OOP: It is Snape's fault!!!! + Accuracy of Pensieve

[Sydney]

No: HPFGUIDX 67763


> Accuracy of Pensieve
> 1. The facts themselves were never contested by Sirius and Lupin, 
> who were working very hard to find excuses for James but the best 
> they came up with was 'He was fifteen and he grown out of it'.  This 
> also counters the argument that the memory was 'edited' because 
> Sirius and Lupin would have said something if it was 'biased'.
> 
> 2. Just like in Dumbledore's memories, Harry was free to look around 
> as long as he stuck close to Snape, which casts doubt as to the 
> events being shaded by Snape's PoV.
> 
> 3. And wouldn't it just point to how callous James and Sirius were 
> if the memory 'looked' worse from Snape's perspective?
> 
> Prof. Monkshood -- who on the fifth reading of OoP finally 
> understood why JKR said don't think Snape is 'too nice'.

I concur with Prof. Monkshood, and would like to add what is
ultimately the only really positive reason to believe in the accuracy
of the Pensive.

That scene was in the book for a reason-- to show Harry that his
father wasn't perfect, and that Snape isn't necessarily a liar. 
Developmentally this is what you go through when you're fifteen and I,
at least, fully expected a scene like this one in OoP (actually I'd
predicted that James had dabbled in Dark Magic in order to make the
Marauder's Map, but oh well... actually this is quite a bit worse I
think). 

If the Pensive isn't objective, we wouln't KNOW that James was
ACTUALLY a jackass when he was 15.  That whole thing would just be one
more scene that gives us Snape's opinion.  What's the point of that?

I think we'll see more of James in book 6 and Harry will come to terms
with the fact that his father was neither a saint nor a demon, but
just another struggling human being.  I expect we'll have to wait till
book 7 for him to find this out about Snape.

Sydney, who is in no danger of thinking Snape is 'nice', but is happy
to see the difference between 'nice' and 'good' so ably demonstrated.