Looks aren't everything! (was:Re: Sirius / Severus)

[jwcpgh]

No: HPFGUIDX 86653

> Friday, December 05, 2003, 9:24:34 AM, jwcpgh wrote:
> 
> > How many 11 year olds do you know whom you would describe as 
either handsome or cool?  :-)  These are young kids at this point.

>  Susanne                           
<snip> While *we* (the  parental units, or older generation) might not
> consider any of them handsome and cool, they certainly have their
> own rules and ideas about who is cool and popular, and who is not.
> 
> And this starts earlier than age eleven!
> 
> In many schools, the rudest kids who are in trouble a lot,
> are unfortunately seen as the cool rebels.
> 
> Getting good grades gets you somewhere with the teachers and
> parents, but not necessarily with your classmates. In fact,
> it could cost you popularity points.
> 
> So, I could easily see Sirius becoming popular for his
> arrogance and bullying, helped by good looks.
> 
> It's a common thing for the popular crowd to pick on one or
> two unpopular kids, and once this pattern is locked in, it
> seems very hard to overcome.
> 
> One little thing could have caused Snape to stand out and
> be picked as the one, and things developed from there?
<snip>

Laura replies:

Sadly, all of that is true.  In Sirius's defense, though:

Sirius, along with James, were the best students in the school, 
according to several sources (Remus in OoP, McGonagall in PoA).  They 
weren't exactly James Dean types.  And I don't see Hogwarts as the 
kind of school where anti-social behavior is prized by the kids.  
Other people may feel differently about that, though.  

There's difference of opinion as to whether Sirius was a bully or 
not.  We know only about his friendship with the other Marauders and 
his dislike of Snape.  We don't know anything about his relations 
with other students, good or bad. We also don't know the full story 
of the Snape/Sirius hostility.

We don't know how Snape got along with the rest of the students 
during his time at Hogwarts, at least at the beginning.  By the time 
of Pensieve II, it would seem that not many people could be bothered 
to come to his defense.  Why that would be is something we don't 
know.  It could be negative feelings about Snape, admiration of James 
and Sirius, fear of James and Sirius, sheer boredom or some 
combination of those.  

My point is that we don't know a whole lot more than we do know about 
Snape and the Marauders at school.  It may be early to decide who was 
the aggressor and who was the victim, or if that description fits at 
all.  Far be it from me to discourage speculation, or ex post facto 
rationalization, but I also appreciate tying these flights of fancy 
to a nice solid canon.