bullies? twins, padfoot and prongs

[alshainofthenorth]

No: HPFGUIDX 118638


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Magda Grantwich 
<mgrantwich at y...> wrote:

> 
> > Nora:
> > I can see James' behavior towards a young Severus he
> > suspects 
> > of being into the Dark Arts as a boneheaded vigilante response, 
> > because I think those currents were probably strong back then, 
the 
> > conflicts between those who were supporters of ideology Voldemort 
> > promulgated and those who weren't--the time just before 
everything 
> > really exploded into the open.  

Magda:
> Nonsense.  If that had been the case, Remus and Sirius would have
> mentioned it when they were talking to Harry (and their purpose
> during that talk was to redeem James' image in Harry's eyes).  It 
was
> not some misguided crusade - James was acting like a jerk and
> although charming and basically nice on the whole was capable of
> acting in a manner unworthy of him because he wasn't getting enough
> negative feedback for it.  
> 
> If it was such a principled anti-DA effort, why did he offer to ease
> up on Snape if Lily went out with him? 
> 
> Magda 
> 

Alshain:
I'm in the camp for people who don't want Remus and Sirius to try to 
justify themselves or give Harry a series of valid excuses for why it 
was right for them to behave the way they did, any more than I want 
them to find mitigating circumstances or excuse themselves. Both 
attempts are morally reprehensible, but "The end justifies the means" 
is IMO worse than "He started it." The former implies that you had a 
right, a duty even, to behave like an a******e. And it goes against 
the morals that Remus ("Do you really think anyone deserves that?") 
*and* Sirius ("But then a lot of people who were against the Dark 
side...") have been trying to instil in Harry. I can certainly see 
why they wouldn't be proud of the actions of their teenage selves, 
even given a belief that they were the Justice League of Hogwarts. 
While I agree with the vigilante theory, I don't think that there's 
one single, simple, sufficient explanation for the Pensieve scene.

In an attempt to justify the lameness of Moony and Padfoot when Harry 
demanded explanations, they don't seem to be at their best in that 
scene, do they? Is it a combination of surprise, guilty conscience, 
and faded memories? Harry's experience of the memory was still raw, 
but Lupin and Black have had twenty years for the long-term memory to 
work its little retconning tricks. If you've told yourself for twenty 
years that "you weren't that bad *really*" while you were 
reconstructing the story of your life, and then are faced with 
evidence that "yes, you *were* that bad *really*", you're probably 
going to come a little bit unstuck.

Alshain