Snape's Culpability in the Prank (WAS: James and Sirius as Bullies)

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 181290

Alla wrote:
> 
> <snip>
And as I said before I do NOT think that going there was some sort of
unusual thing for teenager to do, for teenager Snape I mean.
> 
> I am saying that it is his fault only when it is somehow becomes all
Sirius' fault. When Sirius somehow MADE him do it, you know?
> 
> And that I see no proof in canon, I think the only one who MADE him
 do it was Snape.

<snip>

Carol responds:

Granted, Sirius didn't make him do it, but he made it possible for him
to do it. No matter how much Severus wanted to prove his werewolf
theory (which is canon, BTW, and the only motive we have), he could
not have entered the tunnel and endangered himself had Sirius not
provided just enough information to enable him to get in there. It
doesn't matter whether he knew that he would do it; he made it
possible to do it and he was pretty sure that Severus would take the
bait. And he suppressed key information regarding how he and his
friends survived what would otherwise be a fatal encounter. 

The only comparable incident that I can think of is the Twins giving
the Ton-Tongue Toffee to a helpless Muggle. It doesn't matter that
they didn't like the victim (based on Harry's stories) or that the
victim "deserved" it. What matters is that they knew he was a Muggle
and therefore helpless against their magic; they knew his tongue would
swell up like a python and choke him; they knew that he would suffer
and be terrified; they knew that he was on a diet and was greedy and
would almost certainly take the bait. They may not have realized that
he could have died had it not been for their dad's interference, and
they weren't trying to kill him. They thought that what they were
doing was clever and funny, when in fact it was cruel (causing
suffering) and irresponsible and dangerous.

Similaryl, Sirius knew that Severus was not an Animagus and had no
defense against the werewolf (information that he withheld--that, IMO,
is his most grievous wrongdoing); he knew that Severus would be in
grave danger, and in very likely event that he was bitten, he would
either die or become a werewolf (and he would certainly be terrified,
which was the whole point of tricking him); he knew that Severus was
curious about their activities and would almost certainly take the
bait. He also knew, but did not think about the consequences to the
friend who would actually have bitten Severus--a worse matter than
giving Dudley a piece of candy that could conceivably choke him to
death because it would ruin two lives, not just one, whether Severus
was killed or turned into a werewolf. And just like the Twins, he
thought that he was being clever and that it would be very funny if he
gave the boy he disliked a good scare. That the good scare could have
killed him either didn't enter his mind, in which case, he was
stupider than we generally give Sirius credit for being. And surely
the whole point was that Severus *wasn't an Animagus like us "cool"
guys, so I really don't see how he could have forgotten that little
detail. At any rate, the joke was cruel, causing mental anguish
(terror) and dangerous and extremely irresponsible, and had it
succeeded, the consequences to everyone involved would have been severe.

James, for all his faults, figured out that Severus was in terrible
danger and got him out. If not for James, Severus would have died or
become a werewolf. there is no if about it--he had no defense, and
both DD and Snape stated that James saved Snape's life. *Surely*,
Severus would not have gone into the tunnel if he expected such a
consequence, any more than Dudley would have picked up the toffee if
he knew that it would cause his tongue to turn into a giant sausage.
(He certainly didn't expect to be saved by James, of all people. He
can't have expected to need to be saved at all. He must have thought
that the werewolf was contained or chained up. That's the only to view
one safely if you're not an Animagus--and he didn't know that WPP were
animagi.)

Of course, Severus was in no danger if he didn't go into the tunnel.
But Sirius had every expectation and every hope that he would do so,
or he would not have told him how to get in. And, even more
irresponsibly, he did not indicate the danger or explain how to avoid it. 

Imagine some Muggle boys who know how to get into a lion's or tiger's
cage and also know how to get out. They show another boy how to get in
without showing him how to get out as they did. Wouldn't they be
responsible if the other boy were killed or injured? I say they would,
regardless of the other boy's reasons for accepting their bait.

Carol, wondering where all this blame the victim sentiment is coming
from and hoping it's not just affection for Sirius Black or loathing
for Snape