The Prank in DH / Life Debt

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 167338

Sorry to cut everything, but I think Carol makes a good
basic point - we don't know. We don't know exactly what
Sirius said to get Snape to enter the Whomping Willow.
We don't know what James did to save him. But /I/ do
know that people are making this a much bigger deal than
it really is.

First, let's look at Life Debt in general. We know that
Peter most likely owes Harry a Life Debt. Peter was in
eminent danger of dying. Sirius and Lupin stood over him
ready to cast the Death Curse, presumably; they raised 
their wands, and Peter was as good as dead until Harry
stepped in. It's pretty hard not to see a clear 
association between Peter being alive and Harry's actions.

It seems that Snape /might/ have a life debt to James, 
but the circumstances are not that clear. Dumbledore 
implies the life debt is there, but we don't know the
details. We do know that Snape was not defenseless. He 
was knowledgeable in the Dark Arts, as well as Defense
Against Dark Arts, had his wand, and  was perfectly able
to defend himself. 

Personally, if I worry about anyone, it's Lupin. I think
he was far more likely to be killed than Snape, and he
certainly has far more reason to be angry than Snape 
does. Snape never got that close. Yes, he did get close
enough to catch a glimpse of Lupin in werewolf form. But
my impression is that the entrance to the Shrieking Shack
is relatively restricted; that is, it's a small opening.
If Lupin has started to come out, Snape could have 
defended himself.

Next, Snape is not guiltless. It was crystal clear from
circumstances, that the Headmaster did not want anyone
going into the Whomping Willow. It was clear from the
fact that Mdm. Pomphrey accompanied Lupin to the Willow
that whatever was going on was official Hogwarts business.
Snape was out of bounds, likely out after hours, and 
going into a situation that he could reasonable conclude
entailed some degree of danger. Also, note that it seems
that Snape resisted being rescued, since James had to
drag him away. I have very limited sympathy for Snape
here.

Next, we don't know what Sirius said to get Snape to
enter the Whomping Willow. He could have very 
sarcastically used reverse psychology. He could have
said something like - 'Prod the knot on the Whomping 
Willow if you dare, but you will meet your death there.
You've been warned'. OK, that's not a great example, but
you get the idea. To a rational person, 'danger' and 
'meet your death' are warnings, but to a teenager, they
are enticements. Yet, in court, Sirius could reasonably
say he warned Snape that it was dangerous and deadly. 
Now I can't say that Sirius did that, but since we don't
know, we don't know that he didn't.

Further, most people who argue how horrible the Prank was
claim that James and Co. got off with no punishment, but,
as Carol points out, we don't know that. Certainly Sirius
wasn't punished for attempted murder or anything similar,
but Snape was unharmed, and there were likely no real
witnesses, plus Snape broke about a dozen rules in 
going there. Essentially putting himself in harms way.
So, I suspect EVERYONE was punished in typical school 
fashion. 

As to the Snape/James life debt, it really is grey. The
strongest evidence we have is Dumbledore suggestion that
the life debt exists, but the circumstances are very 
unclear. Remember JKR said that Ginny doesn't own Harry a
life debt, because he didn't directly save her life.
Her living was a secondary by-product of defeating Tom. 
So, in the Snape/James case, maybe it was the fact that
Snape resisted rescue that raised it to the level of a
direct /save/. Maybe it was Snape's determination to go
forward and James determination to pull him back that
save Snape. Still I see it as very unclear.

As to connecting that Prank to the final book, I don't
see it being made a big deal of. I suspect we may get 
some more details in-passing, but I don't see the flow
of the story stopping to resolve this issue, nor do I
think the issue is important enough to warrant much 
page time. Again, I think we will get more info, but
it will be very conversational, in-passing, and short.

For what it's worth.

Steve/bboyminn