Harry's detention - James saved Snape's life incident

[spotsgal]

No: HPFGUIDX 135976

>madam_marozi:
>An inconsistency that I find a bit strange:  In HBP,
>when Harry hears about the little boy dying from a
>werewolf attack, he is extremely shocked and says that
>werewolves usually don't kill people, just bite them
>to infect them....

Christina:

That *is* very interesting.  I can't find it though- what page is it
on?

>Alla:
>
>Erm... No, we don't know that. We don't know  that Snape did not
know 
>that Lupin a werewolf, we don't know WHAT Sirius told Snape, we 
>especially don't know that Snape would not have gone if he knew that 
>Remus was a werewolf.

Christina:

If Snape knew that Lupin was a werewolf, why in the *world* would he
go purposefully into the Shrieking Shack to face him?  If he knew in
advance that Lupin was a werewolf, he would have had nothing to gain
from going into the Shrieking Shack (there were better, much more
Slytherin-like ways to take Lupin down) and everything to lose (ie,
his life).

>Alla:
>I would like some canon please about the assumption that Sirius 
>neglected to tell Snape about the fact that Lupin was a werewolf. In 
>fact, I would like canon on what EXACTLY Sirius told Snape. :-)

Last page of chapter 18, PoA.  First of all, it's in the book, which
makes it canon.  Whether or not Lupin is telling the truth (or knows
the whole truth) is a matter of interpretation, but I think it's more
of a sure thing than most of the other topics we debate on this list.
 Because Snape and Sirius were *both* listening to Lupin's account of
the event, and neither of them take issue with it, I count it as fact.
 Both sides of the story--Sirius and Snape--are present for Lupin's
account.  It actually surprised me when I was reading that neither of
them piped in with subtle "corrections," although Sirius does
interrupt to reiterate that it "served him [Snape] right."

>Alla:
>Oh, and not Remus words, please, because to me it is quite clear
that 
>if Snape figured out who remus was before going to Shack, he would 
>not tell Remus those interesting news. :-)

Christina:

Why not?  If Snape knew that Lupin was a werewolf, I think the *first*
thing he would do would be to march right up to the Marauders and say,
"Guess what, guys, I know your little secret, and you'd better stay
out of my face or I'll tell the whole school and anyone else who'll
listen."  Or better yet, he might make some kind of offhand comment to
another Slytherin, "Hey, did you notice that the Lupin kid is always
sick at the full moon?" and bam, that kid talks to some other kids and
figures it out, or mentions it to his parents and that's the end of
Lupin at Hogwarts--and nobody could even trace it back to Snape!  Even
*better*--Snape prints out hundreds of "The Lupin kid's a werewolf"
flyers and stealthly scatters them around the school.  Lupin's secret
is out, Snape gets to snicker in his little corner at the downfall of
the Marauders, and Snape escapes any sort of punishment.  I find it
impossible to believe that Snape would sit on such juicy information
(about his enemies, no less) from his own free will.

>Alla:
>Yes, a lot of us are wondering about those quesions often. I submit 
>that canon does NOT provide the answers and JKT herself promised
more 
>about backstory of the prank.

Christina:

True, but I don't think what we already know is ambiguous at all. 
What we *don't* know, what we have yet to find out, is what exactly
happened in the aftermath of the prank.  How did Dumbledore punish the
boys?  How did Dumbledore get Snape to keep quiet?

>Alla:
>After 
>HBP when we were treated to Snape going around creating dark curses, 
>I am almost positive that Snape did many bad things to Marauders. 

Christina:

I'm sure he did too, but how much damage could he really have
inflicted?  James and Sirius attacked him in OotP because they were
*bored.*  Look at the language JKR used in the chapter, "said Sirius
viciously," "Wormtail sniggered shrilly," "said Sirius coolly," "said
James coldly," "Wormtail was on his feet now, watching hungrily" (all
from "Snape's Worst Memory").  Even Harry noticed that "Snape was
clearly unpopular."  Sirius and James's delight with the realization
that Snape was available for bullying suggests that it happened on a
routine basis.

(OotP, US page 645)
"This'll liven you up, Padfoot," said James quietly.  "Look who it
is..."

Sirius's head turned.  He had become very still, like a dog that has
scented a rabit.

"Excellent," he said softly.  "Snivellus."
(end quote)

In my mind, this roughly translates to, "Look Sirius, our favorite
pasttime!"  They even have their own nickname for Snape.  I don't
doubt that Snape was into the dark arts as a kid, and I don't doubt
that he used his knowledge of the dark arts against the Marauders, but
I think it's pretty clear that Snape was a victim at the hands of the
Marauders more often than they were victims to him.

Christina