HBP (Snape's) old school textbook: FIFTH year text

[spotsgal]

No: HPFGUIDX 137026

Carol:
> I don't think that the spell Severus uses on James, which merely 
> cuts his face, is Sectumsempra, which would have left James lying in
> a pool of his own blood, with all the sixth years who witnessed it
> screaming "Murder!" as Moaning Myrtle did. 

Christina:

Let's look at the canon:

(OotP, US, page 647)
"But too late; Snape had directed his wand straight at James; there
was a flash of light and a gash appeared on the side of James's face,
spattering his robes with blood."
(end quote)

This was not just a cut- it was a gash and it was deep enough to send
blood flying off his face and onto his robes.  JKR makes special
mention in HBP of Harry's wand movement when he casts Sectumsempra:
"waving his wand wildly."  Malfoy's injuries are describes as looking
like they were coming from "an invisible sword."  I think JKR meant
for us to liken Sectumsempra to a sword-like spell- the way you move
your wand is the way the spell will cut your opponent.  Harry moved
his wand wildly, so Malfoy was cut all over.  Snape directed his wand
right at James (probably just giving it a little flick) and therefore
used Sectumsempra in a much more controlled manner, only cutting his
face.  I think it makes a lot of sense for JKR to have had Snape use
the spell in the pensieve memory.  She likes to sneak things in early
before they really become important, and why have Snape cast any old
spell when he could be casting a special one he made up himself?

>Lama:
>Do we know that The Prank happened in sixth year?

Christina:
I actually can't find any canon that comes right out and says it, but
I'm still pretty convinced that it happened in sixth year.

Lama:
>I can't think of any particular
>reason why The Prank would necessarily have occurred after the
>Snape's Worst Memory incident,

Christina:
I think that James's running to save Snape had to have occured when
James was on the upswing from his bullying behavior (so after the OWL
incident), and was quite possibly one of the things that showed he had
shaped up his behavior enough to be Head Boy.  Sixth year makes sense
because this is, supposedly, when this transformation took place.  The
OWL incident happens at the very end of fifth year, so the next
opportunity for the Prank would be sixth year.  Also, I can't imagine
that James and Sirius would be so nasty to Snape if he already knew
Lupin's secret at that point.  Snape already threatens them ("You
wait," he says, which is actually really chilling in light of what we
know now about Snape's involvement in the Potters' death).  We know
that the Marauder/Snape feud continued after the Prank, but I would
think that the Marauders would be too scared to really heavily bully
Snape, particularly in a crowd of people, when he could blurt out at
any time, "Yeah, but sucks your friend's a werewolf!"  The feud
probably continued in a quieter, more sneaky way.


Christina