What about the Door (that wasn't at the end of the tunnel)? (Long)

[LadySawall at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 99589

In a message dated 05/27/2004 1:02:10 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Ginger writes:

> All Snape sees is a werewolf at the end of the tunnel.  The barrier 
is gone.  He sees no one else.  Sirius could not be there, in either 
form.  As a human, he would have been unsafe, and as a dog he would 
have been big enough for Snape to see.  James was behind him, so he 
wasn't there.  Remus, we assume, can't undo the barrier.  

> Who does that leave?  One who knows his way down there, and can make 
himself safe as he was no longer human, but small enough not to be 
seen.  Wormtail anyone?

> Motive:  Unknown, but I am sure we can come up with one.  I'll try 
this:  Perhaps he thought that if he got Snape and good, that he'd be 
rid of all those who bothered him.  Snape would be dead or worse, 
Sirius, James and possibly Remus would be expelled.  He would no 
longer be a toady for the popular guys to belittle, nor would he have 
that nasty Slyth on his case by association.


<snip>

> So, limited canon, some reasonable deduction (that there should have 
been a barrier), and a lot of speculation.   Thoughts?

---

Jo Ann:

Hmmm.  Pardon the snippage...Pettigrew setting the whole thing up...it does 
explain what he was up to at the time, but somehow it just doesn't click for 
me.  Pettigrew, as I believe either Sirius or Remus remarked, likes to have big 
friends to hide behind.  Getting rid of the other Marauders would not be in 
his best interests, at least not at that point in time, while he was still in 
school.  (Do we know at what point he joined the Death Eaters, btw?)

Here's my theory:

Remus didn't think rationally enough, when transformed and alone, to find and 
activate the knot-release.  (Or he was just too big to get to it without 
being Whomped.  IIRC, it was Crookshanks who let them out in PoA.)  So he was 
allowed to wander the tunnel freely if he so desired--the Willow would drive him 
back if he tried to get outside.  That's why the Willow was there; not just to 
keep people from finding the secret tunnel, but to prevent Remus from escaping.

However, the tunnel is described as "very low" and quite narrow ("Lupin, 
Pettigrew, and Ron had to turn sideways to manage it.")  It probably wouldn't be 
very comfortable or easy for a werewolf to navigate (though we know it isn't 
impossible, since he and the other Marauders wandered the grounds together.)  So 
when alone, he'd stick to the Shack, mostly, where there was room to move 
around freely--though he might be too busy mauling himself in the absence of 
human prey to worry about it anyway.  Only when the Animagi were with him would he 
have both the clarity of mind and the motivation to work his way all the way 
through the tunnel, and one of those three, likely Peter, would probably need 
to activate the knot.

Sirius, knowing that Remus made a lot of noise when transformed and alone (I 
assume he was alone at the time, since we aren't told otherwise) sent Snape in 
thinking that (a) he'd hear the racket and turn back before he got close 
enough to the Shack to be in danger, and (b) even if he did get dangerously close, 
he would be able to get back through the tunnel faster than Remus could 
follow.

(I'm still inclined to think that Sirius was too accustomed to being around 
Werewolf!Remus as Padfoot, and underestimated the danger he represented to 
humans in their natural form.  He was also making the assumption that Snape would 
manage, in probably a rather panicked state of mind, to remember exactly where 
the knot was and to get to it without being Whomped.  Very poor judgement on 
Sirius' part.)

James, however, either knew Snape better than to think he'd turn around, knew 
Remus (and/or werewolf lore generally) too well to assume that the narrow 
tunnel would hamper him much when he was in a hunting frenzy, or both.  So he 
immediately realized that Sirius had made a grave mistake and went after Snape.  

Snape got close enough to the Shack that Remus heard or scented prey and 
squeezed into the tunnel.  Snape caught sight of him just as James caught up.

Now here's the bit that makes me wonder: if Snape had already gotten close 
enough to see Remus, then would James pulling him back have made that much 
difference?  Surely the moment he realized what he was looking at, he would have 
bolted anyway.

The only thing I can think of that would account for the Life Debt, 
therefore, is that James must have managed to get between the two of them, shoved Snape 
back toward the far end of the tunnel, and then probably transformed into 
Prongs.  James would be in real danger while in human form, and possibly 
afterward, as I doubt Werewolf!Remus would be happy to find his friend the stag 
cutting him off from his intended prey.  But one way or another, he bought Snape the 
time to get out of the tunnel, without getting torn to shreds himself.

I also consider it very likely that James was thinking of both Remus' and 
Snape's welfare when he went in, and for that matter, Sirius' too.  He wouldn't 
have wanted Snape to get killed, Remus injured by any werewolf-affecting magic 
Snape might have up his sleeve, or either of his good friends charged with 
accessory to/attempted/murder, or...um...unlawfully inflicting lycanthropy?  
Whatever.  :)

Okay, everybody can now proceed to pick holes in my logic.  Enjoy.  ;)

Jo Ann


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