James the Berk?

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 105658

Amey wrote :
> 1. So, there is no mention that James or Sirius had their wands out 
> before Snape did. 

Del replies :
No, but there's no mention either of when exactly James got his wand
out. In particular, there's no mention that James got his want out
because Snape was getting his own out.

Amey wrote :
> 2. It was neven 1 vs 2, in normal duel (don't know about wizard duel)
> 1 vs 2 defination is 2 persons attacking 1 *at the same time*. And 
> James and Sirius never attacked Snape together.

Del replies :
In my book, a fair duel is not a duel where 2 people take turn
attacking a third one. Even if James and Sirius never attacked at the
same time, they still forced Snape to keep an eye on both of them at
the same time, to split his attention between the two of them, and to
guess who was going to attack next. I call that 2-on-1 just like I
call Malfoy attacking Harry with the help of Crabbe and Goyle 3-on-1.
If what James and Sirius did is OK, then Draco and his buddies don't
do anything wrong either.

Amey wrote :
> The point here is that he wasn't sorted into Slytherin. (I hear 
> people shouting here... listen to me fully people). What I mean is if
> he was so interested in Dark Arts, he must have Wizard background, 
> and must have heard about the Hogwarts houses and their qualities? If
> he had choice (like Harry), why didn't he choose any other house? 
> (Ravenclaw would have suited him surely) So it is as much question of
> choice. So he decided to go that way, and chose his friends, peers 
> himself. That is the difference between him and Sirius (considering 
> they have similar Dark background).

Del replies :
But *why* should he have chosen another House ?? Slytherin is NOT a
bad House, and it was even less so at the time. We know NOW that many
DEs were former Slytherins, but when Snape got to Hogwarts, the VWI
was barely starting, and Slytherin House was not yet tainted with the
Dark Mark of the DEs.

And what if Slytherin was the House Snape's family had been Sorted in
for generations ? He would then have expected to be Sorted there. He
was just an 11-year-old boy, remember.

Moreover, you assume that he had a choice, but we don't know that.
Even  if Draco had wanted a try at another House, he didn't get a chance.

As for Sirius, there's NO PROOF that he CHOSE not to go to Slytherin.
As far as we know, maybe he was enraged at the Hat for weeks for
putting him in Gryffindor.

Del