Cedric, Snape and carma was re: Chapter Discussion: Prisoner of Azkaban

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 190644


> Steve:
> 
> What bothers me most about the 'Prank' and Sirius's thoughtlessness is that the person who had the highest likelihood of being killed was not Snape but LUPIN. 
> 
> Lupin might have bitten Snape, but I think far more likely that Snape would have killed Lupin as a means of defending himself from Lupin's inevitable attack.
> 
> I can see Sirius wanting to put Snape in harms way, but it is unconscionable that he would put his friend Lupin in harms way. 
> 
> Thoughtless teenagers.
> 

Pippin:
Um, I think it may be time for a "'fictional reality" check.

Item one...as far as putting Lupin in peril,  The Prank was no different than the usual Marauders adventure. In fact it was *less* dangerous. At least Lupin was where he was supposed to be, and Snape was not. Imagine what would have happened if Lupin had bitten somebody in Hogsmeade...and yet the Marauders went there often. 
---
(Lupin:) [W]ell, highly exciting possibilities were open to us now that we could all transform. Soon we were leaving the Shrieking Shack and roaming the school grounds and the villlage by night. Sirius and James transformed into such large animals, they were able to keep a werewolf in check. <snip>

(Hermione:) That was still really dangerous! Running around in the dark with a werewolf!
What if you'd given the others the slip, and bitten somebody?
"A thought that still haunts me," said Lupin heavily. "And there were near misses, many of them. We laughed about them afterwards. We were young, thoughtless--carried away with our own cleverness."
--POA ch 18

I don't suppose Lupin's reaction to the prank, when he came back to himself, was any different. It was just another near miss, neither the first nor the last. 

Second item:
Snape was a skilled duellist for a teenage wizard, no doubt about that. But you know, I've been looking, and even though I swear I can remember reading "he gave as good as he got, I promise you" I can't find it anywhere in the books or in JKR's interviews. Discussions in other forums have concluded that this particular phrase is actually fanon. Anybody here remember where it comes from?

Going on the evidence of the books themselves,  two teenage wizards could overcome young Snape, so how does that give him odds against a werewolf?

Pippin