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

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 181136

Alla wrote:

> 
>  Yes, for the longest time I was also thinking that he honestly 
believed that he was exposed to death by Sirius, whether that was the
intention or not. <snip>

Carol responds:
And canon supports that interpretation. His reaction in PoA both
before and after the Shrieking Shack confrontation suggests that he
still believed it, whether or not it was true. (And no doubt he was
further incensed by Sirius's remark that he deserved it.) Of course,
his anger over the Prank obscures the real reason that he's furious:
he thinks that Sirius betrayed Lily to her death. And he still
believes at this point that Sirius murdered Peter Pettigrew and twelve
Muggles. So a belief that Sirius tried to murder him when they were
both sixteen would fit right in, each preconception feeding the other.
(I'm not going to talk about Sirius's motives, but at the very least
he should have realized that Severus was not an Animagus and would be
in much greater danger than he and his friends.)
>
Alla: 
> I am not anymore. As to whether Snape wanted to take on Lupin, well 
> considering the fact that I believe that he knew what Remus was AND 
> went there anyways, um, what else should I believe?
><snip>

> Does that make sense to you? I mean, I loved that speculation that 
> he wanted to kill Lupin, but even if he did not, he KNEW and he WENT 
> THERE.
> 
> If he did not want to take Lupin on, why did he go then? Maybe he 
> wanted to take a look at transformed werewolf, who knows, but there 
> is no way I would blame anybody else for that. <snip>

Carol:
As Lily says, he has a theory (which she doesn't believe) and he must
know her reasons for not believing it (for example, she might not
believe that Dumbledore would endanger the students of Hogwarts by
bringing a werewolf to the school--just as, later, she doesn't believe
that he would ever have been friends with Grindelwald).

Severus, being Severus, wants to prove that he's right (and also find
out what the other Maruauders are up to). But being a teenage boy
(like the Maruaders, who have a similar view of themselves), he
probably sees himself as immortal and invincible. I see no reason to
think that he wants to do more than glimpse the werewolf to prove his
theory. And he would certainly think that he could do anything the
Marauders could do. If they could push that knot on the Weeping
Willow, enter the tunnel where the werewolf was, and come out alive,
so could he. He was as good at spells as any of them and an
exceptional DADA student, if that detailed exam and his future prowess
are any indication. I don't think he expected to defeat the werewolf,
only to survive the encounter. What he didn't know because Sirius
didn't tell him is that the Marauders survived the encounter because
they were Animagi.

At any rate, Severus overestimated his capabilities and underestimated
his danger, and, whether Sirius intended to murder him (or have him
turned into a werewolf) or merely wanted him to wet his pants in fear,
he was in mortal danger. Both Dumbledore and Snape believe that James
saved Severus's life, and I have no reason to doubt that view of the
matter. (It certainly didn't change their view of him or his of them.
It just gave Severus another reason to resent them. He did, however,
keep is word to Dumbledore not to reveal Remus's secret, even to the
DEs and Voldemort. Why, we can only guess. <snip>

Alla: 
> But as I said, even such Snape's hater as I am, I am forced to give
him a credit for saving Lupin at the end. And that is defying 
Dumbledore nothing less.
> 
> I believe it shows to me that at the end he finally let his grudge 
go in favor of saving people, whether he believed those people 
wronged him or not. But to me the whole point of that lovely moment 
is to show growth on Snape's behalf, not that he was like this all the
time of his life. Again IMO, I am not asking anybody to agree with me
and know that many people view Snape's whole life in much noble view
than I do  :)

Carol:
Let me surprise you by saying that I agree with you. "Lately, only
those whom I could not save" shows that Snape himself sees a
difference. In PoA, confronted with the werewolf and the "murderer,"
he's seething with the desire for revenge (which he overcomes even
then, not killing Black or Lupin when he has the chance (though he
does bind the about-to-transform werewolf for safekeeping) and later
conjures stretchers to take Black and HRH to the castle (admittedly
looking forward to seeing the "muredrer" soul-sucked). The change to a
Snape who risks his cover to save Lupin is remarkable, and it
parallels a similar journey from vengeance to forgiveness on Harry's part.

Severus Snape, IMO, did not start out evil, but his remarkable talents
were unrecognized except by the Slytherins, and the Marauders, who
should have seen his cleverness and inventiveness and viewed him as a
kindred spirit, saw only "a little oddball" who belonged to the House
they associated with Dark magic. Through a combination of the wrong
friends, Lily's rejection, and his own mistaken ideology, he became a
Death Eater, serving the Dark Lord loyally, as far as we know. And
through remorse for his own mistake, he turned to Dumbledore,
promising him to do "anything" to save Lily, and still risking life
and liberty to protect her son even after Lily was dead. He did not
instantly become good. He never became "nice" (though he was capable
of civility to McGonagall and Narcissa), but he did serve the cause of
good, and he did learn to believe in that cause, working to save lives
rather than watching people die without raising a finger to save them.

So, yes, I agree with you. He didn't start out noble. (IMO, he started
out naive.) And even when he switched sides, for highly personal
reasons, he was loyal and courageous but still vengeful and petty.
Only near the end of his short life did he focus on saving lives, even
those of men like Lupin, who hated him. And if that isn't noble, it's
at least closer to nobility than most of us will ever come.

Carol, shedding a tear for Severus and another for Lupin and wishing
they could both have survived and come to an understanding