My own take on the infamous Prank

[ericoppen]

No: HPFGUIDX 129957

I think, myself, that the Prank resulted not so much from _murderous_ 
intent on Sirius' part as "familiarity breeding contempt."  Sirius had 
been hanging with a werewolf for so long that he may have forgotten 
just _how_ dangerous werewolves are.  

Kind of like this:  Let us say that I am an absolutely crack horseman---
that there is nothing on four hooves I can't ride.  (I'm nothing of the 
sort, but bear with me)  And I have someone in my life who's been a 
load in my trousers, so to speak, since Day One.  I could see myself 
inducing this PITA to try to ride a very dangerous buckin' bronco, 
thinking, (subconsciously) that "of course he won't be hurt.  After 
all, I can do this perfectly easily.  He _will_ get the scare of his 
life, though...and won't it serve him right?"  Although I may have no 
intention of actually murdering my enemy, he could well die, just 
because I was so used to this that it didn't occur to me that _he_ 
might well not be as well-equipped to deal with it as I am.