Snape's involvement in the murder of Sirius

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 169126

> Carol:
> But we do have canon that Wormtail told the story of his escape(s)
> to Voldemort though, granted, we don't have the details. He tells 
> his Death Eaters in the graveyard:
> 
> "And then, not even a year ago, when I had almost abandoned hope, it
> happened at last . . . . a servant returned to me. Wormtail here,
> who had faked his own death to escape justice, was driven out of 
> hiding by those he had once counted friends abd decided to return 
> to his master" (GoF Am. ed. 855-55). So it's not speculation that 
> Wormtail told his story to Voldemort. It's canon, as is Voldemort's
> knowledge of Wormtail's Animagus form.

Jen:  You're right, there is canon for Peter telling his side of the 
story about his escape from his friends.  There's no mention of the 
details as you said and the context is important because Voldemort is 
elaborating on his return to power and how he'd almost given up hope 
on any of his DEs when Wormtail was forced out of hiding by his 
friends.  The emphasis in the story is on what Voldemort finds 
important, that Peter returned to him when he was driven out of 
hiding.

Carol:
> Black himself says in OoP that Wormtail will have told Voldemort
> about his (Black's) Animagus form. True, he's speculating, but he
> knows Wormtail well, and we also know from canon that Wormtail was 
> passing information about the Order to Voldemort before Godric's 
> Hollow. We know how much Wormtail knew about Black and the Potters;
> a great deal more than Snape ever knew. And the *only* bit of 
> information we actually see in canon that Snape could have passed 
> to Voldemort is seeing Black transform from a dog to a man in 
> Hogwarts.

Jen: The speculation about Wormtail could very well be the way 
Voldemort learned Sirius was an animagus; I brought that up in a post 
as well.  That's not information that Dumbledore credited Kreacher 
with passing to Narcissa.  Snape said he passed information that 
helped dispose of Black in front of the woman whom Dumbledore 
credited with the passing information that led to the same death. 
Snape said this outside the awareness of the main POV character and 
there was no explanation within HBP to reconcile the different 
views.  To me that's fertile ground for theorizing a way to reconcile 
the two pieces of information.   

Carol:
> BTW, Jen, you're speculating, too, and the only canon I've seen is
> Snape's vague claim to a Death Eater who distrust him that he's
> provided useful information to Voldemort. In contrast, we have
> Dumbledore's assertion that Kreacher provided the information you're
> attributing to Snape. <snip> Carol, conceding that we're all 
> speculating at this point, but thinking that canon supports some 
> speculations more strongly than others.  

Jen:  The reason behind this theory is in my paragraph above and 
perhaps should have been included in my initial post for 
clarification. You've given your opinion that you only see one piece 
of vague canon in all my posts, so I'll offer my opinion:  I've 
provided direct quotes and paraphrases of canon in all of my posts, 
checked the books for accuracy before posting and re-read parts of 
the story when something was brought to my attention as an error.  If 
I've sounded as if I'm presenting this theory as fact, which it's 
not, then it's worth saying that everything I've presented is my 
opinion and my interpretation of canon and there are points where I'm 
speculating and theorizing.

Jen