I do keep waiting for more information on that Prank. There just seems like so many unknowns and factors that could have come into play. Today, for instance, I was thinking about how according to Remus Dumbledore didn't know Sirius was an animagus, so presumably their putting people in danger running around ws never found out. This is what Snape was spying on. Now, obviously it's not like Snape was trying to do the right thing or protect others by spying on the Marauders--he was just trying to get them in trouble. But had he told on them, that wouldn't really have been a bad thing. He'd be tattling, sure, but also exposing a very dangerous thing going on that would have hurt people.

So apparently the Marauders got away with all of it and continued to lie to Dumbledore even in the face of this possible tragedy. Dumbledore appears to know all about the Prank, but didn't know about them being animaguses (or pretended not to) so what did he think was going on? Did the Marauders lie and pretend Snape they never went to the Sneaking Shack themselves and Snape only wanted to know what was in there? Because *they* could hardly have gone into the shack and not be killed if they weren't animaguses. Did Dumbledore just not ask any questions so he wouldn't have to punish the Marauders?

I guess it doesn't matter from the pov of the prank whether they were animaguses or not--Sirius could just as easily have tempted Snape into the shack whether or not he himself ever went there. But did Dumbledore not consider anything Snape might have said enough to make him question MWPP? Did James do possibly the worst thing in the Gryffindor code--accept praise for heroics he didn't really deserve by not telling anyone that he actually went to the Shrieking Shack a lot and hung out with Wolf!Remus there because he wasn't in danger from him as an animagus?