don't think he'd seen any murderous rages or anything.)

It doesn't shock me that Lupin is sure Snape would have done it.  It's totally in character for Snape to be a snoop, and obviously he DID do it (it's very easy to be sure with hindsight on your side!).


The more I think about it, the more I think the prank might have been a turning point for Sirius.  Dumbledore seems to be the king of deftly-crafted guilt trips, with Lupin as his crown prince.  Between the two of them (and James, who was obviously ticked), I'm betting money Sirius got some major emotional torture afterwards.  But the fact it was so childish and so crude leads me to think he didn't spend hours coming up with ways to lure Snape.  

Lissa

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