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

[littleleahstill]

No: HPFGUIDX 181141

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Bex" <kaleeyj at ...> wrote:
>
> 
> > Leah:
> > 
> > Snape was instructed by Dumbledore not to reveal Lupin's 
> > secret: '"Snape glimpsed me, though, at the end of the tunnel. 
He 
> > was forbidden to tell anyone by Dumbledore but from that time on 
he 
> > knew what I was..."' Lupin in POA.
> > 
> 
> Bex:
> Good point, but do you think that maybe Lupin doesn't have 
the /whole/
> story here? That's an easy way of explaining things, yes? Very
> convenient, and exactly what Lupin's mind would come up with as a
> reason. But Lupin has been wrong before.

Leah: It's possible, because Lupin is often not that reliable but we 
don't get a hint of any alternative scenario.

Bex: 
> What could DD threaten Snape with? Sending him home, possibly,
> expelling him, perhaps, if he told, but once the entire story got 
out,
> the school governors wouldn't keep Snape out of school - once 
parents
> started hearing about the werewolf, they would demand that Lupin be
> expelled. A student was almost attacked. If Snape let something 
slip
> at breakfast, there's no way he could be expelled without making a
> riot - surely Snape was smart enough to see he would get the better
> end of the deal. (snipped)
 Certainly doesn't feel like DD - threaten a 15 year old? How
> badly do you have to threaten him to make him keep quiet about 
THAT? 

Leah: But if Lupin *is* speaking the truth, Snape, (who shouldn't 
have been wandering around anyway) just got a glimpse at the end of 
a tunnel.  It's not as if he's covered with bites and scratches, or 
has had a really close encounter of the POA unspeakable medium 
variety.  It's his word against the Marauders and Dumbledore. Snape 
is a nerdy little oddball, whereas James and Sirius are the sports 
jock and the cool, handsome guy.  And people will know that they 
pick on Snape and Snape therefore will want revenge.  Lily, 
Snape's 'best friend' prefers the version she's heard from the 
Marauders, and dismisses Snape, 'I know your theory'.  In the 
average high school, who is likely to be believed? If Dumbledore 
pooh poohs the story, who will take Snape's side?  After DH, I think 
Dumbledore's perfectly capable of making (very discreet but 
meaningful) threats to Snape. 

Snape has a lot to lose from expulsion. He's dirt poor, he's a half 
blood - his parents wouldn't or couldn't step to the line for him.  
All Snape has going for him is his intelligence and his magic.  If 
he's thrown out before OWLS, his wand broken like Hagrid's, he'll 
have to live as a Muggle, and he'll have to educate himself to live 
in the Muggle world. James' parents are so rich that he will 
eventually be able to live on inherited wealth. Those parents could 
make a fuss on his behalf and could certainly afford to school him 
elsewhere.  Even Sirius has rich Uncle Alphard. 



Bex:
> 
> Really, I see that confrontation between Snape and DD almost 
playing
> out where DD would be /asking/ Snape to keep quiet. It seems much 
more
> logical, given the circumstances and Snape's intelligence and
> reasoning skills (which I assume were ahead of the pack when he 
was a
> boy, too). Perhaps Snape made a deal that he could stay at 
Hogwarts or
> in Hogsmeade for the summer? (He's got some other Riddle 
similarities,
> why not one more?)

Leah:
There's nothing in Snape's conversation with Lily or his subsequent 
dealings with the Marauders that suggest that Snape got any sort 
of 'good deal' out of the Prank.  As we see in Snape's Worst Memory, 
the Marauders were tormenting him horribly, and had apparently been 
doing so for some time. If the Prank had given Snape a hold over 
Dumbledore, the most logical thing for Snape to have asked for would 
be for the Marauders to be ordered to lay off him - or for Lily to 
be told about Lupin and sworn to secrecy.  As you point out, SWM 
happens after the Prank, so the Marauders felt perfectly free to 
continue to bully Snape very openly.  
> 
> I just can't see how Snape could have been FORCED to keep quiet
> without some kind of magical enforcement involved. 

Leah: There could have been some magical enforcement.  But I think 
fear of expulsion would be enough.  And when Snape gives his word he 
keeps it. 

Bex: 
> AND to blast a point that so many people have made before, Snape's
> memory that I referenced upthread ("Every month at the full moon")
> occurs almost immediately AFTER the prank (assuming the Prince's 
tale
> memories are in chronological order.) Lily tells him that she knows
> what happened "the other night." And the OWLs memory occurs after 
BOTH
> of those memories. (Which didn't make any sense to me at all, IMO.
> Alas, another thread.)

Leah: Makes little sense to me either.
> 
>

Leah