OOP: James, Snape, God, Illustrations

[mochajava13]

No: HPFGUIDX 63192

Spoiler space




I still think that one memory, and Snape's WORST one at that, isn't 
enough information to know the true nature of the rivalry.  If this 
is his WORST memory, could this have been a normal occurance?  I 
think that if this is his worst memory, then this is the worst 
humiliation that he got.  As bad as this scene was, I don't think we 
can take this as indicative of anyone's true nature, Snape's or 
MWPP's.  We know the following:

1 - James' hexed people who annoyed him.
2 - Snape knew a LOT of hexes and curses (both from Sirius saying so 
and from Snape letting out a string of hexes and swearing during his 
memory).
3 - Snape attacked James frequently in 7th year (from Lupin and 
Sirius, and Lupin has matured in the past 20 years).
4 - Teenage boys tend to be idiots in front of girls they like; Lily 
was watching while James was humiliating Snape.
5 - Snape whipped out his wand when James says "Snivellus".  Could 
indicate MANY things, either conditioned to whip out his wand when 
James says that out of defense, or out of a desire to fight. 
6 - Snape/Sirius relationship in OoP: it doesn't seem to have 
changed very much since Hogwarts.
7 - McGonagall laughed about James and Sirius' pranks.  McGonagall 
knows a lot about what goes on at Hogwarts.  I don't think she would 
find kids picking on other defenseless, innocent kids as funny.  She 
would find it funny if gits (like Umbridge) were humiliated.  Same 
with the other people who liked MWPP while at Hogwarts.
8 - James and Snape hated each other from the beginning of first 
year, just like Harry and Draco.  When neither of them would be able 
to do much more then send sparks at each other.   


Personally, I think the Snape/Sirius near fight in OoP (the chapter 
Occlumency) is MUCH more indicative of Snape and James' rivalry 
during their time at Hogwarts.  Snape and Sirius trade barely vieled 
insults, and nearly come to a wizarding fight.  Snape pulled out his 
wand FIRST in this instance, after criticizing James in front of his 
best friend and his son; Sirius pulls it out later.  Sirius and 
Snape are both adults, but have to be kept apart by Harry, a 
teenager!(US 518-521)  It seems to me that all the evidence we need 
to see what their rivalry was like.  Yes, James was a big headed get 
who liked attention, and liked pranks at the expense of others, but 
so does Ron.  I think this fits into JKR's theme of growing up: 
finding out that the person you hate actually has feelings.  
Children generally don't understand that they can hurt other 
people's feelings.  Harry is finally realizing that even Snape, who 
he hates, has feelings and doesn't like being humiliated.  And look 
at the trio and the twins' treatment of Neville: he's given the 
canary creams on purpose, just to laugh at the result.  That's 
pretty mean.  Neville takes is all in good fun, but not everyone 
would react like that.  I think we're just seeing evidence of what 
Dumbledore said: James/Snape's rivalry is just like Harry/Draco 
rivalry: the Potters and the two Slytherin boys had a mutual 
animosity.  At the beginning of their time at Hogwarts, the Potters 
that the Slytherin boys were on equal footing (magically speaking), 
but as the years go by, the Potter outstrip other by quite a lot.  
James becomes Head Boy, and is widely regarded as the most talented 
kid at Hogwarts in his day (adding to his already swelled head).  On 
top of this, he's great at Quidditch (swelling his head even 
further).  Hexing annoying people while other laugh along (not just 
MWPP).  Not nice, but kids AREN'T nice!  They're mean gits, and are 
only nice to their friends.  Part of growing up is realizing that 
you can't treat people like that.  The Slytherin boys hate the 
Potters (just as much as the Potters hate them), but don't have the 
same amount of talent.  By fifth year, you KNOW Harry could hold 
Draco upside down and humiliate him.  He doesn't, no because he 
wouldn't like to, but because teachers keep a close eye on him and 
he doesn't get a chance to.

OK, that's my long-winded way to say that Snape was picked on in his 
memory, yes, but that doesn't indicate a pattern of MWPP being great 
bullies like Dudley's gang.  This was ONE short memory, and making 
conclusions about Snape being a poor picked on kid just can't be 
justified yet.  Maybe he was, and we'll see that later.  But he 
seems a FAR cry from a poor little kid giving bullies his lunch 
money and getting beat up anyway.  James very well could have been a 
great bullying git, like he seemed in this memory, but we don't have 
enough evidence about this.  Sure, Lily says that James' hexes 
anyone who annoys him, but we don't know who annoys him.  For all we 
know, all the people he hexes could be like Draco and his Slytherin 
gang.  

Sarah