James and Snape. Was. Re: Snape and Harry again.

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 113727

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

> 
> Or did they come upon him, crying for some reason and decide 
to  tease him about it? <
> 

Or maybe *they* , the Marauders,  teased him to the point of 
tears, and then teased him about that ever after? I understood it 
as "crybaby"  -- someone easily reduced to tears or whining.

Snape, it seems to me, was raised, as many of us elders were, 
to think that things we now recognize as abuse weren't 
supposed to hurt you, and if they  did, you were a weakling. That 
would make the name hurt even more, since Snape as a 
Slytherin must despise weakness. 

It would certainly be consistent with the way he treats Harry and 
Neville now.

It still seems to me more important that we weren't shown how 
the scene ended than that we weren't shown what came before. 
What if, thanks to Snape's reputation as a sniveller and his habit 
of trying to get the Marauders in trouble, he was the one blamed 
for the incident? And Lily, alas, kept her word and didn't stick up 
for him? 

That would be why he's so willing to give his Slytherins a pass 
even when there are witnesses, and why Hermione's 
suggestion in the shrieking shack that there might have been a 
mistake  provoked such wrath. Snape wasn't going to let them 
get away with shifting the blame again.

Pippin