[HPforGrownups] Prank and various responsibilities WAS: Re: Marietta

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 169702

Shelley again:

I absolutely think it was only Snape's fault. He was told the truth, in how
to get past a tree, but it was his own selfish motives that drove him to ACT
on that information. No one MADE him act- so he alone must bear
responsibility for his actions. (betraying a Headmaster's direct
instructions to avoid the tree.) As mentioned, he could have taken another
route and used his brain to figure out why Lupin was being shuttled to the
tree by the school nurse- it wouldn't have been too hard to put two and two
together to come up with a werewolf answer. I hate the fact that Snape
continually dodges the truth, or manipulates it as he sees fit for his own
personal gain. Yes, I also hate him for wanting to get Sirius's soul sucked
out in that once again, he doesn't want to hear, nor does he really care,
what the real truth is. He's using his hatred of a person to act unjustly,
and in that, it's that trick all over again.

Magpie:
I don't see how you can slide over the fact that whole Prank rested on the
fact that Snape did not realize he was facing one--according to what we've
been told. That's Sirius' contribution, that's why it's *his* Prank.Why so
dismissive of Snape not knowing as if it were obvious? No students knew
except MWPP, and even Dumbledore didn't know that they were Animagi years
later. 

Nobody, even MWPP, denies that *Sirius* set up the Prank. Snape believes
James was in on it and got cold feet instead of that James heard about the
Prank and stopped it, but regardless, you can't write Sirius out of the
equation for his own Prank which he put together using: a) Snape's known
desire to know what they were up to and get them in trouble and b) Snape's
ignorance about the danger involved. 

If Snape could be expected to know there was a werewolf there, there's no
Prank, nothing for him to be surprised and frightened by. Saying after the
fact that anybody would have known is, imo, blatantly untrue  based on what
we're told (and also irrelevent). From what we've been told so far nobody
knew what to find in the tunnel except James, Lupin, Peter and Sirius--all
of which had things protecting them from the danger, unlike Snape. Seems to
me one of the important elements of being a Prankster is that you are in
more control and know more than your victim.

Sirius says Snape "deserved" the Prank Sirius himself pulled on him. He
doesn't say he wasn't responsible because Snape decided to fall for his
trap. I know a lot of readers don't think much of Sirius, but I don't think
even they imagine him as as pathetic a man as would  try that. 

Dana:
No, I'm not creating a magical circle of no responsibility just 
because I do not blame Sirius for Snape's decisions and thus the 
consequences of these decisions. Sirius is to blame for revealing 
Lupin's secret and getting Lupin involved in something he had no 
choice in and providing Snape with a way to get passed the willow. 
This decision had consequences that James eliminated by dragging 
Snape out (for the most part as I do believe it had other 
consequences as well). But it still does not make Sirius responsible 
for Snape's choice to follow up on the information he got from him. 

Magpie:
I think if someone engineers a Prank, takes steps to get the outcome that
he wants, based both on things the victim is likely to do and also on
things that he knows and the victim doesn't, and you say that it's all the
victim's fault, you are drawing a very big circle of no responsibility. 

The point of the Prank is that Snape is unwittingly following Sirius'
directions into a potentially deadly (or from Sirius' pov an amusingly
scary) situation, one that Sirius knows about and Snape doesn't. That's the
Prank that's been described to us, and that's what Sirius is being blamed
for. It's also what Sirius seems to have no trouble taking credit for--yes
he tricked Snape into walking into a situation that was far more dangerous
than Snape thought it was. That's what Snape deserved as far as he was
concerned. Since Snape wasn't hurt Sirius can't be accused of actually
hurting him. He's not being accused of hurting him, but of intentionally
taking steps (through a combination of information he knows will be
tempting to Snape-which is all down to Snape's character, yes--and also
through carefully choosing what information to reveal and what information
to hide) to put Snape in a situation where it was Snape and a werewolf,
which he did. 

Magpie:
> *Sirius* knew what Snape would be facing--that was the whole part 
> of the joke (which I think was supposed to scare Snape, not kill 
> him--I don't think this is an attempted murder). Snape did not--you 
> seem to be re-writing things so that Snape did know, which would 
> make it a different thing, but canonically so far he didn't. Or 
> else you're making Snape's stupidity at not knowing as good as his 
> knowing, which I don't think holds up. 
<snip>

Dana:
It is your opinion that I'm re-writing things but the problem with 
this suggestion is that Lupin did state that Snape was interested in 
knowing were Lupin went *every* month and that Snape *saw* Lupin 
being brought to the willow by Madam Pomfrey and we see that the DADA OWL
included information about werewolves and that a third year with that same
information could reveal Lupin's furry problem without ever 
having to go to Lupin's office to have a look if she was right. And 
she only observed Lupin for less then a school year when she found 
this out. Snape had at least 5 years to come to a conclusion about 
where Lupin went and even if he never wondered about this before then 
he still had enough information to make a well informed conclusion on 
what he could find. 

Magpie:
I don't see how it's just my opinion that you're re-writing things when the
story has been given to us via a number of characters and not a single
character involved has ever suggested that Snape (or any other student
besides Peter, Sirius and James) actually knew that Lupin was a werewolf.
And in fact everyone says otherwise. If Lupin is saying that Snape wanted
to know what was up with Lupin that indicates that Snape doesn't know.
There's no Prank on Snape any more, no trick by Sirius, no reason for Snape
to think anybody tried to kill him. Instead Snape knows Lupin is a werewolf
and wants to go into a tunnel to confront him in werewolf form. Sirius
gives Snape the way to do that and Snape is stopped by James. 

To me that seems like just as much a changing of the facts that we know so
far as it would if I said Snape didn't really tell Voldemort the Prophecy
or Lucius didn't try to get Ginny to open the Chamber of Secrets. (I assume
you allow Lucius some responsibility there even though Ginny chose to write
in the diary?)

Dana:
Snape at least could have known that Sirius telling Snape how to get 
passed the willow so Snape could spy on his friend could never have 
been well intentioned. 

Magpie:
Sure he could know it wasn't well-intentioned--though I don't think we know
exactly how Sirius gave him this information. He might have made it look to
Snape as if Snape was getting this information without Sirius' intention or
knowledge. (I can't remember this bit.) But Snape not thinking Sirius'
information was well-intentioned in no way translates into Snape having
reason to think there was a werewolf waiting for him. There's a lot we
don't know about the Prank, but suggesting that Snape knew exactly what he
was being lured into seems to dismiss the most important thing we do know,
which is the whole basic idea of the Prank in question.

Dana:
It was not implied that Sirius did not mention no one was there to 
find at the end of the tunnel, as it was specifically stated that 
Sirius told Snape all he had to do was prod the knot and he would be 
able to go after Lupin. 

Magpie:
The danger of going after Lupin being of course unknown to Snape. Lupin as
Snape knows him is not deadly.  Where Lupin goes once a month is not deadly
as far as Snape knows. If it were, Lupin wouldn't return each month same as
always. I never said Sirius claimed there was "no one" at the end of the
tunnel. If you sent somebody into a tunnel with a werewolf at the other end
they didn't know about, and they came out screaming or infected or dead,
and you said, "Hey, I never told them there was nobody at the other end!" I
think people would take you as being sarcastic.

Magpie:
> But that's not a Prank, and that's what everyone agrees that it 
> was. Snape was supposed to be surprised by what he found in the 
> tunnel and get scared, which would be funny. As in, "You want to 
> know what we've got in there so much, here you go!" 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. Yes, he used Snape's own bad 
> intentions against him. Most if not all cons do. But that doesn't 
> make the con artist not the one pulling the con.

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. 

Magpie:
I don't see how this makes me incorrect. Snape knowing that "Lupin" is on
the other side of the willow and that Snape wants to know where "Lupin"
went that time he saw him crossing the grounds with Pomfrey refers to the
Lupin that Snape knows--a boy his own age like any other boy. The surprise
part is that when Snape finds Lupin on the other side, Lupin will no longer
be the person Snape knows, but a ravening werewolf who will quite possibly
kill or infect him. 

Dana:
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. 

Magpie:
That's where it seems to me you're just rejecting the story we've been told
because it doesn't fit the way you prefer it--at least so far (if we find
out in the next month that everything we know of the Prank has been a lie
I'll gladly revise my thoughts, but I don't know why everybody's agreed to
give Harry this false story). The whole Prank according to everybody who's
spoken about it has been that Snape was going to be surprised to find
himself facing a werewolf. No one in canon suggests otherwise. No one at
school besides the Marauders are said to have known about what Remus was.
You seem to be just overriding that based on the fact that you think he
should have known, or that Hermione, decades later, is one student who
figures out her teacher is a werewolf. So now Snape totally wanted to be
facing a werewolf and Sirius just gave him what he wanted. I don't see how
that works. Not only does it contradict everything everyone involved has
ever said about the Prank, but without Snape actually being in the
situation everyone says he was in, I don't see how Snape should have a life
debt. 

Dana:
Lupin mentioning that from that moment on Snape knew what he was is 
to me an irrelevant statement to conclude Snape did not know already. 

Magpie:
Mostly everything anybody has said or done regarding this situation in
canon is irrelevent according to this theory. If JKR overwrites everything
so completely I'll accept it as canon, but I don't see why I should
consider it coming from a reader. The fact that Hermione figured out Lupin
was a werewolf simply doesn't seem like proof that Snape knew the same
years before. What does sound like stronger proof is Lupin saying that from
then on, Snape knew, and not before. Why does Rowling have him say that if
it's not true?

Dana:
Sirius and James found out what Lupin was without ever seeing him, 
Hermione found out what Lupin was without ever seeing him and so 
Snape could have found out what Lupin was without ever seeing him 
too, just by merely putting the information he already got on Lupin's 
monthly disappearances and hold them next to a lunar chart. Snape 
already knew from the exams that werewolves transform on the full 
moon and he already knew that Lupin went somewhere every month. Is 
Snape really that dumb? He already knew Lupin was behind the tree 
that was off limits to all students and he had seen that Lupin was 
not just playing around but being brought there by the school nurse. 

Magpie:
Sirius and James (who were Lupin's dormmates so knew when he was out all
night several nights a month, unlike Snape) also told us that they found
out what Lupin was without ever seeing him transform. So did Hermione.
Lupin also told us these things. We saw the results of them. The behavior
of all these people followed directly from their discovery. 

Snape, otoh, having found out what Lupin is, behaves remarkably like
someone who does not know what Lupin is. He's consumed by curiosity to find
out what's going on with Lupin...strange, since he already knows. He
accepts Sirius' information about the willow so that he can put himself in
close quarters with Lupin and see him up close...does he have a death wish
or does he want to become a werewolf himself?  Everyone else in canon
responds to knowing someone is a werewolf by taking steps to protect
themselves--Peter, James and Sirius don't go near transformed Lupin until
they become Animagi.

Dana:
This is information from canon and not my imagination and my way to 
clear Sirius of any blame because Sirius provided Snape a way and he 
is responsible for that part but that part alone when it considers 
Snape. It does not matter what way Sirius got Snape to go because it 
was still Snape's choice to do so and he disregarded all the 
information that canon says he did know. If he was too stupid to pull 
all the information together and make a well informed decision then 
this would still not Sirius fault. 

Magpie:
All the information in canon that he did know--by which you mean all the
information in canon that Peter, James and Sirius (and 20 years later
Hermione) knew, you mean? If Snape was indeed "stupid enough" (Snape and
the rest of Hogwarts at the time) to not pull all the information together
than it certainly is Sirius' fault for using that ignorance to trick Snape
into a dangerous situation for which he is not prepared. Which, according
to all the accounts of the people involved, was exactly what Sirius was
doing.

Dana:
If I get into a car with a drunk driver who told me that he could 
still drive and I get involved in a terrible accident because of it 
then I am still to blame for getting in the car while I knew that 
this person should not be trusted behind the wheel. The person 
himself has the responsibility of driving while drunk but he did not 
force me to get into the car, I still had a choice. 

Magpie:
You're not getting into a car with a person you know to be drunk. You're
going into a room you do not know contains a ferocious animal who will
attack you. 

Dana:
That is my point Snape might not have wanted to face a werewolf or he 
might have thought he knew enough about DA that he could handle it or 
Sirius pushed the right buttons for Snape to want to proof that he 
was no coward or whatever, it was still Snape that made the decision 
to take a stick and prod the knot and go into the tunnel.

Magpie:
If Snape didn't want to face a werewolf and knew Lupin was a werewolf
waiting for him, he would obviously not have gone into the tunnel. No one
in canon has ever suggested this different situation you've described where
Snape has been goaded into proving he's not a coward by facing a werewolf
on purpose. 

Dana:
 You can't 
blame Sirius for that just because Sirius brought the information in 
a for Snape tempting way to try it. Let me ask you this question, 
would Snape have jump through hoops if Sirius had tricked him into 
doing that? I do not think so, Sirius provided Snape with information 
that Snape was very interested in and Snape used that information 
because he chose to use it. 

Magpie:
He chose to use it, yes. He chose to use it, from what we are told, in
order to find out where that not-deadly Remus Lupin kid went once a month.
I don't understand your question about Snape jumping through hoops. 

Dana:
It is the same as stating Snape told Sirius to stay behind and he did 
not, so Snape tried to keep Sirius safe. No, he did not and it would 
not have mattered what Snape would have told Sirius when it concerned 
Harry because no one but Harry and maybe DD could have made Sirius 
stay behind in a situation like that. I do not hold Snape or anyone 
responsible for that. Draco lured Harry to the tower in PS for a 
midnight fight but Draco had no intention of showing up and just 
wanted Harry to get into trouble. Is Draco responsible for getting 
Harry into trouble or was it Harry's own choice to respond to Draco's 
invitation? 

Magpie:
Good analogy with Harry and Draco--I was hoping to use it myself. Draco
invites Harry to a midnight duel. When Harry accepts he knows--and we know
that he knows--exactly what he is risking. It is an informed risk. He is
risking being caught outside. Draco does not show up to the duel. Even if
Draco informed Filch to be on the lookout for kids out of bed, the risk
Harry is facing is not significantly different from the risk he has
accepted and is prepared to face. 

In Snape's situation, the point is never that Sirius has forced Snape to
take the bait any more than Harry was forced to take Draco's bait. The
difference between the two is that Harry is facing only the risk he knew he
was facing. In Sirius' case, the Prank is about Snape facing something he
did not accept and was not prepared for. That's the Prank part, where Snape
is surprised by a deadly monster waiting for him. Neither Draco nor Sirius
is responsible for Harry or Snape's decision to leave his room that night.
Snape was the only person unwittingly facing a werewolf he wasn't
expecting. Harry is taking an informed risk. Snape isn't. 

Magpie:
> Yes, it can. You're drawing that magic circle again, imo. Marietta 
> is responsible for deciding to join an organization she already 
> wasn't comfortable with and for ratting them out. Hermione is 
> responsible for the hex, period. She's the one who worked it out 
> and cast it and asked people to sign the paper without telling them 
> it was there. 
<snip>

Dana:
No, I again am not drawing a magical circle of anything because 
Marietta made a choice to join up an organization, comfortably or 
not, it does not matter. It was still her own choice to do so because 
even though personal choices can be directed by the way we interact 
with our environment, like friends for instance, we are not puppets 
that have no say in the matter what so ever. Marietta could have 
walked away at any time she liked and if she had not gone to 
Umbridge, she, like any other member of the DA, would never have had 
the word Sneak on her face. The jinx did not prevent anyone from 
walking away if they felt they did no longer wanted to be associated 
with it, for what ever reason. 

Magpie:
Joining an organization is not agreeing to be hexed, obviously, though. She
did not know the SNEAK hex existed. That was all Hermione's doing from
start to finish. She had to make it, put it on the paper, and get people to
sign it without telling them what punishment they were agreeing to.
Marietta did something to Hermione that Marietta was responsible for.
Hermione did something back to Marietta in response. Two girls, two choices.

Dana:
The jinx did not make Marietta rat on the DA and therefore Hermione 
is not responsible for Marietta ending up with the pustules even if 
Hermione should have told this before anyone signed it. 

Magpie:
Of course Hermione's responsible for Marietta ending up with the pustules.
That's why Harry's so proud of his friend in HBP. Look at how well her hex
holds up. Give credit where credit is due. Hermione decided to
pre-emptively hex anybody who told on the DA and there are the results of
that decision and hard work written across Marietta's face. Nobody's ever
suggested Hermione made Marietta rat out the DA. But ratting out the DA
wouldn't cause her skin to break out without Hermione putting a hex on a
paper and giving it to her to sign it.

Dana:
Hermione or Sirius not denying that they did what they did does not 
mean they therefore should take responsibility for the actions of 
that person because it resulted or could have resulted in something 
negative for that specific person. Hermione did not jinx Marietta, 
she jinxed the parchment and Marietta herself made the jinx come into 
to action. Marietta would not have had to have the word Sneak written 
all over her face if she had hold her tong and neither did Snape have 
to go into the tunnel because Sirius said so. 

Magpie:
No, they should take responsibility for their own actions. Saying that
Hermione jinxed the parchment instead of Marietta is semantics. You might
as well say Draco didn't poison Ron or curse Katie Bell--he just poisoned
the wine and cursed the necklace. He put the two of them in harms way by
introducing the poison and the hex into the situation. They didn't.
Marietta would not have SNEAK across her face if Hermione hadn't worked
hard on creating a SNEAK hex for anyone who told on her. Snape's being in
the tunnel was not the problem. Snape's being in the tunnel with a werewolf
is the problem. Snape did not have enough information to make that choice
in canon. I don't see why you're willing to even give Sirius any
responsibility for betraying Lupin's secret when after all, wasn't it
Snape's decision to act on that information he was given? With a little
more work Sirius might as well have spent the whole time in his room doing
cross-stitch.;-)

Dana:
Well I don't know if it went on long enough, maybe it did but Harry 
is still feeling the after effect of what Marietta set in motion so 
maybe Hermione doesn't feel obligated to help Marietta and it seems 
that in HBP the jinx is wearing of on its own. 

Magpie:
Doesn't seem that way to me. 

Magpie:
> Snape was actually very much like a three year old kid lured to a 
> specific place with a promise he'd find candy there. Sirius was 
> counting on that. I don't judge Snape as a 3 year old, but his 
> being sixteen doesn't change the nature of the lure so much that it 
> doesn't become a lure anymore. All the ways Snape could have found 
> out that Lupin was a werewolf before that didn't happen (and seem 
> far more obvious once you know the truth than they did before that--
> a werewolf at Hogwarts would probably have been considered an 
> impossibility at that point). Snape was doing what Sirius did 
> without bad consequences every month. Sirius' trick was based not 
> just on Snape's lust for learning a secret of MWPP or getting them 
> in trouble, but on his ignorance of the danger. If Snape understood 
> the danger, there's no Prank.

Dana:
So Sirius being rash is Sirius responsibility but Snape being rash 
and not thinking and letting himself be guided by his own urges is 
also Sirius responsibility? 

Magpie:
No, Sirius being rash is Sirius' responsibility. Snape being rash is
Snape's responsibility. Only one of those two knew there was a werewolf in
the situation. However rash Snape was, no one in canon suggests he was rash
enough to go into a room with a werewolf on purpose. Everyone agrees that
Sirius rashly took steps to put him in that situation on purpose. Based on
the information they both had, Sirius was more rash than Snape.

Dana:
What I meant with a 3 year old being lured somewhere is that a three 
year old can not process information coming to him or her in the same 
way a teenager or an adult could have and so no I do not see the 
comparison you make here. Sirius might have counted on his ability of 
playing Snape like a violin but that does not take away Snape's own 
responsibility in making the choices he made. He might not have 
wanted to put himself in harms way but Sirius did not physically put 
him there either. It was still Snape picking up the stick and giving 
himself access to the tunnel behind the willow and at this moment 
canon implies he knew he would find Lupin there because Sirius told 
him how to get to him. 

Magpie:
I'm not trying to give Sirius responsibility for Snape's choice of falling
for the bait. I'm saying that Sirius intentionally used Snape's ignorance
against him too--he set up a Prank where Snape would be lured into one
situation and find himself in a far more scary and dangerous one. 

Dana:
Snape knew 4 things 1) that Lupin went 
somewhere every month 2) that he was brought to the willow by the 
schoolnurse 3) that Sirius was his enemy and a friend to Lupin 4) he 
had learned about werewolves during classes and even already passed 
his exams including this topic as well. 5) that he could get to Lupin 
by passing the willow that night because Sirius told him. 

Magpie:
The one important fact is, of course missing: Snape did not know Lupin was
a werewolf. According to everyone involved, that was the juicy bit of
information that was at the heart of the Prank.

Dana:
I do not buy Snape could not know Lupin was a werewolf because there 
was no werewolf at Hogwarts before (and not after either) for the 
simple fact that James and Sirius found out what Lupin was without 
this knowledge either and they didn't even learned anything about 
werewolves in class and they were either 11 or 12.

Magpie:
You don't have to buy it because of that. You should buy it because that's
the information we're given in canon, that Snape did not know what danger
he would be facing. You're free to make up a theory where somehow Snape did
know and figure out how this story makes any sense with that
information--perhaps in the next book Rowling will prove you correct and
actually manage to create a great story having pulled that rug out from
under us. 

But as of now, it feels like I'm trying to discuss an incident in canon
based on the limited information we have, and you're chucking out that
information and replacing it with an alternate version and expecting me to
consider the two equally plausible. I don't see any reason to do that.  The
fact that it wasn't physically impossible for Snape to have figured out
Lupin was a werewolf doesn't override everybody telling this story from day
one as: "Here's the thing. Sirius, James and Peter all figured out I was a
werewolf and secretly became Animagi. Snape didn't know I was a werewolf
and was curious to what I did every month in the willow. So Sirius thought
it would be funny to give Snape the information for how to get into the
willow to find me in there. He knew Snape would do it and then he'd be
really shocked to find himself facing a deadly beast. Well, when James
found out about it he realized that Sirius had pretty much set up Snape to
get killed or infected by me, so he dragged Snape out of the tunnel. Snape
had seen me, though, so that's how he found out I was a werewolf."

The fact that years later Hermione Granger's figured out Professor Lupin's
a werewolf does not seem a good reason to say the Prank story as told
doesn't hold up. Any more than the Prank story makes me think Hermione's
claim that she knew Lupin was a werewolf must be a lie because Snape didn't
know. Snape and Hermione have different strengths, perhaps, and they're
working from different povs and information (including Snape's hinting to
Hermione and the rest of the class). I don't see why Sirius wouldn't tell
us if Snape knew what he was facing already, or why Dumbledore wouldn't
have.

Dana:
 So Snape is 
either truly not that intelligent and therefore could not have 
figured it out, after all the information he had or he could have but 
chose to disregard it anyway because Sirius pushed the right buttons. 

Magpie:
How is the Prank supposed to work if Snape knows he's going in to face a
werewolf? That doesn't seem like a Prank to me.

Dana:
 You make Sirius into a 
professional con-artist here that, unlike you credit Snape, knew 
precisely what he was doing and did not get carried away in the 
moment. 

Magie:
I did nothing of the sort. I specifically said that Sirius was not trying
to get Snape killed. I totally allowed that Sirius was not thinking things
through. What I did say--and still see no reason to stop saying--is that
Sirius' whole Prank as described by everyone was based on Snape being
surprised by a werewolf. Sirius didn't have to be a professional con artist
any more than Draco needed to be one to take his shot at manipulating Harry
out of his dorm for a duel. 

Dana:
Sirius is a person that is indeed rash, that acts before he 
thinks but Snape is not, he is cunning and calculated and from what 
we have seen I do not think it was Sirius counting on Snape to ignore 
the dangers because Snape is not a person that takes personal risks 
if he can avoid them. To be honest with you the only thing I can 
think off that would push Snape's buttons and make him extremely 
angry about losing control over it later, is him being called a 
coward. 

Magpie:
Doesn't this go along perfectly with what we have in canon as told by
everyone, unlike the alternate version? Sirius is being rash, not really
thinking through the possibility of Snape being killed or bitten. He's
just, perhaps, thinking of Snape's scared face when he realizes he's with a
werewolf. If Snape doesn't take personal risks if he can avoid them, that's
more reason to believe he didn't intentionally put himself with a werewolf.
Sirius never says anything about goading Snape by calling him a coward. 

Dana:
And like with the vow I still think, it was Bella calling 
Snape a coward that initiated Snape wanting to proof himself to 
Narcissa. We see that the coward issue is the only thing (well 
besides him not getting his revenge) that makes Snape lose his cool 
and it is the one thing that he smears all over Sirius face in OotP. 
It is just an assumption but I would not be surprised if it was this 
tune that Sirius played that Snape could not resist. But even if it 
was then it was still Snape's own choice to proof he wasn't a coward.

Magpie:
Actually, I've seen plenty of things make Snape lose his cool. The only
time I remember "coward" doing it was at the end of HBP. Snape seems quite
cool throughout Spinner's End. If you don't create a situation where
Snape's going in to meet a werewolf on purpose, you don't have to explain
away Snape's not wanting to take risks if he can avoid them.

But regardless, why does Sirius not tell us that this is what happened if
that's what happened? Why does he tell a different story, the same one
Snape and Lupin tell, instead?

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