I know people talk a lot about how damaging the prank was to severus but like… I defy you to tell me it didn’t deeply affect remus more
because think about trusting someone with your deepest darkest secret and then that someone using that secret in a manner that completely disrespects you and trivializes that secret
do not even try to tell me that the relationship between remus and sirius didn’t change permanently after that. do not even.
I think it’s the point that started to drive a wedge between the Marauders.
Sirius was ridiculously reckless, and whilst Severus would be justified in being terrified that a fellow teen was happy to send him to his death, Remus would also be justified in being terrified that one of his supposed best friends was happy to risk outing him, and happy to risk him committing murder (which would’ve probably earned him a death sentence too).
We know that by the time they’re 21, Remus has been presumed to be the traitor and has been somewhat excluded from the group – and we know that James and Sirius were as tight as ever, so it feels fair to presume that no matter how disgruntled James may have been over Sirius’ behaviour that night, he forgave him.
Similarly, we know that Remus sat to one side when James and Sirius went for Severus in Snape’s Worst Memory – we assume that this is because Remus has more of a conscience, but I’d argue that as Snape bemoans the group attacking him 4-on-1, it’s more likely that Remus has turned his back on their bullying behaviour after the attack, whereas he was happy to join in prior to this.
Remus can’t take Sirius to task over the incident because Sirius knows Remus’ deepest darkest secret, and Remus knows that Sirius isn’t against using it for his own ends – even if those ends would result in Remus committing murder, or being slaughtered.
In his actions that night, Sirius proved that he’s a complete headcase with no regard for other people, their feelings or their safety. Remus was stuck – he probably didn’t want to condone what had happened, but he couldn’t risk falling out with Sirius either, in case he outed him.
I always have to note when I see the idea that Remus could’ve been “slaughtered” after the Prank that there is no death penalty in the wizarding world. It’s based on the UK, and more importantly, the punishment of last resort for those Azkaban cannot hold – Sirius and Barty Crouch Jr – is the Dementor’s Kiss; no one ever mentions death.
You could make an argument based on werewolves being classified as dark creatures, I suppose, but given the lack of textual evidence I think it would’ve been Azkaban. Still scary and awful! Just, I see a lot of this idea that Remus would’ve been executed if things had gone wrong and I think the books don’t support that.
I also think Remus’ relationship with his own lycanthropy is less fear-filled than that? Like, it’s text that they had “many” near-misses and kept running around recklessly. Even as an adult he’s non-compliant about his meds – he doesn’t gratefully gulp the Wolfsbane the second he gets it, he kind of plays this (very, very understandable) little power game of refusing to take the potion under Snape’s eye. We also see Remus being bothered by Sirius’ “wish it was full moon” – but then he’s ALSO the one who explicitly calls himself a werewolf during Snape’s Worst Memory. I do think the Prank likely changed their relationship, and that Sirius’ selfish attitude to Remus’ state bothered him, but I don’t think Remus had some great fear of being outed, or indeed exactly great fear about his wolf side getting out of control. I suspect it was more anger that Sirius treated his stigmatised chronic disease as entertainment/means of revenge, which isn’t quit the same thing.
All very fair points – I am no real expert on Remus, I have to admit!
On the slaughter point, I think people tend to reference it because we do have dangerous animal laws in the UK. The question is, would Remus have been tried as a wizard who murdered, or as a dangerous creature that needed to be destroyed (e.g. Buckbeak)?
We don’t know for sure, but I’d venture a guess that it’s the latter. Lupin would most likely be treated like a dangerous creature.
But even if he were not to be executed, the people would probably want it. It’s clear that wizarding society is not fond of werewolves. If one were to kill a child I’m sure they would demand he be made an example. I imagine mass protests insisting on Lupin’s execution. Whether or not that would come to be is pure speculation.
Also, some point out that Snape himself could have killed or seriously maimed Lupin in self-defense, had the prank gone all the way. Whether or not Snape is capable of such a thing, we don’t know. But it’s still a possibly that Sirius didn’t even think to consider before he set up one of his supposed best friends (or maybe he did think of it and didn’t care, I’m trying to give Sirius the benefit of the doubt here).
Yes, I tend to lean that way myself, for the reasons you’ve outlined.
It’s a good point re: Snape. I always think the invention of Sectumsempra is curious – it’s hard to know for certain because canon is so sparse around those years, but I find it interesting that Snape uses it after the werewolf attack.
To me, that’s a terrified kid who knows that his bullies have a literal werewolf they can attack him with – so he creates a spell that turns his wand into a sword. We know from Remus’ comments in later years that Snape uses it so often, it becomes known as one of his signature spells.
So I think that came after, because if Snape was walking around with a sword style spell, I think Sirius would’ve thought twice about sending the two face-to-face.
I thought about whether Snape could have used Sectumsempra as well, but came to the same conclusion as you did. It most definitely was created after the prank, if not as a direct result of it. James and Sirius seem rather surprised in SWM (which in case anyone is unclear of the timeline, happened after the prank) when Snape cuts James’s cheek, so clearly as you mention Sectumsempra was not Snape’s signature move yet.
And your comment about Snape’s fear is very important. Too many times I’ve seen Snape’s creation of Sectumsempra thrown in his face. “Look everyone! This is such an evil, hurtful spell! Snape must have been pure evil to create it!” is a simplistic version of a statement I’ve seen countless times. This statement completely disregards the context. You know, the context where his bullies physically attack him and set him up to potentially be attacked by werewolves. I don’t fault Snape at all for creating a such a spell in self-defense, especially, like you mention, when his enemies have a werewolf that they’re not afraid to use.
The other point that is SO important when considering Snape’s character is that he didn’t just create Sectumsempra…
…he created the antidote too.
And that’s what makes Snape such a powerful character, because he treads that grey line between the others.
Voldemort would’ve made Sectumsempra and used it without caring about the impact.
Dumbledore would’ve made Sectumsempra, been horrified at the impact it had and ensured he never used Sectumsempra again.
…but Snape, who treads that line between them both…he keeps it in his arsenal, but ensures he knows how to treat it.
Except that the memory takes place when the Mauraders are doing their OWLs, which happen in 5th year.
The prank took place in their 6th year.
So the prank happened AFTER the memory, not before.
myblog 