[HPforGrownups] Harry's detention - James saved Snape's life incident

[Nanagose at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 135729

>>Saraquel:
>>Also, isn't it interesting that Snape wanted him to do that particular 
>>era.  I can't think that Snape wouldn't have realised that Harry might 
>>come across that incident.  Did he set it up for Harry to find out 
>>about what happened?  If so, why?
>>....
>>I also think that how DD dealt with that incident is highly 
>>significant to Snape's subsequent reactions to the Marauder's, towards 
>>DD and eventually Harry himself.  

Christina:

I was dying to know how this incident played out, and I really thought that 
we'd finally find out in HBP.  Like you said, all the unanswered questions 
could really tell us a lot about Snape's current motivations.  What did DD really 
say to keep Snape quiet about Lupin?  "Even though you almost died at the 
hands of your fellow student, don't tell anyone his buddy is a werewolf or I'll 
expel you"?  It really doesn't seem reasonable, if you think about it.  Snape 
might have been breaking the rules also (the students weren't allowed to go near 
the whomping willow, right?), but still.

It actually didn't occur to me that Harry could find that particular record 
during his detention, although looking back, that would make a lot of sense.  I 
don't know if Snape really meant for Harry to see the Whomping Willow 
Incident record during the detention as much as he meant for Harry to just see more 
evidence that his father was kind of a prat.  Snape knows how much insulting 
James gets to Harry.  

I've always thought that the detention scene had more to do with a 
clarification on JKR's part than any real plotline developments; that is, proof that the 
Marauders (or at least Sirius and James) were, to an extent, bullies in 
general, and that their mischief was not limited to Snape.  After reading "Snape's 
Worst Memory" and Sirius's explanation for his and James' actions toward Snape 
(their mutual hatred was just "one of those things"), it's all too easy to 
think that James just picked on Snape a bit and was well-behaved toward everyone 
else.  Now we know that's not the case.

Christina


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