Sirius Luring Snape

[dcgmck]

No: HPFGUIDX 106711

Demetra wrote:
> >> This is what bothers me most about Sirius, the fact that he
> apparently never matured beyond an impulsive teenager. 
> 
HunterGreen:
> By all rights it appears Sirius learned *nothing* from the prank 
incident. But I do think he has grown up at least a tiny little bit 
since the pensieve incident. Yes, in all the scenes with Snape he 
acts like a teenager, but for the most part Snape doesn't act too 
mature either, 

> When Harry *asks* about the incident in the pensieve, Sirius says 
very clearly that he's not proud of it (of course, that makes me 
wonder why he called Snape 'Snivellus' earlier in the book, 

dcgmck:
Maturity is a tricky thing, more fluid than static, more relative and 
situational than absolute.  I think Sirius takes his duties as 
godfather well, seriously...  So of course he's going to tell Harry 
that he's not proud of being a prat, but neither Snape nor Black has 
ever gotten past whatever is between them.  

That, too, is not unreasonable.  I've seen survivors from opposite 
sides of our world's WWII who will never get past the enmities of 
their formative youth. Snape and Black thought they were on opposite 
sides from school through war.  Being told they were mistaken is not 
going to change feelings they have internalized.  Such feelings are 
beyond the reach of rational thought. For people caught up in such 
emotional webs, no act against the other is sufficiently evil because 
the other party has long since lost human status.  That's so sad, but 
it's also too true for too many.