Snape isn’t responsible for Lupin losing his job
Let’s look at the timeline:
The Shrieking Shack drama.
Lupin turns into the werewolf.
Harry, Ron and Hermione are in the Hospital Wing.
Harry and Hermione use the Time Turner.
Snape has a meltdown in front of Cornelius Fudge and Dumbledore.
In the morning Snape tells Slytherins that Lupin is a werewolf.
Harry talks to Lupin who’s been fired.
A lot of people think that Lupin was fired because Snape told his secret. But Lupin was actually fired because he betrayed Dumbledore’s trust—multiple times, as a student and as a teacher.
“I sometimes felt guilty about betraying Dumbledore’s trust, of course ... he had admitted me to Hogwarts when no other headmaster would have done so, and he had no idea I was breaking the rules he had set down for my own and others’ safety. He never knew I had led three fellow students into becoming Animagi illegally. But I always managed to forget my guilty feelings every time we sat down to plan our next month’s adventure. And I haven’t changed ...”
Lupin betrayed Dumbledore’s trust as a student when he was roaming around Hogwarts and Hogsmeade as a werewolf.
“That was still really dangerous! Running around in the dark with a werewolf! What if you’d given the others the slip, and bitten somebody?”
“A thought that still haunts me,” said Lupin heavily. “And there were near misses, many of them.
Lupin himself admits that there were many near misses. He’s extremely lucky that he didn’t infect or kill anybody. If he had, if others had found out about him, Dumbledore would have been finished as a headmaster.
Lupin’s face had hardened, and there was self-disgust in his voice. “All this year, I have been battling with myself, wondering whether I should tell Dumbledore that Sirius was an Animagus. But I didn’t do it. Why? Because I was too cowardly. It would have meant admitting that I’d betrayed his trust while I was at school, admitting that I’d led others along with me ... and Dumbledore’s trust has meant everything to me. He let me into Hogwarts as a boy, and he gave me a job when I have been shunned all my adult life, unable to find paid work because of what I am. And so I convinced myself that Sirius was getting into the school using dark arts he learned from Voldemort, that being an Animagus had nothing to do with it . . . so, in a way, Snape’s been right about me all along.
Lupin knew Sirius was an Animagus. It was crucial information. Everyone—including Dumbledore, Snape and Lupin himself—believed it was Sirius who had betrayed the Potters. Lupin was (again) extremely lucky that it turned out it was in fact Pettigrew.
The Ministry and Dumbledore did their best to protect Harry, but the whole army of Dementors was helpless against Animagus Sirius. Lupin himself is disgusted with what he did.
That betrayal is even worse, because Lupin being a teacher in the same year Sirius is on the loose is probably not a coincidence. Dumbledore must have asked the person he trusted and who knew Sirius very well. Dumbledore hoped that Lupin would have some information about Sirius and help protect Harry; being a good DADA teacher was a pleasant bonus. But Lupin failed to do the very job he was hired for.
Lupin managed to deceive Dumbledore and Snape who were both skilled in Legillimency. What’s more, during the first war Lupin probably was trying to convince other werewolves / spying for Dumbledore just like during the second war, so probably he knew at least a little Occlumency. The thing is, Lupin was hiding something the whole year (that he knew Sirius was an Animagus) and Snape saw some clues that Lupin wasn’t entirely honest. Lupin admits it too.
So let’s get back to the timeline:
Dumbledore wants to know what happened in the Shrieking Shack. He’s heard the children’s account, but he must want to hear the story of the three adults involved in the incident: Snape, Lupin and Sirius. Lupin is obviously unavailable.
We know he talks to Sirius:
“Last night Sirius told me all about how they became Animagi,” said Dumbledore, smiling. “An extraordinary achievement — not least, keeping it quiet from me.
He tells Harry this in the morning, after Lupin has left. The conversation probably took place when Sirius was arrested, after the Shrieking Shack incident but before the rescue. Lupin was in his werewolf form at that time, somewhere around Hogwarts.
The most disapointing thing for Dumbledore must be the fact that it is Sirius, not Lupin, who tells him all about Lupin’s first betrayal as a student. That also reveals Lupin’s second betrayal—that he didn’t tell Dumbledore about Sirius’ ability, even though he believed him to be the traitor.
Dumbledore must be determined to hear Lupin’s account. So as soon as the night ends and Lupin turns back into his human form, Dumbledore has a conversation with him. We know it happened because when Harry talks to Lupin, Remus has already been fired. The only way it could happen is that the Headmaster fired him personally.
Of course Snape couldn’t fire Lupin personally, he was just a teacher, he had no power to do so. The only way Snape could have had Lupin fired was to tell the Slytherins about Lupin (which he did), inform the school governors himself or have the students (like Draco Malfoy whose father was a governor) inform their parents and then wait for the governors to force the Headmaster to fire Lupin. However, there was too little time for that. Alternatively, he could have just told the Slytherins about Lupin, thus manipulating Dumbledore and forcing him to fire Lupin. BUT (1) Snape is very loyal to Dumbledore and it would be surprising if he went behind his back and endangered his position as the Headmaster; (2) there’s no indication that Dumbledore is mad at Snape. He certainly would be if Snape forced him to do something he didn’t want to do.
But Dumbledore is mad at someone else.
“Well — good-bye, Harry,” he [Lupin] said, smiling. “It has been a real pleasure teaching you. I feel sure we’ll meet again sometime. Headmaster, there is no need to see me to the gates, I can manage...”
Harry had the impression that Lupin wanted to leave as quickly as possible.
“Good-bye, then, Remus,” said Dumbledore soberly. Lupin shifted the grindylow tank slightly so that he and Dumbledore could shake hands. Then, with a final nod to Harry and a swift smile, Lupin left the office.
"Mad" is perhaps too strong, Dumbledore is rarely outraged. He’s disappointed. He isn’t emotional (neither "Oh, that horrible Snape, what did he do to my precious Lupin?" nor "Oh, you horrible Lupin, you’ve almost eaten my precious Harry Potter!"), he assesses the situation rationally. He’s rather cold. Whatever he’s said to Lupin earlier has made Remus embarrased. Lupin wants to leave as quickly as possible when Dumbledore has come to avoid further embarrasment. He knows he screwed up and he knows that Dumbledore knows it too.
We know about two conversations. But there was another adult involved in the Shrieking Shack incident, someone who Dumbledore trusts more than Sirius (whom up until that night he believed to be a traitor and a murderer) and Lupin (who let him down at least once by forgetting to drink his potion and by not staying behind in the Shrieking Shack, thus almost killing a few people, including Harry Potter—and that’s just the tip of the iceberg). Snape. However, although it’s logical for that conversation to take place, we don’t know when it could happen. After the Shrieking Shack incident Dumbledore talks to Sirius, so he couldn’t talk to Snape then. Then he suggests the children use the Time Turner. Then Snape has a meltdown and is probably too unstable to hold a rational conversation. Then finding Lupin could be a higher priority than talking to Snape since Dumbledore already knows most of what happened, Snape is biased and wasn’t present or was unconscious for the most part and Lupin right now is a danger to students and Hogsmeade villagers (including Dumbledore’s own brother).
Another thing that is worth mentioning is that Snape kept Lupin’s secret for over 18 years, including two years when he was a faithful Death Eater and Lupin was a member of the Order of the Phoenix. Snape is also deeply loyal to Dumbledore. It would be illogical for him to betray Dumbledore like that and to face no consequences for that. So, logically, Dumbledore must have given him some sort of green light, even if it was just a mild sugestion that it was up to him now.
To sum up, the adjusted timeline looks like this:
The Shrieking Shack drama.
Lupin turns into the werewolf.
Harry, Ron and Hermione are in the Hospital Wing.
Dumbledore talks to Sirius and finds out about Lupin’s first and second betrayal.
Harry and Hermione use the Time Turner.
Snape has a meltdown in front of Cornelius Fudge and Dumbledore.
At dawn Dumbledore finds Lupin and talks to him. Lupin quits / is fired.
Dumbledore talks to Snape, probably implying that he isn’t bound to keep Lupin’s secret anymore.
In the morning Snape tells Slytherins that Lupin is a werewolf.
Harry talks to Lupin who’s been fired.
Lupin got himself fired all by himself by keeping crucial information from Dumbledore and endangering students, including Harry Potter.
Snape is responsible for ruining Lupin’s reputation but not for Remus losing his job.
Snape isn’t responsible for Lupin being unable to have a job afterwards, because Remus has already had this problem.
He let me into Hogwarts as a boy, and he gave me a job when I have been shunned all my adult life, unable to find paid work because of what I am.
Somehow his empleyers knew about his condition or quickly figured it out. If Lupin had been discriminated all his adult life, it wasn’t because of Snape.
He worsens Lupin’s situation, but it’s been already bad. His situation, his prospects don’t really change after that. They were bad, now they’re slightly worse.
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