School! Snape the bully? (was: Is Draco worse than James Was?)

[ghinghapuss]

No: HPFGUIDX 77833

Laura:
Now wait a minute.  We read in canon more than once that James and 
sirius were popular.  Bullies tend not to fit that description.  So I 
would deduce that their bad behavior was directed at people who were 
out of line in some obvious way.  And we know that James straightened 
up by the time he was 16 (or else he couldn't have been a candidate 
for Head Boy when he was 17).  Once he did that, Sirius would 
probably have cooled out himself, since he held James in greater 
esteem than anyone else (and he would have lost his favorite co-
conspirator).  

We just don't have the whole picture of the James/Sirius-Snape 
relationship.  And now it looks like we never will.


Now me:
Bullies can be very popular.  And some of the most popular kids in 
school are often the worst bullies.  Power corrupts especially in 
teens.
However, I do agree that James and Sirius were both good boys who 
grew into good men.  
They were the Kings of Hogwarts and once they learned compassion they 
shaped up.
Mandy