Thought about Snape and James Potter's relationship

[marinafrants]

No: HPFGUIDX 38334

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "sherlock_2040" <merlyn_dawson at h...> wrote:

> In one of the books (possibly the third) Dumbledore describes James 
> Potter's relationship with Snape as similar to Harry's relationship 
> with Draco Malfoy. 

I believe it's in the very first book, actually.

> Now, he doesn't state which way *round* he meant 
> this - could it possibly be that James Potter and his gang were
being 
> equalled to Draco Malfoy? 

I wouldn't go that far -- I think Dumbledore was equating situations,
rather than individuals -- but I agree that James and Sirius were
probably not entirely blameless in their conflict with Snape.  I don't
think they were awful people or anything; I believe they were both
decent kids.  And I have no doubt that adolescent Snape was a
thoroughly unpleasant git. But we know Sirius has his share of
character flaws, and it stands to reason that James did, too.  And I
don't know, maybe it's my own adolescent traumas coming through, but
to me, the small amount we've been told about the Snape-Marauders
conflict looks an awful lot like a couple of popular jocks picking on
the geeky loser.  Which bugs me, even if the geeky loser may have done
something to deserve it. :-)


> I'm not comparing Snape to Harry, but Harry too sometimes provokes 
> Draco into reacting as well as the other way round. 

Do you have any examples of that?  I don't have the books with me
here, either, and I can't recall any instances when Harry deliberately
provoked Draco at a time when Draco was just leaving well enough
alone.

Marina
rusalka at ix.netcom.com