Guerilla ? (Re: bullies? twins, padfoot and prongs)

[nrenka]

No: HPFGUIDX 118680


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "potioncat" <willsonkmom at m...> 
wrote:

> Potioncat:
>
> Well in GoF (IIRC) we have Sirius saying that he never heard anyone 
> say Snape was a DE. And he doesn't think Snape was one because DD 
> wouldn't hire Snape if he had been a DE. (He also says that Snape 
> would have been cunning enough to hide it.)
> 
> But my point is, 35 year old Sirius does not think Snape was a DE.  
> So I don't think 15 year old Sirius thought so either. What ever 
> bad blood there was between these boys does not excuse the 
> incident. And I would say so even if it had been Snape who attacked 
> James. 

Well, GoF!Sirius doesn't think Snape was a DE (although he still 
mentions his association with the Dark Arts, which 15-year-old!Sirius 
might have or might not have too), but OotP!Sirius *knows* that Snape 
was a DE.

Again, not to put it forth as an exculpatory reason, but does that 
shift in knowledge make some sense out of at least *some* of the 
animosity between the two in OotP?  Snape is not the sort to be 
handing out either apologies or explanations, not that either is 
necessarily warranted, but...for a Sirius who has been on the run, 
never got to work through his own war issues in jail, was accused of 
being a DE himself--yeah, I can understand why he would find it a 
little bit difficult to take Dumbledore's word on Snape's conversion.

I'm not saying that he shouldn't have, as I do believe that 
conversion to be genuine, and will be fairly gobsmacked if it isn't.  
But to brave the wrath of Godwin, it's still a little hard to 
take "Oh, he used to be in the SS--but now he's *our* ex-SS member!"  
(I think with a few modifications, the SS makes a good parallel to 
the DEs--upon request, I'll dig out the fascism analysis from 
wayback).  From Sirius' perspective, he was right about Snape--and he 
probably wonders if/how Snape was involved in the death of past OotP 
members (a complete hypothetic at this point, but one can logically 
chain it to a minimum of aiding and abetting).  From Snape's 
perspective...well, nobody knows what Snape's perspective *is*.  
Makes it hard to argue about it.

-Nora politely points all comers back to her posts 118670 and 118630 
for some discussions of ideology and character reactions