Sirius and Snape frozen in time (WasSirius' Prank & Lupin )

[bookraptor11]

No: HPFGUIDX 34371

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "cindysphynx" <cindysphynx at h...> wrote:
> Now, as for Sirius' use of harsh language about Snape, his failure 
> years later to accept responsibility for what he did, for his 
> continued willingness to be nasty to Snape for being 
different . . . 
> I see your point, of course.  But where we differ, I think, is that 
> you probably see Sirius as a 30-year old man who should have 
> developed the maturity to acknowledge his culpability for what he 
did 
> to Snape.  
> 
> I don't.  When it comes to maturity and personal growth, Sirius is 
> frozen in time, in suspended animation, really.  He's a walking 
case 
> of arrested development.  Still stewing over decade-old grudges, 
> showing no more emotional maturity or growth than the day he left 
> Hogwarts.  Still smirking about Snape's greasy hair like a pre-
> adolescent, locked in the same old tired battles.
>  
> And why is that?  Well, he's been locked up for 12 years.  It is 
hard 
> to manage much personal growth when one is lying on the floor of a 
> cell in solitary confinement.  Sirius was locked up 2 years after 
> Hogwarts; the main frame of reference in life he has is his time at 
> Hogwarts, and he seems perpetually trapped there, growth-wise. 

>Snape, on the other hand, has not moved past his old Hogwarts 
grudges 
> at all.  Opposing Lupin's appointment as DADA teacher.  Trying to 
tip 
> off the students that Lupin is a werewolf.  Spilling the beans to 
the 
> Slytherins so that Lupin must resign.  Accusing Lupin of letting 
> Black in the castle.  Motivated to catch Black in PoA to settle a 
> school-boy grudge.  Following Lupin to the Willow not to give Lupin 
> his potion but to catch him doing something wrong.  Being unwilling 
> to acknowledge Black's membership on the team until Dumbledore 
forced 
> him too.  Snape is also showing a certain lack of personal growth, 
> and unlike Sirius, Snape doesn't have a very good excuse for it. 

When you wrote about Sirius being frozen in time, it occured to me 
that Snape too is frozen. Could it be that his personal growth was 
stunted by returning to Hogwarts to teach?  Like Sirius, he too only 
had a few years away from Hogwarts. He leaves, is active with the 
DE's and turns spy.  Then Voldemort disappears, Black is arrested and 
thrown into Azkaban. In the trials that follow, Dumbledore vouches 
for Snape, and although the books don't give a timeframe, I think 
it's likely that Snape began to teach shortly afterward.

Spending the majority of his adult life at the same place he spent 
his adolescence perhaps would cause him to keep more to his old 
patterns of behavior. I do agree that it's not as good an excuse as 
being in Azkaban though, and Snape with a little effort had more of 
an opportunity to mature.

Donna