OoP: I'll do it: In defense of James

[Julia]

No: HPFGUIDX 62778

Ok, I just want to add my quick two cents into this argument.  I'll 
just start by saying that when it came to that particular scene in 
the pensieve, I was on Snape's side.  James wasn't even provoked, 
and if he had been there was no excuse for humiliating Snape, no 
matter what kind of person he may or may not have been at the age of 
fifteen.  And if we are to go by other memories, Snape's parents 
arguing, with Snape cowering in a corner - Snape has some serious 
emotional scars.  

There is no excuse as well, for Snape's treatment of Harry, or having 
ever been on the same side as Voldemort, but Snape has changed sides, 
he isn't all bad.  Just as James wasn't all good.  I think Harry was so 
ashamed simply because he was seeing his father act in a way that he, 
Harry, would never dream of.  Harry never starts on Malfoy, it's ALWAYS 
the other way around.  And I think that may be one of the reasons JKR 
put that scene in the book.  There is always a moment when children 
realize their parents are simply human beings, and Harry just had his 
pedestals knocked down.  He is always compared to his father, but he 
has to realize, too, that he isn't who his father was.  He's simply and beautifully Harry, and that scene just brought home to me even more how 
great Harry is.  The adult James would have been proud.

Julia Adair