bullies? twins, padfoot and prongs

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 118984


> Carol responds:
"Because he exists" is not an indication that James opposes the Dark 
Arts or anything else about Severus's philosophy. It's Severus as a 
*person* that he seems to dislike.

Alla:

Don't you think that it CAN be read as an indication that James 
opposes Dark Arts? Only because we don't know the backstory yet, 
don't you think that ther is at least a TINY possibility 
that "because he exists" contains more than just casual dismissal of 
his victim by the bully.


Carol:
 
It's *Sirius* who clearly has an anti-Dark Arts bias based on his
hatred of his home life. James shows no such *active* and *vehement*
aversion to the Dark Arts per se. There's nothing serious in his
attitude until the "Mudblood" remark, and again, the reaction is
personal; Severus has insulted Lily, using what James has been taught 
is a bad word. I'm sure he would have reacted in exactly the same way 
if Severus had called Lily a b**ch. And again, although Nora has 
postulated a connection between pureblood elitism and the Dark 
Arts,we don't have any proof that those two ideas are connected in
*James's* mind though I grant that they're connected in *Sirius's* 
because of the emphasis on both Dark magic and genealogy at 12
Grimmauld Place. So again I think that Sirius may be projecting *his*
> values onto James or at least exaggerating the extent of James's
> opposition to the Dark Arts, etc., in the Pensieve scene.



Alla:

I think it is VERY likely that James was the one who helped Sirius to 
see the Light, so to speak. I think it is VERY likely that James was 
the one who helped Sirius to realise that it is OK to be in 
gryffindor, even if his  family consisted of Slytherins. I think it 
is VERY likely that James was the one who projected his values to 
Sirius and helped him to stregthen his convictions against the Dark 
Arts.

The fact that Sirius runs to James' home and stays there is quite a 
strong hint for me that James' family disliked Dark Arts.


Carol:
> Surely you don't think he's bullying Severus *on principle*?

Alla:

No, but I think that James' principles were partially the reason for 
the bullying.