[HPforGrownups] Re: Bully!Sirius, Snape's Grudge

[Irene Mikhlin]

No: HPFGUIDX 43381

Elkins wrote:

IM> > Is it just me, or did anyone else at this point felt compelled to
> > say "Hello, Sirius Black!" ?
>
> Oh, excellent.

Excellent, someone actually read my post. :-)

>
> Hmmm.  Well, I'm also one of those Snapefans who definitely received
> the impression that Snape was hassled by James' group of friends, and
> particularly by Sirius, back in the day (we few, we happy few...),
> and I think that the extent to which Sirius matches the classic bully
> profile very likely *does* have much to do with the popularity of
> that reading.  I don't know if I'd say that there is nothing to
> support this reading in the canon, though.

I was trying to err on the conservative side, exactly in order to
avoid being diagnosed with the "fanfic contamination".
We can support this reading based on some indirect evidence,
like Adult!Sirius attitude, the map etc., but the canon gives
us almost nothing about the schoolboy!Sirius directly
(well, there is always the prank, but, as we all agree <g>
it's more in the category of attempted murder than bullying,
so it does not help to support this reading)

> Poor Severus just can't catch a break, can he, and JKR plays that
> fact for pathos as well as for laughs, I'd say.  I do think that we
> are meant to read a certain degree of pathos into this portrayal of
> Snape as the constant voyeur: a hostile outsider, yes, but always an
> outsider trying to look in.  I also think that the reader is meant to
> sympathize a great deal with Snape when he finally Just Plain Snaps
> at the end of PoA, even while also laughing at him.  Certainly
> I've always found that sequence just plain heart-breaking, even while
> I also take enjoyment in its (*deeply* malicious!) humour.
>
> (Wasn't it you, Irene, who once cited end of PoA as just plain killer
> in terms of Snape sympathy?  I seem to remember wanting to slip a "me
> too" at the end of a sig sometime to you for that one, but then
> somehow never quite managed to get around to it.)

Yes, it was me. It was a killer in a sense that I prefer Snape when
he is slightly more in control - both of himself and of events.
But I don't remember getting malicious enjoyment, probably was
too busy identifying.
Think of a hellish year Snape (and the rest of the teachers) had in PoA -
all those night patrols, all the false and not so false alarms.
You spoke about the map being the painful reminder, but Lupin himself
is much more painful reminder. If we go along with the theory of Snape
as a "victim bully", the Boggart incident has very different dynamics:
Snape tries (in his best antisocial manner) to give Lupin a professional
advice, to establish they are now equal  - Professor to Professor.
But Lupin shows him that nothing changed and he can turn him
to a laughing stock just as easily as 20 years ago.
So, after all this stress, it's not surprising that Snape loses it when
confronted with his two favourite adults and three favourite kids.
(And still he does better than Sirius - when Ron stays between
Sirius and Peter, Sirius breaks Ron's leg. When Harry stands
between Snape and Sirius, Snape tries to reason with him
I've just looked up this episode - it's too funny. In a "reverse
vampire" mode he tells Harry three times to get out of the way.
Is it a magical formula? <g> ).

But I digress. The most heart-breaking part of all this plot line,
for me, is Dumbledore's behaviour. He plays with Snape's
sanity with as much cruelty as the twins play with Percy, but on a
bigger scale.

Irene