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

[Zara]

No: HPFGUIDX 181150

> Carol:
> On a sidenote, you spoke of the Marauder's bullying Severus as a
> recurring thing, but I don't think that's the case. I think they
> routinely hexed each other in the hallways like Harry and Draco, but
> the two-on-one sneak attack reads to me like retaliation for 
Severus's
> attempt to get them in trouble by getting into the Shrieking Shack.
> (Sirius is conveniently forgetting who put him up to it.) 

zgirnius:
I disagree. Leah has presented most of the evidence for me in her 
excellent post in reply to yours: 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/181145. I shall 
simply add the additional points I see in favor of the supposition 
that the Marauders had a pattern of ganging up on Snape.

One is the detention records Harry sees in HBP. There is a double 
detention in there served by James and Sirius together for using an 
illegal hex on one Bertram Aubrey. Between this, the train scene, and 
SWM, I see plenty of evidence to conclude ganging up on other 
students was an established pattern of behavior for James and Sirius. 
Do we really think they would make a (positive) exception for 
Severus, attacking him only individually?

Another is a detail of SWM not mentioned by Leah. The students whose 
reaction to the scene was "apprehensive" seem, again, to point to a 
pattern of behavior by the Marauders that intimidated other 
students. `Fair' hexing matches with `worthy' opponents seems 
unlikely to create this reaction, IMO.

> Carol:
> Just because he was skinny and nerdy doesn't mean he couldn't cast a
> mean curse--and invent them as well, as we learn in HBP.

zgirnius:
As, indeed, he does in SWM, when not being choked, flipped upside 
down, and dropped on the ground by his two attackers. No one is 
suggesting he was a victim of bullying because, as an individual, he 
was weak magically, or spineless. We are suggesting he was 
outnumbered.

Also, the fact that he may on occasion have initiated one-on-one 
hexing with James, and James may have retaliated in kind (especially 
when hexing in public as a group activity could have annoyed the new 
girlfriend in 7th year <g>) does not preclude his having been bullied 
by James *and his gang* on other occasions. 

-zgirnius, never weak nor skinny, but only one glorious time able to 
use this to her advantage in school <bg>