What Did Snape Know? (Was: Prank and various responsibilities)

[montavilla47]

No: HPFGUIDX 169692

> Magpie:
> ><snip>  In that case 
> > Snape didn't know he was facing anything deadly--why should he, 
> > when he was doing exactly what Sirius did, as far as he knew? That 
> > does give Sirius responsibility, a responsibility he himself never 
> > denies. He thought Snape deserved to get Pranked for being nosy and
> > trying to follow them, so he used Snape's ignorance of the werewolf 
> > and MWPP being Animagi to trick him into a situation beyond what he 
> > thought he was getting into. <snip>
> 
> Dana:
> You would have been correct if it wasn't already specifically stated 
> that Snape would find Lupin on the other side of the willow or if 
> Snape wasn't already very interested in what was going on with Lupin 
> to notice he disappeared *every* month. That means Snape was snooping 
> around to get more information about what Lupin was up to for more 
> then just one month or just that night. The willow was forbidden 
> territory and Lupin was hidden behind it and Sirius as is stated told 
> Snape Lupin was behind the tree. 
> And so to me Snape could have known what he could find when he went 
> after Lupin. Snape had too much information that could have told him 
> what he could find by entering the tunnel and thus to make a well 
> informed decision to go and it is not me re-writing canon as it is 
> specifically stated as such. And I believe that is why Sirius did not 
> feel responsible if Snape had gotten more then he could chew because 
> it was Snape himself that decided to go. 

Montavilla47:
I'm curious about what Snape actually knew and when he knew it.  
When exactly did he see Madam Pomphrey leading Lupin to the tree?  A 
month earlier?  Six months?  A year?

The Marauders slept in the same room as Lupin.  So, they wouldn't be 
able to help but notice that he was gone *every* month.  For Snape, in
another house, this would be far less evident.  Harry doesn't have many
classes in common with Slytherin students.  In first and second year,
the only classes they had in common were Potions.  So, if Draco had
been disappearing for one or two days a month, it's not likely that he
even know about more than one or two of those disappearances a year.

Unless he's watching the Slytherin table during meals to check if Draco's
there.  Which, being Harry, he might.  On the other hand, would he 
necessarily notice if Crabbe, Goyle, or Theodore Nott were missing?  Of
course not.

So, unless there really is Snape/Lupin  slash going on, why would Snape
notice Lupin being gone until at least third year (when they might have 
shared more classes in common)?

Hermione had at least one more clue than Snape would have had about
Lupin.  She saw his boggart and recognized it as the moon.  If Harry told
her about that interesting scene in Lupin's office, then she'd also have 
the clue that Lupin was taking some special potion for his condition.

That story Lupin tells bugs me.  I can easily imagine that Snape was
obsessed with all things Marauder.  I'd be obsessed, too, if people
were turning me upside and taking off my panties in public.  But when
I try to imagine the Prank as described, it doesn't make a lot of sense.

If I saw an adult woman in authority leading a teenage boy out to
a tunnel at night, I wouldn't leap to the conclusion that he was a 
werewolf.  I'd think they were having an affair.  

And just where was Snape when James did the hero thing?  If he was 
inside the tunnel, was Lupin already transformed?  I can't quite see
a stag fitting in a tunnel, or being able to fend off a werewolf if it were,
simply because the horns would get caught on the top of the tunnel.

And if James did transform, then Snape would need to be unconscious,
or the animagus secret would be out.  And somehow I can't imagine all
this fuss if James had caught Snape *before* they encountered Lupin. 
Although, I can see James trying to warn Snape inside the tunnel and 
Snape brushing him off.  But, in that case, one or both of them would
end up running into Lupin.

Or did James go into the tunnel, catch Snape, argue with him about 
going on, stun him, and drag him out of the tunnel before Lupin 
showed up?  That's possible, but it doesn't seem enough to invoke the
kind of debt that rips Snape up in PS/SS.  I don't think Snape would
believe there *was* any danger unless he saw it for himself.  And he'd
just end up mad at James for stunning him, not saving his life.

It all makes much more sense to me if the "action" took place outside
the tunnel.  Unless that tunnel is a lot bigger than it seems to be.

Yes, I know I'm thinking way too much about this.

Montavilla47