student!Snape keeping Lupin's secret (was Re: Sirius as a dog)

[montavilla47]

No: HPFGUIDX 181279

Catlady:
> I always thought they weren't literally 'files', that they were
> Filch's private collection. I thought Filch invented the whole idea of
> writing a detention slip and no other member of staff ever wanted to
> see or transcribe them, and then he put the new detention slip in a
> drawer with the others, with chronological order being a mere result
> of adding new slips always at the end. 
<snip>
> On another tentacle, when Harry is in Filch's office for the first
> time ever in CoS, the narration says: "Wooden filing cabinets stood
> around the walls; from their labels, Harry could see that they
> contained details of every pupil Filch had ever punished. Fred and
> George Weasley had an entire drawer to themselves."
> 
> We can call this an internal contradiction, where Rowling writing OoP
> forgot what she had written in CoS, or we can make up explanations,
> such as that Filch changed his filing system to the one Montavilla
> suggested, that he changed it in the twins' first or second year
> because he got the idea from the twins having so many, many detention
> slips.

Montavilla47:
Or we could speculate that there was a central file set up in 
chronological order, and that Filch's private collection consisted
of copies of the ones he submitted to that central file.

In HBP, Snape starts with a box that number one-thousand-and-
something.  That argues for a very large number of detention 
slips, probably over 100,000.  I thought that the number probably
related to the number of years Hogwarts had been in existence.

Catlady:
> I read your fanfic too! I enjoyed it but I have my doubts about
> student!Snape feeling concern for student!Remus's fate. I've never
> seen any particular evidence that student!Snape ever felt compassion
> for anyone but himself, Lily, or at least a fellow Slytherin. 

Montavilla47:
Well, we don't actually see student!Snape show compassion for a
fellow Slytherin, either.  But, since we're not privy to student Snape
in any situations where he'd be called upon to show compassion, 
I think it's as easy to speculate that he could.  

If student!Snape were entirely devoid of compassion, then he'd 
really be a monster on a par with Voldemort, don't you think?  And
he's not.  Come to  think of it, that scene where he's crying in the 
corner... is that fear?  Or is it empathy for his mother?

I suppose the scene where Severus emphatically doesn't show 
compassion is when Petunia get hits with the branch.  But then, 
I doubt Harry would have shown compassion either, since he hates 
Petunia.  And Harry is the epitome of love and compassion.

I think you have a point about the contradiction between 
Severus believing that Lupin didn't know about the Prank and 
adult Snape thinking he did.  But you've already come up with
several good explanations yourself, so I won't add to that.

And thank you for reading it!