bullies? twins, padfoot and prongs

[cat_kind]

No: HPFGUIDX 118479


> Clare Durina wrote:
> <snip> a bully picks on someone because he is weak and squashing him
> > > makes the bully feel stronger. 
> 
> Carol responds:
(snip) 
> But I'm not sure that the young Snape fits the description of a
> typical victim that Clare and catkind seem to agree on. In this
> particular instance, he was caught off-guard, attacked by two people
> at once, and publicly humiliated, and there's no question in my mind
> that he was an innocent victim. But that doesn't mean he was weak or
> that he was normally susceptible to such attacks. 

> (snip) Assuming, that is, that the young Slytherin also fought
> fair--possibly not a safe assumption.

catkind: I don't actually believe there is such a thing as a "typical"
victim. But there has to be a difference between bullying and
fighting, and in this instance James and Sirius together are clearly
stronger than Snape alone, which seems to make it bullying. 

Whether Potter vs Snape would be a fair fight isn't clear - given that
in the pensieve scene Snape pulls his wand first but still doesn't get
a shot in, I'd think probably even James alone would be sufficiently
much faster to squish him, from a standing start. (I don't really see
the history of this enmity as consisting of gentlemanly duels though!) 

That Snape has malign intent is agreed. That he has some nasty hexes
up his sleeve, agreed. He's not necessarily weak, but weaker in this case.

I have the feeling both parties in this conflict think the other
doesn't play fair - James detests Snape for his use of dark arts hexes
and so on, and sees that Snape is really aiming to injure. 
Snape, on the other hand, probably thinks James is being unfair in
using such humiliation tactics, and not letting it be a "fair fight".
I bet he'd prefer to be hexed than have his underwear shown off.  
catkind