PoA Chapter Eighteen
May. 28th, 2010 10:20 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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deathtocapslockI've been packing all day and totally forgot to post this like I planned until now!
Based on the title of this chapter, more interesting things to follow!
Sirius leaps on Ron’s broken leg. Sucks to be Ron. He doesn't even suffer in a woobie, sexy way.
Sirius says they can explain what's going on afterward he kills Peter. Apparently he hasn’t learned anything from Azkaban. Try explaining first just once, Sirius. You might like it.
Ron’s now been bitten a lot by Scabbers btw. Ron’s pretty tough to be able to still hold on to him. Rat bites are nasty.
It is kind of ironic that it’s Lupin telling Sirius to explain everything from the beginning. Almost as if he’s trying to stretch this out until the moon rises!
LOL! Ron actually tries to say “I’m off” and hobble out on his broken leg. Possibly the funniest thing Ron’s ever done. Yeah, we’ll meet you back at school, Ron.
Ron and Harry’s eyes meet. They both believe Sirius and Lupin are out of their minds because the story makes no sense. Um, yes it does make sense. You just saw that Sirius was the black dog here, you guys. Hermione really is the thinking brain dog, isn’t she?
There’s only been seven animagi in the entire century. It’s kind of cute that at this age it doesn’t occur to Hermione that that’s because nobody actually registers.
That door opening? Totally Snape entering the room. Severus Snape: Super Spy.
Despite the fact that Wizards grow up in a world where all sorts of magical things happen, they never seem any more prepared than a Muggle would be to deal with this stuff if somebody doesn’t walk them through it beforehand: But Scabbers can’t be a man, he’s a rat! Or: Oh, the door opened by itself as if someone was walking in? Couldn’t possibly be someone walking in. We didn’t see them!
Lupin says that “in those days” (when he was bitten) there was no cure. There’s no cure now either, Lupin, as far as we know. The Potion isn’t a cure.
Harry can see where this story is going. Well done, Harry! (Though I don't think Harry ever tells us where he thinks it's going. Knowing Harry maybe this is all leading up to Julie Christie, and not Petunia Dursley, being Harry's aunt.)
Lupin’s friends couldn’t help but notice he disappeared once a month. Too bad you didn’t have Harry for a friend, Remus. He could have easily not noticed. Or at least not deduce anything from it if he did. How are you and Ron doing on that “Hermione’s regularly three places at once” mystery you’ve been solving since September, Harry?
Lupin reminisces about how his friends let a werewolf wander around loose in a town, trusting that they’d be able to keep him in control. Next you can all share stories about those carefree nights drunk driving on the highway and the laughs you had when you’d almost hit someone. Hermione agrees with me, at least.
Lupin feels a little guilty about betraying Dumbledore’s trust. Don’t worry, Lupin. Once Dumbledore finds out he’ll make you pay for it. You didn’t really think all that spying on the werewolves was for nothing, did you? Or that Sirius really needed to live in the one house he hated more than anything?
Lupin explains he didn’t tell Dumbledore Sirius was an animagus because he was too cowardly. Though really he could have told him without his disapproval. He could tell him Sirius had become an animagus without telling him why. I just can’t help but cheer anyone on for keeping a secret from Dumbledore for any reason.
Lupin cleverly says that Snape’s been right about him all along in the exact company that will assure him that Snape is never right about anything.
Lupin makes the first reference to the trick Sirius pulled on Snape, which Sirius still says served Snape right. I miss this version of the Prank.
Wow. Speaking of versions of stories, Lupin throws in without having to that Snape didn’t like James because he was, I don’t know, jealous of how good he was at Quidditch. Does he just automatically cut Snape down and cover for James and Sirius here without thinking about it even though it’s not necessary for the story? Because there’s just no way Lupin could actually believe that.
Lupin continues to impress me with how smoothly he polishes up the story dishonestly on the fly. (Seriously, I love Lupin.) Not only did he take time to suggest Snape hated James over Quidditch but he adds that James pulled Snape back from the tunnel at “great risk to his own life.” Except James is an animagus, as we’ve already learned, and werewolves are only dangerous to people. James regularly went down the tunnel to see Lupin for fun. The only danger James was in was being outed as an animagus by Snape. But he sure sounds more heroic in this version of the story.
And this is where Snape reveals himself, and given what he’s just heard man he must be pissed.
Seriously, I know he won’t listen to reason here but he really did just hear Lupin give a completely self-serving speech about him and his buddies. Imagine Harry listening to a conversation where Draco talked about his time at school with Harry this way. He'd be even more angry than Snape for less reason.
Things that happen twice:
Peter’s an animagus, just like Black and McGonagall. Perhaps after a THIRD example Ron and Harry will catch on that sometimes animals turn out to actually be people.
Speaking of unregistered animagi: Rita Skeeter.
‘Member how Harry went to the Shrieking Shack in his invisibility cloak? Now Snape’s come to the Shack in Harry's invisibility cloak.
In fact, three books from now it’ll be Harry slipping in a door in his invisibility cloak, only Draco will actually notice. Draco, the only character besides Hermione known to ever deduce things or make a cunning plan—even if it’s usually with disastrous results.
I was half-joking when writing about Lupin’s life among the werewolves in HBP as Dumbledore’s punishment for betraying his trust but it actually makes total sense and is in fitting with Dumbledore’s character. Plus it’s a nicely eerie parallel for Voldemort amusing himself by giving Draco an assignment to make him suffer and fail in HBP!
Lupin didn’t tell Dumbledore Sirius was an animagus because he’s a coward. Because he’s a coward. Because he’s a coward. That'll come up a lot.
Lupin’s “Snape’s been right about me all along” is about as disingenuous as his later “Snape’s right to have me fired” will be shortly.
Lupin’s behavior really does make him seem like exactly the guy Snape thinks he is here, just as it did in the Marauders Map chapter.
It’s a gun. No it isn’t! It’s Chekov! No it isn’t!
The Prank
Well, this one’s obvious, isn’t it? The series can’t end until we get the real story…
Status: Um...fired, but it turns out it was not so much a real gun as an empty water pistol that Snape shot at his own pants to make an embarrassing stain.
Exploitation Filmmakers’ Credo
Animagus. It’s not that difficult a concept. Even when you heard the guy had died.
Foley Work
Come on, you know the door had to creak really loudly when Snape walked in, even if his footsteps were somehow muffled.
Informed Attributes
Lupin’s just spitting these out right and left without Harry questioning any of them.
James Bond Exposition Rule
That’s it, Remus, keep talking. Just a little longer before the moon’s up. Don’t leave out the part about Quidditch. Quidditch is really important to the story.
Misdirected Answering
The chapter’s over and we still haven’t gotten anywhere near how Peter’s alive and Sirius didn’t kill him or why Sirius suddenly isn’t a bad guy anymore.
The Stealth Monster Rule
See Work, Foley. Snape must be using some version of Muffliato as he comes up those stairs!
Jabootu Score: 6
Based on the title of this chapter, more interesting things to follow!
Sirius leaps on Ron’s broken leg. Sucks to be Ron. He doesn't even suffer in a woobie, sexy way.
Sirius says they can explain what's going on afterward he kills Peter. Apparently he hasn’t learned anything from Azkaban. Try explaining first just once, Sirius. You might like it.
Ron’s now been bitten a lot by Scabbers btw. Ron’s pretty tough to be able to still hold on to him. Rat bites are nasty.
It is kind of ironic that it’s Lupin telling Sirius to explain everything from the beginning. Almost as if he’s trying to stretch this out until the moon rises!
LOL! Ron actually tries to say “I’m off” and hobble out on his broken leg. Possibly the funniest thing Ron’s ever done. Yeah, we’ll meet you back at school, Ron.
Ron and Harry’s eyes meet. They both believe Sirius and Lupin are out of their minds because the story makes no sense. Um, yes it does make sense. You just saw that Sirius was the black dog here, you guys. Hermione really is the thinking brain dog, isn’t she?
There’s only been seven animagi in the entire century. It’s kind of cute that at this age it doesn’t occur to Hermione that that’s because nobody actually registers.
That door opening? Totally Snape entering the room. Severus Snape: Super Spy.
Despite the fact that Wizards grow up in a world where all sorts of magical things happen, they never seem any more prepared than a Muggle would be to deal with this stuff if somebody doesn’t walk them through it beforehand: But Scabbers can’t be a man, he’s a rat! Or: Oh, the door opened by itself as if someone was walking in? Couldn’t possibly be someone walking in. We didn’t see them!
Lupin says that “in those days” (when he was bitten) there was no cure. There’s no cure now either, Lupin, as far as we know. The Potion isn’t a cure.
Harry can see where this story is going. Well done, Harry! (Though I don't think Harry ever tells us where he thinks it's going. Knowing Harry maybe this is all leading up to Julie Christie, and not Petunia Dursley, being Harry's aunt.)
Lupin’s friends couldn’t help but notice he disappeared once a month. Too bad you didn’t have Harry for a friend, Remus. He could have easily not noticed. Or at least not deduce anything from it if he did. How are you and Ron doing on that “Hermione’s regularly three places at once” mystery you’ve been solving since September, Harry?
Lupin reminisces about how his friends let a werewolf wander around loose in a town, trusting that they’d be able to keep him in control. Next you can all share stories about those carefree nights drunk driving on the highway and the laughs you had when you’d almost hit someone. Hermione agrees with me, at least.
Lupin feels a little guilty about betraying Dumbledore’s trust. Don’t worry, Lupin. Once Dumbledore finds out he’ll make you pay for it. You didn’t really think all that spying on the werewolves was for nothing, did you? Or that Sirius really needed to live in the one house he hated more than anything?
Lupin explains he didn’t tell Dumbledore Sirius was an animagus because he was too cowardly. Though really he could have told him without his disapproval. He could tell him Sirius had become an animagus without telling him why. I just can’t help but cheer anyone on for keeping a secret from Dumbledore for any reason.
Lupin cleverly says that Snape’s been right about him all along in the exact company that will assure him that Snape is never right about anything.
Lupin makes the first reference to the trick Sirius pulled on Snape, which Sirius still says served Snape right. I miss this version of the Prank.
Wow. Speaking of versions of stories, Lupin throws in without having to that Snape didn’t like James because he was, I don’t know, jealous of how good he was at Quidditch. Does he just automatically cut Snape down and cover for James and Sirius here without thinking about it even though it’s not necessary for the story? Because there’s just no way Lupin could actually believe that.
Lupin continues to impress me with how smoothly he polishes up the story dishonestly on the fly. (Seriously, I love Lupin.) Not only did he take time to suggest Snape hated James over Quidditch but he adds that James pulled Snape back from the tunnel at “great risk to his own life.” Except James is an animagus, as we’ve already learned, and werewolves are only dangerous to people. James regularly went down the tunnel to see Lupin for fun. The only danger James was in was being outed as an animagus by Snape. But he sure sounds more heroic in this version of the story.
And this is where Snape reveals himself, and given what he’s just heard man he must be pissed.
Seriously, I know he won’t listen to reason here but he really did just hear Lupin give a completely self-serving speech about him and his buddies. Imagine Harry listening to a conversation where Draco talked about his time at school with Harry this way. He'd be even more angry than Snape for less reason.
Things that happen twice:
Peter’s an animagus, just like Black and McGonagall. Perhaps after a THIRD example Ron and Harry will catch on that sometimes animals turn out to actually be people.
Speaking of unregistered animagi: Rita Skeeter.
‘Member how Harry went to the Shrieking Shack in his invisibility cloak? Now Snape’s come to the Shack in Harry's invisibility cloak.
In fact, three books from now it’ll be Harry slipping in a door in his invisibility cloak, only Draco will actually notice. Draco, the only character besides Hermione known to ever deduce things or make a cunning plan—even if it’s usually with disastrous results.
I was half-joking when writing about Lupin’s life among the werewolves in HBP as Dumbledore’s punishment for betraying his trust but it actually makes total sense and is in fitting with Dumbledore’s character. Plus it’s a nicely eerie parallel for Voldemort amusing himself by giving Draco an assignment to make him suffer and fail in HBP!
Lupin didn’t tell Dumbledore Sirius was an animagus because he’s a coward. Because he’s a coward. Because he’s a coward. That'll come up a lot.
Lupin’s “Snape’s been right about me all along” is about as disingenuous as his later “Snape’s right to have me fired” will be shortly.
Lupin’s behavior really does make him seem like exactly the guy Snape thinks he is here, just as it did in the Marauders Map chapter.
It’s a gun. No it isn’t! It’s Chekov! No it isn’t!
The Prank
Well, this one’s obvious, isn’t it? The series can’t end until we get the real story…
Status: Um...fired, but it turns out it was not so much a real gun as an empty water pistol that Snape shot at his own pants to make an embarrassing stain.
Exploitation Filmmakers’ Credo
Animagus. It’s not that difficult a concept. Even when you heard the guy had died.
Foley Work
Come on, you know the door had to creak really loudly when Snape walked in, even if his footsteps were somehow muffled.
Informed Attributes
Lupin’s just spitting these out right and left without Harry questioning any of them.
James Bond Exposition Rule
That’s it, Remus, keep talking. Just a little longer before the moon’s up. Don’t leave out the part about Quidditch. Quidditch is really important to the story.
Misdirected Answering
The chapter’s over and we still haven’t gotten anywhere near how Peter’s alive and Sirius didn’t kill him or why Sirius suddenly isn’t a bad guy anymore.
The Stealth Monster Rule
See Work, Foley. Snape must be using some version of Muffliato as he comes up those stairs!
Jabootu Score: 6
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no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 03:46 am (UTC)I really hate the Marauders. Yes, young Sev was a jerk, too, but he was nowhere near as bad as they were. Not based on what we're shown.
On the other hand -
Lupin feels a little guilty about betraying Dumbledore’s trust. Don’t worry, Lupin. Once Dumbledore finds out he’ll make you pay for it. You didn’t really think all that spying on the werewolves was for nothing, did you? Or that Sirius really needed to live in the one house he hated more than anything?
Oh, yes. And I do feel sorry for them as far as that goes. Dumbledore is just so very kind to vulnerable people who are much younger than he. I do agree with you that standing up to Dumbledore, or keeping secrets from him, is healthy behavior.
Glad you got this one up. Have a good weekend.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 03:49 am (UTC)That's her classic "she puts too must trust in the authorities" weakness I suppose. I guess she grows out of that ... proposing the D.A. is one huge example. And she doesn't try and persuade Harry that he should seek (adult) help in DH, although that's only because Rowling wanted to write a book about the Trio going it alone and so hobbled Hermione on that score. Among many.
Despite the fact that Wizards grow up in a world where all sorts of magical things happen, they never seem any more prepared than a Muggle would be to deal with this stuff if somebody doesn’t walk them through it beforehand
Wow, it's as if the author hasn't really thought things out beyond the point of view of the protagonist, isn't it? Or beyond what's necessary for the desired plot to proceed. ;-) But yes, if Ron immediately recognised Harry's cloak in book 1 as an invisibility cloak - that's a stock standard, non-super-duper, never-thought-of-Hallows-until-the-end invisibility cloak, mind you - then he, and the other wizards brought up in the magical world should recognise this sort of thing immediately. Invisible intruders and polyjuice possibilities and Fidelius flaws and ...
But Rowling wasn't able to remove herself from the point of view of the muggle-raised Harry. Or her own muggle upbringing. Whereas a professional author would have thought out her world in more depth, I dare say.
Speaking of versions of stories, Lupin throws in without having to that Snape didn’t like James because he was, I don’t know, jealous of how good he was at Quidditch. Does he just automatically cut Snape down and cover for James and Sirius here without thinking about it even though it’s not necessary for the story? Because there’s just no way Lupin could actually believe that.
The whole Snape-
lovedlusted-for-Lily thing was a secret, wasn't it? I've always assumed that only Snape - not even Lily - knew that the half-blood prince 'loved' her.Are you referring to the Snape deserved it / no he didn't James & Co. were bullies thing instead?
Packing for a holiday? Have fun!
no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 03:52 am (UTC)I'm sure I've seen it mentioned before, but can you remind me where it is in the canon that the chronological order of the events are established? In the early books we thought we were safe in believing that the 'prank' - Sirius luring Snape to the werewolf Lupin - was the end of the enmity between James and Snape, yes? (At least going one way, James growing up.)
no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 04:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 04:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 04:08 am (UTC)Ron even knows that Harry may have dropped his invisibility cloak right outside, doesn't he?
Are you referring to the Snape deserved it / no he didn't James & Co. were bullies thing instead?
I meant that Lupin knew the way James treated Snape. He did it from the first day. So it's a bit disingenuous to act like he has no clue why Snape would hate James and think maybe he was jealous. Even if he doesn't know how it started he knows James picks on him--since Lupin himself was usually there. He would have heard James talk about Snape too.
Packing to move, actually!
no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 04:11 am (UTC)Yes, Rowling's characters build it up as if it was all about Severus and James: in PS Twinkly says Severus hated James but protected Harry because of a life-debt to James he had not been able to repay. Now Remus brings up the Quidditch thing. In OOTP Sirius will say it was all about Severus liking Dark Arts and James hating them, when the most important component to the rivalry was Lily. Heck, even after DH I saw some people claiming the rivalry only picked up no earlier than the end of 2nd year, the earliest James could have been Quidditch champion. But Severus also contributes to this interpretation when in chapter 14 he talks about both Potters acting like rules were not for Quidditch champions. It almost looks like Twinkles, Severus, Remus and Sirius all agreed on this cover story.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 04:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 04:22 am (UTC)And I guess I can see why the pro-Snape fans were able to fan the embers of their ire against James into flames after the publication of DH, if he was still bullying Snape even after the Prank.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 04:31 am (UTC)Heh.
See, normally it would be quite permissible to just say "oh, Rowling didn't think of the new slant until she got desperate / near the end of the series". Things like the Hallows, the wand lore, the Fidelius charm, she was making it all up as she went along, without any consideration as to her own canon, destroying continuity quite happily/blissfully.
But the Snape/Lily thing must have been, surely, something that Rowling had planned from the start? So I wonder why she had even Snape align with the Quidditch reason?
Well, I suppose it wouldn't be too urbane for a teacher to tell a thirteen year old student "yes, I hated your dad because I was in lust/love with your mum". Particularly if he wanted to keep it to himself - and he did. So I guess that makes sense.
And the Marauders probably never knew about Snape's hangup on Lily, right? Although maybe they did, because the Snape/Lily friendship wasn't hidden or anything, was it? So James actively targeted Snape as a victim of his bullying because of the competition he saw for fair Lily?
I've only read the books once (other than twice for OotP) and I never thought much of or about Snape, so I don't recall the details of this sort of thing. Maybe James kept his ardour for Evans under wraps, so even his mates thought he was picking on Snape for other reasons.
Is it all clear cut in the canon or is there room for us to muse about such things?
no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 04:45 am (UTC)It was probably all part of the general impression that James Potter thought he was all that and a bag of chips. He probably wouldn't often allow himself to think about the extra sting that Lily Evans thought he was too.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 04:49 am (UTC)Well, yes, he expected to find a werewolf, but he also knew the other Marauders were safe with the werewolf. So perhaps he assumed the werewolf was chained or caged. If so then he trusted Dumbles to be more sensible than he turned out to be. (I see the prank and its aftermath as the place where Severus lost trust in Dumbledore and mainstream wizarding establishment.)
no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 04:51 am (UTC)Well, wait. Severus certainly didn't dislike James because he was jealous of James' being good at Quidditch, but it certainly wasn't only about being rivals for Lily's affections, either, because James started picking on Severus from day one, when they were both eleven.
I would think that James *did* consider himself special because he was so good at Quidditch. And while Severus would've disliked him for at least a year before he got on the Quidditch team, because James was a jerk to him, Severus probably *did* also get irritated by that aspect of James' personality, too.
Part One
Date: 2010-05-29 05:01 am (UTC)Yeah. He's waited 12 years to kill this guy. You'd think he could wait another 15 minutes. On the other hand, in 15 minutes, Peter will be merrily fleeing to Albania...
Oh, the door opened by itself as if someone was walking in? Couldn’t possibly be someone walking in. We didn’t see them!
Much more plausible that it would be a ghost. So, Lupin's quick to tell us that there aren't any around. Although why the Grey Lady and the Bloody Baron can't sneak off to the shack for a quickie, I don't know.
How are you and Ron doing on that “Hermione’s regularly three places at once” mystery you’ve been solving since September, Harry?
You know, it's a pity Encyclopedia Brown wasn't at Hogwarts. That kid never took more than five pages to solve a mystery.
You didn’t really think all that spying on the werewolves was for nothing, did you? Or that Sirius really needed to live in the one house he hated more than anything?
Heh. The more fools us for thinking that Lupin's spying on the werewolves was ever anything but a punishment. And, unless you think of Lupin as being closeted and in love with Sirius, means that Dumbledore's assignment was the thing most keeping Lupin and Tonks apart. Which makes all that talk at the end of HBP about how happy Dumbledore would be to know that Lupin and Tonks were getting together utter bullshit.
And it means that all those times that Tonks went to Dumbledore's office to cry about Lupin, Dumbledore was probably rubbing his hands with glee at what he had wrought.
Oh, and Sirius being stuck in his parents' house? I never understood how that benefited the Order. Yeah, it was great that the Order got to use the place as a headquarters, but they could have done that no matter where Sirius was. So, why not just have him hang out in the Shrieking Shack or something, so he could be available for Harry (you know, making Harry happy was Dumbledore's big priority, right?) Lupin could have stayed in the Black House if it needed a caretaker.
Or was that too much trouble to plan, Mister I-Plan-Everything-In-the-Universe?
Lupin makes the first reference to the trick Sirius pulled on Snape, which Sirius still says served Snape right. I miss this version of the Prank.
Did that version go away? I thought that was the version we ultimately ended up with.
Part Two
Date: 2010-05-29 05:01 am (UTC)Perhaps Lupin is deliberately covering up Lily's relationship to Snape? Pour quoi? Perhaps he doesn't want to blow Harry mind by suggesting that Saint Lily would have anything to do with Snivellus? I'm reaching for straws, because, in hindsight, it is pure nonsense. Years before DH came out, I knew that Snape being jealous of James' skill at Quidditch was a lie.
Lupin continues to impress me with how smoothly he polishes up the story dishonestly on the fly. (Seriously, I love Lupin.) Not only did he take time to suggest Snape hated James over Quidditch but he adds that James pulled Snape back from the tunnel at “great risk to his own life.” Except James is an animagus, as we’ve already learned, and werewolves are only dangerous to people. James regularly went down the tunnel to see Lupin for fun. The only danger James was in was being outed as an animagus by Snape. But he sure sounds more heroic in this version of the story.
I've always imagined that James "pulled" Snape back while in human form. Mainly because I don't see any way in hell a stag (with antlers and all) could move through that tunnel. The only thing that makes sense to me is that James waited for Lupin, either outside the tunnel, or outside the shack. The only way that James could have used his animal form was if Snape was somehow unconscious (which could have happened if he had been attacked by Lupin).
But it's hard to come up with a plausible story that takes into account the facts as we're told them: Sirius let "slip" to Snape how to get past the willow. (How did he do that, exactly?); Snape "glimpsed" Lupin in transformed state; James pulled Snape back without being harmed himself. The tunnel is like a mile long. In order to glimpse Lupin at the end of it, Snape would have be "pulled back" nearly that far. How did James do that?
My brain hurts.
And this is where Snape reveals himself, and given what he’s just heard man he must be pissed.
Honestly, I'm surprised he didn't magically combust into a mushroom cloud at that point.
Lupin didn’t tell Dumbledore Sirius was an animagus because he’s a coward. Because he’s a coward. Because he’s a coward. That'll come up a lot.
Lupin's cowardice and cunning makes him a wee bit Slytherin. Snape's loyalty and bravery make him almost a Gryffindor. This is why Lupin and Snape are the yin and yang of the series.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 05:03 am (UTC)*See? I can be as vehement in my Snape passion as you in your Hermione love!
no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 05:03 am (UTC)And the Marauders probably never knew about Snape's hangup on Lily, right? Although maybe they did, because the Snape/Lily friendship wasn't hidden or anything, was it? So James actively targeted Snape as a victim of his bullying because of the competition he saw for fair Lily?
James and Sirius saw Severus and Lily together on the train. When Lily and Severus talk after the prank they are in a courtyard, it doesn't seem like they are hiding or anything. And of course after Severus waited for Lily outside Gryffindor tower all Gryffindors must have realized they had a break-up. And for there to be a break-up there must have been something to break.
James wrote Lily's initials on a drawing of a snitch on his DADA OWL paper. And when he was bullying Severus later he was glancing to where Lily and her friends were sitting repeatedly. So yes, the rivalry over Lily was at least a factor in James' treatment of Severus.
Re: Part Two
Date: 2010-05-29 05:46 am (UTC)Well, Remus knows that just then, the most important thing is to convince the Trio that both he and Sirius are good guys. Admitting to bad behavior in the past isn't a good idea, and neither is criticizing Harry's father.
Although that does *not* explain why Remus and Sirius couldn't just give the Trio the *short* version of the story, which doesn't involve the Prank, or Severus.
Still, the "jealous about Quidditch" thing probably didn't sound as silly to Harry, because Harry really cares about Quidditch. He had just finally led his team to win the Quidditch Cup, and he's still got Quidditch on the brain, probably. And Harry expects Severus to dislike people without much cause, so he wouldn't feel any need to second-guess Remus' reasoning.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 05:49 am (UTC)Oh... now I want to read a crack!fic where the characters, or at least the Slytherin ones, complain about having been written by a Muggle.
Is there one already written, maybe?
no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 06:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 06:07 am (UTC)Re: Part Two
Date: 2010-05-29 06:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 06:41 am (UTC)Hermione says Minerva is one of the 7 registered Animagi. I wonder if the other 6 registered ones are also in situations where they use their Animagus forms openly - ie they had to register because the way they use their forms makes hiding their existence impossible.
In OOTP when Harry visits the spell damage ward in St Mungo's he sees Agnes, the dog-woman. I wonder if that's a case of failed Animagus transformation.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-29 02:55 pm (UTC)Re: Part One
Date: 2010-05-29 04:42 pm (UTC)Or was that too much trouble to plan, Mister I-Plan-Everything-In-the-Universe?
I think the plan was to isolate Black from Potter, as Black would have provided an alternate and independent view of the world, one in which either Potter's life would have come first or Potter's life would have been squandered early to one of Black's vainglorious attempts at mischief making. Dumbledore set Black up at Grimmauld Place to wear down Black's morale, at the same time setting Lupin the impossible task of monitoring werewolves, knowing those were the last places either man wanted to be, in order to keep them from offering solace or advice to Potter.
Potter therefore had to look to Dumbledore for approval and affection, as Dumbledore was the only adult male (i.e., father figure) in town. And Dumbledore wouldn't even look at Potter throughout most of OOTP, let alone talk to him or avow his over-the-top admiration for him, which served to make Potter more emotional and anxious for that approval. Dumbledore's aloofness lasted until the scene where he dramatically came to rescue Potter. He then threw himself at Potter's forgiveness with big crocodile tears, setting Potter up further to sacrifice himself when the time came.
And yes, Dumbledore got a little payback for Black and Lupin keeping secrets from him. It's not their place to decide what to do with their lives, after all. The Order is like the Death Eaters in that sense, basically a life sentence.