Lupin visiting Sirius in Azkaban

[Susana da Cunha]

No: HPFGUIDX 112150


Hannah wrote:

"There are a number of questions here that I'd like to hear people's
thoughts on.  1. Did Snape know Pettigrew was the traitor? 2. If he
did, when did he find out? 3. If he knew before the betrayal, why
didn't he say anything - or did he? 4. If he didn't know at all, why
didn't he when the other DE's did? 5. Vice versa, why didn't
Pettigrew know Snape was a spy for the Order?"

------------------



My view is:

1. Did Snape know Pettigrew was the traitor? No. At the end of GoF he doesn'
t turn to Hysterical!Snape after seeing Sirius. It seems to me he's over the
grief of knowing Sirius was innocent of the betrayal. At the end of PoA he
has a reaction I can only interpret as 'No! He's a murderer! I've known it
for 20 years!' and even then Hysterical!Snape is cold enough to accept DD's
decision. If he had known 15 years ago he was innocent and said nothing out
of meanness, why freak out now? As long as Pettigrew didn't sow up Sirius
would still be blamed, and if he did sow up Snape could say he didn't know.

2. If he did, when did he find out? He didn't; not until the end of PoA.

3. If he knew before the betrayal, why didn't he say anything - or did he?
He might have been the spy who told DD that the secret keeper had given the
whereabouts of the Potters to LV - without knowing who the SK was.

4. If he didn't know at all, why didn't he when the other DE's did? The
other DEs would only have learned about the SK change in Azkaban, the same
way Sirius learned about them wanting revenge from the SK. The fact that
Pettigrew was afraid of that revenge doesn't mean *all* the DEs knew he was
the one. Nevertheless, some (the top ones) probably knew. That could mean
that Lucius Malfoy did but why would he tell Snape? People (smart people, at
least) don't brag stupidly about things when they're in hot water. If
Pettigrew was caught it's likely he would turn in every DE he knew of to get
himself of. The DEs at large who knew about Pettigrew would want to kill him
for that reason more than the other.

5. Vice versa, why didn't Pettigrew know Snape was a spy for the Order? The
same way Snape didn't know that Pettigrew was the spy for LV - Sirius didn't
seem to know.

Susana