What was Dumbledore thinking? Taking the less charitable view, this could just be another entry in a long list of instances of Dumbledore siding with Gryffindors over Slytherins. More charitably, if one does not consider the historical context, we could attribute it solely to Dumbledore’s tendency to give people second chances.
Unfortunately, awarding Sirius a second chance robbed Severus Snape of his first chance. The Prank is doubtless one of the main factors that drew Snape to the Dark side. After his falling out with Lily (and it’s no surprise his nerves were on edge that following June), he had no one to turn to except his fellow Slytherins. He could justify it to himself by claiming that the other side was just as bad, as evidenced by Sirius and Dumbledore’s disregard for his life.
But none of this is happening in a vacuum: Dumbledore knows Sirius’s family background, and Sirius’s reckless and ruthless temperament. Especially in the middle of Voldemort’s reign of terror, it would be all too easy for Sirius to return to his roots and join the Dark side if he were removed from the moderating influence of the Marauders. Given that Sirius is a wizard of prodigious skill, Dumbledore does not want to risk it.
The unwritten story of The Prank is Dumbledore, in the thick of the first Voldemort War, making the kind of calculated decisions he would have to make later on in the HP book series. He is caught in a zero-sum quandary between Snape and Sirius. Whoever he sides with, there is a substantial possibility the other one will seethe right into Voldemort’s arms. Sirius and Snape both have awful home lives, an astounding level of magical skill, a certain lack of empathy, and Gryffindors as a moderating influence. So who’s Dumbledore to bet on?
After weighing the options, Dumbledore bets on Sirius. For all that Sirius is rough around the edges, and just displayed an alarming murderous tendency, he is still a Gryffindor. He still spends his time surrounded by good people, who will presumably impress upon him the severity of what he just did. (Remus, I imagine, was none too pleased at being weaponized by Sirius.) Sirius could still become a promising member of the Order of the Phoenix.
Is fifth year too early for Dumbledore to be thinking of recruitment for the Order? Most of the adults we see seem eager to mollycoddle Harry and his peers when they are sixteen. But in the 1970s, Dumbledore would have been desperate. Lupin tells Molly about his time in the first Order of the Phoenix: “We were outnumbered twenty to one by the Death Eaters and they were picking us off one by one. . . .” (OP177) And that chilling statement comes from Lupin, who was one of five young wizards and witches who joined the Order late in the game. Before the Marauders and Lily joined, the Order would have been even more hopelessly outgunned. Dumbledore would have been desperate for new recruits, desperate enough to look among his student body.
He sees promising young recruits among the Marauders. Dumbledore may also have factored in that losing Sirius would have altered the entire group in an unfavorable way—for all that Dumbledore is a solitary person, he is very well attuned to group dynamics. We see how he groomed the Trio to be a cohesive asset; he may have intended the same with the Marauders.
And on the other side, he sees young Severus.
“Snape’s always been fascinated by the Dark Arts, he was famous for it at school. [. . .] Snape knew more curses when he arrived at school than half the kids in seventh year, and he was part of a gang of Slytherins who nearly all turned out to be Death Eaters.” (GF531)
Dumbledore is essentially profiling Snape and the Marauders, and this is a perfect example of how profiling can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. On the one hand, there is a promising group of young Gryffindors who will most likely become valuable assets for the Order of the Phoenix. On the other hand, there is one boy immersed in a toxic environment of Slytherins—up to his greasy hair in Dark Arts and hanging out with the likes of Rosier and Lestrange. For Dumbledore, it’s a no-brainer: bet on Sirius by showing him clemency, and hope for the best with Severus. Perhaps he hoped Lily would have been able to salvage Severus. And no doubt he made Sirius feel about an inch tall with a thorough guilt trip when he allowed Sirius to remain at Hogwarts.
One thing is very clear: Dumbledore failed teenaged Snape very badly. He made a very difficult choice and sided with the Gryffindor over the Slytherin—as he always seems to do.
One wonders whether Dumbledore is aware of his own biases or if he always justifies them somehow? In the Tom Riddle/Hagrid episode, Dumbledore kept a shaky moral high ground because of Riddle’s culpability in Myrtle’s murder. In the Snape/Marauder episode, it was all about the war effort. And in the case of his mistreatment of Harry’s Slytherin peers, maybe it’s all done for Harry’s benefit. . . but that reasoning is rather flimsy.
We are shown later that Dumbledore is aware of it, as he is very self-aware in general. And if that choice of Dumbledore’s is indeed what cemented Sirius and Snape’s allegiances in the first Voldemort War, it is one of the most momentous decisions he makes in terms of how far-reaching the consequences are.
That choice is what informed Snape’s reactions on that fateful June evening, eighteen years later. Once again, Dumbledore sides against Snape. . . once again, to his peril.
The Parting of Ways
“The Prince’s Tale” shows us the progression of the exceedingly complex relationship
