Headmaster for a day (was Prank WAS :Re: CHAPDISC: DH33, The Princ

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 184972

Alla:
But again if you believe that Snape went there not knowing that Remus
is a werewolf, then we are just too far from each other and I do not
think I can even debate that point. Because of course if he believes
that there is no werewolf there, then of course Sirius tricked him.
That was my thought before book 7. I thought all that Snape knew was
that Marauders were doing there something dangerous and he went there
to find out what exactly it was and hopefully to get them in trouble.

Ceridwen:
I believe Snape was reasonably sure there was a werewolf until he
noticed that the Marauders could go through the willow tunnel and be
fine the next day.  I think he had to reassess his suspicion and the
probability that there was a werewolf at the end of the tunnel went
down in his estimation.  He never, IMO, let go of some measure of
possibility, just that the possibility was much less likely in his
estimation than it had been before.

I think someone - was it Pippin, or Potioncat, or someone else? -
mentioned something about Snape possibly not realizing the willow
tunnel led to a shack without an outlet.  I've been turning this over,
and where does it say that Snape knew, before going through the
tunnel, that the Shrieking Shack was on the other end?  It's possible,
though I think I'd like to think about this one a little more before
standing completely behind it, that Snape didn't necessarily know that
the tunnel led to a building.  The Shrieking Shack was not associated
publicly with the willow or with Hogwarts.  It was supposedly a
haunted shack on the outskirts of Hogsmeade from which fearsome
screams issued, if I recall right.  The students would have thought
this was all there was to the shack, with the exception of Remus, and
then of his close friends once he told them about it.

This is a new idea to me.  I've always gone under the assumption that
Snape knew the shack was on the other end of the tunnel.  It's
possible this is not the case.  Why would he know that the tunnel led
to the shack?  I can't see any benefit to Remus for Dumbledore to
announce to the school that the willow hid a passageway to that creepy
shack outside of Hogsmeade.  The students didn't know the reason for
the shack or for the willow being there, and Snape was one of the
students.  So were the Marauders until Remus told them about the shack.

If Snape didn't know the tunnel led to the shack, he may not have
thought the other three Marauders went through to be with Remus, just
to get out of the school.  Remus would have told them how to get
through so they could have some fun against the rules, since they were
his friends.  Sirius doesn't say Snape knew there was a werewolf in a
locked building on the other side, to my recollection (I may be
wrong), only that Snape suspected Remus was a werewolf and Sirius told
him how to get into the tunnel.  Something unspoken might be that yes,
Snape thought Remus was a werewolf.  Snape also thought, but did not
necessarily connect the two incidents, that the Marauders were going
through the tunnel for some illicit fun of their own.  The
possibility, to me, is that Snape thought there was a field or other
open space - the Great Outdoors - at the other end of the tunnel and
Remus was taken somewhere nearby while the Marauders headed for Hogsmeade.

Should we shelve this part of the discussion until we can both think
about it a little more?

Alla:
I just do not think there is a proof either way and of course to me
what Sirius wanted is not very relevant to what he actually did. 

Ceridwen:
I think the relevant idea is that Snape believes Sirius tried to kill
him.  This colors his thinking about Sirius after that.  I think he's
wrong, Sirius didn't consciously want Snape to die.  I do think Snape
sincerely believes Sirius wanted him dead.

Ceridwen.