XPOST: Lupin is Ever So Evil Part One -- The Prank (long)

[fritter_my_wig]

Neri:
>I suspect we might be mistaking a peace of the setting for a
> whole play. Plotwise, the whole purpose of the Prank might be to 
have
> Snape owing a life-debt to James while still hating James and the
> Marauders more than ever. That it. Mission accomplished. All the
> inconsistencies only suggest to me that JKR never put much thought
> into it, and had never imagined we would pick it apart so 
obsessively.

Eloise:
Do I hear the voice of Faith? Or is it the steaming of a long 
forgotten Magic Pressure Cooker? I forget. anyway, you sum up my 
feelings exactly.

Kneasy:
>>As Talleyrand once commented "Treason, your Highness, is often a
matter of dates."
SFAIK we don't have a confirmed timeline of what happened when.

Eloise:
Except insofar as we know that the Worst Memory incident happened in 
the middle of OWLs and the "Prank" happened when Sirius was sixteen, 
presumably in the following school year. lupin simply says that they 
didn't like each other (implication in general, not just as a result 
of the "Prank" and....well, there's no point quoting Dumbledore at 
you.

Kneasy
>>There could be a history between them but the intensity and duration
is up for grabs 

Eloise:
True.

Kneasy:
>>- and until there is authorial confirmation it's advisable
to examine all options IMO. Apart from the risk of inducing multiple
personality disorder, this can be fun, too. Having an alter ego means
you can always change your mind. Besides, defending alternative
hypotheses keeps the old grey matter in trim.

Eloise:

Far be it from me to compromise the health of your grey matter.

Kneasy:
>>I'm deeply suspicious of that "Worst Memory" label. For the time
being I tend to think of it with a question mark tacked onto it. 

Eloise:
I think that's a given. I assume it's what Harry *thinks* is his 
worst memory, except for the possibility that if 1) one accepts 
LOLLIPOPS (which I've long struggled against, but think is probably 
correct) and 2) interprest Severus' personality a particular way, I 
think it not incongruous that he may have found this incident more 
exquisitely psychologically painful on a personal level than anything 
he's been involved in as a DE.

In fact, it's probably the worst memory that he could have exposed 
Harry to; I tend to the view he was attempting to protect Harry from 
it (but then I would). It's also perhaps the most humiliating episode 
in his life that Harry could witness, so there's justification to 
calling it a worst memory in a couple of ways. Just not the expected 
one of "This is the worst thing a DE has ever seen/experienced in his 
life."

<snip>

Kneasy:
>> For a start it's highly
likely that whatever passed between Snape and Voldy would be a couple
of magnitudes worse than schoolboy embarrassments. You just don't
leave Voldy and expect to collect your pension. 

Eloise:
Ah. This brings us onto something different. Do you then believe that 
Voldemort *knows* that Snape has left him, that he's not a double 
agent, but just a spy? How then is he able to have contact with 
Lucius? If you leave Voldemort, you're *dead*.

Kneasy:
>>And other alternative
readings suggested include: that the boy on the bucking broomstick is
not Snape but James hexed by Snape - which would indicate that there
was a history of animosity between them; 

Eloise:

That memory is a funny one. Remember what Hagrid said about needing 
powerful dark magic to hex a broom? Not that Hagrid is entirely 
reliable. Now it *could* be supposed to relate to Lupin telling us 
Snape was jealous of James' flying skills but that in itself I find 
odd. If you're completely hopeless at something you're less likely to 
have a personal jealousy towards someone skilled at it than if you're 
pretty good but just can't quite compete (IMHO). Also, he refereed a 
Quidditch match and although there was complaining that he was liable 
to be biased, there is no suggestion at all that he was incompetant, 
no suggestion that Snape shouldn't be there because he couldn't even 
play. I've always interpreted the two together to suggest that he 
*was* a competant player, but just not in James' league.

Kneasy:
>>the Black Widower theory
based on the crying child memory - that one's fun and explains why
Snape left Voldy. There's a good chance that there's as many red
herrings in those memories as there are in the Russian trawler fleet.

Eloise:
Very witty, Wilde.
I tend to the view that though there *are* red herrings, too many 
just cause confusion. I'm sure that whilst there *is* misdirection, 
JKR is also trying to sketch in some character background.

AFAIC, Snape is a character in search of a father. Those particular 
Pensieve memories accorded with what I already pretty much believed 
about his back story, so yes, I do take them at face value. And I 
believe the reason he knew all those curse was because he hated his 
father so much and had been practising what he'd *like* to do to him.

Kneasy:
>>Listies leap on those memories with glad cries, accepting them at 
face
value - but Snape himself tells Harry that Legilimancy is not like 
opening
a filing cabinet, there is no order to memories, WYSIWYG and after a 
hint
like that caution is advisable.

Eloise:
I know, I know.

<snip Sirius ranting>

Kneasy:
>>Try this: Snape is DD's eyes and ears around Hogwarts, particularly 
in
regard to Harry. Snape is the watchdog/guardian while Harry is at 
school,
he always seems to be around when Harry's up to no good - but it suits
DD for Harry to believe that Snape dogs his footsteps through 
vindictiveness
rather than watchfulness. It helps prevent Harry asking awkward 
questions
and perhaps saying the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong 
time.
It's all part of the DD/Snape double act theory which seems to be 
more likely
with every book that passes.

Eloise:

I can buy that. But I prefer my Snape both vindictive *and* watchful. 
Just makes him more interesting. Which of course biases me.

> Eloise:
>
> Ah yes. You didn't like the PoA film, did you?
> Planning to see GoF?
>

Kneasy:
I take it that's a rhetorical question.

Eloise:

You Legilimens, you.

Kneasy:
No, I'm not planning on seeing the new film, especially following the 
report
this week that massive computer enhancement has been utilised to 
eliminate
an embarrassing plague of teenage zits that make-up couldn't cope 
with.

Eloise:

Well personally, I'd prefer to see them without than with, but each 
to their own. Evidently the budget didn't run either to bubotubor pus 
or the insurance levels needed to cover the Eloise Midgen approach.

~Eloise (far too old for acne) Herisson