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

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 181331

Mike wrote:
> <snip> I contend that it was *Severus'* motivation that mattered 
> here. It was Severus intent to go down the tunnel and he was NOT 
> doing so because Sirius wanted him to. Which, to me, means he would 
> have done so regardless of how or from whom he learned the secret of 
> freezing the Willow.

Carol responds:
So you really think he'd have gone in there if he knew not only that
his theory was correct but that the werewolf was unconfined and the
only reason that MWPP could face him without being killed or bitten
was that they were animagi?

I completely disagree. He'd have had no reason to go in (he no longer
needed to prove himself right) and every reason to stay out (good old
Slytherin self-preservation).

As for Sirius, responsible people do not offer other people
information that will lead them into deadly peril. It *does* matter
that Severus could have been killed or turned into a werewolf and
didn't know it. And it does matter that Sirius's friend Remus would
have been the killer (or the agent of transformation). Maybe you think
that Severus deserved to be scared. I hope you don't think that he
deserved to be killed or transformed. And, assuming that Remus wasn't
in on the plan, he certainly didn't deserve whatever punishment would
have awaited him for biting another student while he was in werewolf
form. As for Sirius, he *would* (IMO) have deserved whatever
punishment awaited him, if lifelong remorse over what he'd done to
Remus were insufficient. Whether he would also have felt remorse for
what he'd done to Severus, I don't know. I rather doubt it given his
attitude in PoA.

Carol, just responding one last time in case you're cherishing any
hopes of having persuaded me ;-)