First - while the actual content and intent of 'The werewolf incident' certainly can be debated, and I am not going to state that an intent of "feeding Snape to a werewolf" is not a valid reading of the scene, although I do believe other interpretations are also valid - you cannot say that it was "the marauders" who did this. As in James, Peter, Lupin and Sirius. It was only Sirius who gave the information on how to get into the womping willow. There is no evidence that Peter and Lupin were present or had anything to do with it at all. And James risked his own life to save Snape from the werewolf. Fair is fair, right?
While Sirius is the only one who admits being involved, the only others who talk about that event are Severus who believes James to have been involved, Dumbledore whom we know didn't know the full picture and Remus who has an interest in whitewashing James and himself to Harry and who has withheld potentially life-saving information for a year for the sake of his image and who already lied about the roots of the James/Severus rivalry in that very conversation. So I find the evidence against James and Remus' involvement flimsy to non-existent.
But think for yourself: If the whole stunt was Sirius' idea alone then surely both Remus and James would consider it grave betrayal of Remus' secret? Yet James was considering placing his entire family's secret in Sirius' hands? How does that compute?
How about some alternate scenarios, suggested originally by duj:
- There was an original 'prank' in which all Marauders were involved, meant to get Severus off their backs. According to the plan Severus was supposed to get caught by a teacher on the way to the Willow, but Sirius exacerbated it by having Severus make it all the way to the tree and past it.
- Or perhaps both the luring to the Whomping Willow and the heroic save were part of one script designed by James and Sirius in order to create a rift between Lily and Severus and to show James as a hero to Lily? It worked so well she wasn't willing to listen to Severus' side at all. Yes, even Remus was complicit, because Severus was becoming a nuisance to his fun too.
But it is in this same dialogue that Lily accuses him of wanting to join Voldemort, and Snape's response is to say nothing. He does not deny this in front of her.
Considering how tongue-tied he gets when he is emotional at that age, his silence can be interpreted in many different ways. he may have been completely astounded at the accusation.
no subject
While Sirius is the only one who admits being involved, the only others who talk about that event are Severus who believes James to have been involved, Dumbledore whom we know didn't know the full picture and Remus who has an interest in whitewashing James and himself to Harry and who has withheld potentially life-saving information for a year for the sake of his image and who already lied about the roots of the James/Severus rivalry in that very conversation. So I find the evidence against James and Remus' involvement flimsy to non-existent.
But think for yourself: If the whole stunt was Sirius' idea alone then surely both Remus and James would consider it grave betrayal of Remus' secret? Yet James was considering placing his entire family's secret in Sirius' hands? How does that compute?
How about some alternate scenarios, suggested originally by duj:
- There was an original 'prank' in which all Marauders were involved, meant to get Severus off their backs. According to the plan Severus was supposed to get caught by a teacher on the way to the Willow, but Sirius exacerbated it by having Severus make it all the way to the tree and past it.
- Or perhaps both the luring to the Whomping Willow and the heroic save were part of one script designed by James and Sirius in order to create a rift between Lily and Severus and to show James as a hero to Lily? It worked so well she wasn't willing to listen to Severus' side at all. Yes, even Remus was complicit, because Severus was becoming a nuisance to his fun too.
But it is in this same dialogue that Lily accuses him of wanting to join Voldemort, and Snape's response is to say nothing. He does not deny this in front of her.
Considering how tongue-tied he gets when he is emotional at that age, his silence can be interpreted in many different ways. he may have been completely astounded at the accusation.