Many Years Later, I Just Understand Why Snape Was So Willing To Kill Sirius In PoA. Not Because Of The

Many years later, I just understand why Snape was so willing to kill Sirius in PoA. Not because of the “prank” that almost got him killed, no, but because he doesn’t know who the actual traitor is.

He genuenely believe that Sirius got Lily killed.

That’s why he refuses to listen to anything the others might have to say, he’s blind by a rage that built up for twelve years when he walks upon him.

I was so into the actual thing, and frankly despising him, to get to see how he lived that thing.

People will hate on Snape for being mean and sarcastic with children but he was mean and sarcastic with everyone. He was just treating his students with the same respect he gave everyone else, if you think about it.

idk if you've already talked about this, but what's your take on the prank? did sirius act on impulse without thinking about the consequences, or was he just super callous to remus because he thinks he sees him as a friend but also sees the werewolf thing as just a cool and dangerous thing without understanding or respecting how it affects remus?

Get ready for an essay haha.

I think I may have already posted about this, but I can't find it. I don't think it was premeditated. I think Sirius may have been already angry about something, and Snape provoked him, so Sirius said something along the lines of,

"If you're so brave and not a stupid coward, why don't you go down and see for yourself? Here's how…..."

This fits with how they argue as adults, goading each other and attacking each other's sense of masculinity: 

“I’ve warned you, Snivellus,” said Sirius, his face barely a foot from Snape’s, “I don’t care if Dumbledore thinks you’ve reformed, I know better — ”

“Oh, but why don’t you tell him so?” whispered Snape. “Or are you afraid he might not take the advice of a man who has been hiding inside his mother’s house for six months very seriously?”

“Are you calling me a coward?” roared Sirius, trying to push Harry out of the way, but Harry would not budge.” OoTP

So fundamentally, I see the prank being motivated by the following: 

Impulsivity and Adolescent Judgment: Teenagers' brains are still developing, particularly in areas responsible for impulse control and understanding the consequences of their actions. Sirius's decision to divulge such a dangerous secret to Snape might have been more about proving a point or winning an argument than considering the potentially lethal consequences for Snape, Lupin, or even the broader implications for himself and his friends. I also see Sirius as an adrenaline junkie (he goads Bellatrix and loses himself in the heat of battle), so I wonder about his ability to judge danger generally. While Sirius might have genuinely cared for Remus, his actions suggest a lack of understanding or disregard for the gravity of Remus's struggles with lycanthropy. It's possible that Sirius, in his youth and recklessness, saw the werewolf aspect as an exciting, if dangerous, attribute of his friend without fully appreciating the pain and danger it brought to Remus's life.

Masculinity and Identity: The challenge to masculinity and bravery, as highlighted by their adult interactions, potentially has roots in their youth. And I view this through the lens of hegemonic masculinity.

This theoretical lens posits that certain traits and behaviours are culturally elevated to represent an ideal form of masculinity. Traits such as dominance, competitiveness, emotional restraint, and a propensity for risk-taking are valorised, establishing a hierarchy that privileges these characteristics above others and marginalises those who do not conform. Additionally, hegemonic masculinity is about power over other masculinities. 

Within this context, Remus Lupin's lycanthropy positions him at the periphery of hegemonic masculinity. Despite the physical strength and power Lupin embodies in his werewolf form, this manifestation of strength is not coded as hegemonic. Instead, it is attached to a marginalised identity, thereby complicating his relationships with his peers and with himself. This divergence from the norms underscores a critical aspect of hegemonic masculinity: power and dominance must be socially sanctioned and conform to cultural ideals to be recognised as such. Lupin's struggle, thus, not only challenges the traditional notions of power and dominance associated with masculinity but also illuminates the societal tendency to overlook or misinterpret experiences that fall outside the conventional bounds of masculinity and power.

Sirius Black's position in this dynamic is markedly different. As a pureblood wizard, who is also magically powerful, Sirius occupies the apex of the social pyramid. This elevated status endows him with a form of masculinity that is both hegemonic and imbued with power, allowing him to navigate the social hierarchy with an authority that Lupin cannot access. Sirius's failure to fully appreciate the impact of Lupin's condition on his life, therefore, can be seen not just as a personal oversight but as a manifestation of broader societal dynamics.

Additionally, his challenge to Snape, who, despite being magically capable, is positioned lower due to his economic background and the stigma attached to his less prestigious blood status, can be interpreted as a reinforcement of Sirius's own position within the social and masculine hierarchy, a demonstration of hegemonic masculinity that seeks to maintain its dominance by subjugating those perceived as weaker or lower in status.

If Snape was a better person...

…he would have called out and reminded Lupin of the wolfsbane potion when he saw Lupin rush out out of Hogwarts. Even at the Shrieking Shack, he should have thrust the potion at Lupin out of sheer self preservation, because he couldn’t have been sure he (and the three students and the outlaw) could have made it back to Hogwarts before a transformed Lupin caught up to them.

Anyone ever pissed at Snape because he literally had the students buy shitty potions textbooks?

Like literally the same book he used when he was at hogwarts

The same book he spent time correcting so that it actually worked

That’s the book he had his students buy, and then he didn’t give them the corrections.

That alone makes him an unforgivable character because he liked to watch children fail.

Re-read this bit in Half-Blood Prince again and thinking about how blatantly it seems to be telling us that Harry is biased against Snape and our impression of him thus far has been clouded by seeing him through Harry's eyes (emphases mine):

‘The Dark Arts,’ said Snape, ‘are many, varied, ever-changing and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a many-headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before. You are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, indestructible.’ Harry stared at Snape. It was surely one thing to respect the Dark Arts as a dangerous enemy, another to speak of them, as Snape was doing, with a loving caress in his voice? . . . ‘He tried to jinx me, in case you didn’t notice!’ fumed Harry. ‘I had enough of that during those Occlumency lessons! Why doesn’t he use another guinea pig for a change? What’s Dumbledore playing at, anyway, letting him teach Defence? Did you hear him talking about the Dark Arts? He loves them! All that unfixed, indestructible stuff -‘ ‘Well,’ said Hermione, ‘I thought he sounded a bit like you.’ ‘Like me?’ ‘Yes, when you were telling us what it’s like to face Voldemort. You said it wasn’t just memorising a bunch of spells, you said it was just you and your brains and your guts - well, wasn’t that what Snape was saying? That it really comes down to being brave and quick-thinking?’ Harry was so disarmed that she had thought his words as well worth memorising as The Standard Book of Spells that he did not argue.

Half-Blood Prince, Ch. 9

There's a direct contrast being drawn from one scene to the next between Harry's perception of Snape and Hermione's less-biased, more critical one. Where Harry hears a "loving caress" for the dark arts in Snape's voice, Hermione hears the passionate, determined explanation that Harry gave a year earlier - one based in a firsthand understanding of what it takes to protect oneself from harm against dark magic.

This is also the first scene in this book where we see Snape teaching a class. The first time he shows up in the book is when he's entrusted by Tonks to deliver Harry safely to the Great Hall from the school gates. So the first encounter with Snape in HBP is as Harry's protector, be it begrudging or not, and the second is one where an immediate parallel is drawn after between him and Harry, Hermione questioning the latter's bias and hinting to the reader that judging him based on Harry's perception may not paint an accurate picture of Snape. Through the rest of the book we see Harry have an increasingly hostile relationship with Snape while developing a great fondness for the Half-Blood Prince, despite it also being Snape, only Harry doesn't know that, so he's able to see his humor and cleverness.

This theme is a dominant one throughout the book, though it doesn't become clear until the end when we find out Snape was the Half-Blood Prince, but by then our impression of the Prince is murky given the unexpectedly violent outcome of Harry trying out Sectumsempra (and it can be argued he's to blame for doing so against another person instead of finding out what the spell does in a safer way), and our impression of Snape is even worse given that he'd just killed Dumbledore. We don't find out until the next book that Snape had been fighting on the same side as Harry the whole time, risking - and eventually losing - his life for the same cause. In retrospect, Rowling (boo, hiss) spends a lot of time in HBP dropping breadcrumbs that Harry's impression of Snape - and thus the reader's - is affected by bias and thus inaccurate.