Political positions of the characters/James reacting to Remus' lycanthropy.

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 150475

Ceridwen:
> *(snip)*He (Sirius)
> obviously does believe what he says, things hurled in the heat of
> argument are often the truth as far as the person hurling it
> perceives.

a_svirn:
> There is nothing *obvious* about it. Suppose he does know something 
> against Snape. Why doesn't he accuse him openly rather than simply 
> drop hints? It is his godson's life that might be at stake, after 
> all,

Ceridwen:
In the post I'm responding to, you say further down:

> The most obvious way to insult a man is to cast a slur on his 
> courage and/or manly powers...

Or, I would suggest, to say he is untrustworthy.  Especially in a 
situation where the person has a history of having once been with the 
enemy.  Sirius can't forget that, and he isn't going to let Snape 
forget it, either.  Sirius *apparently* believes that Snape is less 
than fortright with Dumbledore.  But, as you say, he has no 
specifics, he has no proof, or he would certainly say something 
because it very well *could be* Harry's life.  What Sirius knows and 
obviously, at least to me, believes, is that he does not trust 
Snape.  And, *apparently*, for no other reason than Snape's history, 
and the shared history between Snape and Sirius.  A similar statement 
would be: 'I know you're up to something.  I don't know what it is, 
but I'm going to dog you until I find out'.

Pun only intended after I noticed it.

Ceridwen:
> It supplies part of the motivation for the rivalry between
> James and Snape.  It also explains Sirius's involvement with James.

a_svirn:
> By *rivalry* you mean 
 what? What we see in the Pensieve is not 
> *rivalry*, any more than Dudley's *involvement* with Mark Evance is.

Ceridwen:
Just to be sure we're on the same page, I looked up rivalry at 
dictionary.com.  Sometimes, the *feel* of a word is different to 
different people, so I thought it would be a good precaution.  
Rivalry can be competing, emulating, or a competitive or antagonistic 
state (condensed from the various sources).  There can be friendly 
rivalries, and deadly serious rivalries.  Someone (Tonks?) mentioned 
that James doesn't want to fight someone weaker than himself - that 
would make him look bad.  And I think it was the same post that 
suggested that James got carried away because Snape continued to get 
up, to come back for more.  It appears to me that neither James nor 
Snape is going to let the other win if he can help it.  That sounds 
like a rivalry to me.  They certainly had an antagonistic state going.

And, James's dislike for/hatred of/knee-jerk reaction to Snape's 
supposed expertise in the Dark Arts puts it at an idological level, 
at least on James's part.  I do think the on-going clashes between 
James and Snape can be seen as a rivalry.  An antagonistic rivalry, 
not a friendly rivalry.  Sorry for not being more specific.

Ceridwen:
> > Sirius has issues with the darker side of magic.

a_svirn:
> If Sirius has *issues* it is his problem and should not be Snape's. 

Ceridwen:
I agree.  But for us to get someting from Sirius's point of view, we 
need to know his background and his feelings concerning the darker 
side of magic.  This is a filter through which his statements are 
made.  He distrusts Snape because Snape knew more curses... Snape was 
a Dark Arts oddball... James, his best friend, hated the Dark Arts...

We all see through filters that have something to do with our pasts.  
So does Sirius.  So, how true, how objective, are his statements?  I 
have no doubt that he believes them.  As I mentioned above, he 
probably does believe that Snape is 'up to something', though he has 
no proof, and no idea of what it is.  I agree with you that, if he 
had something concrete, he wouldn't be shouting at Snape, he'd be 
telling Dumbledore.  But a gut feeling, like the gut feelings Harry 
has had all through the series... I can see him having it, and 
shouting it in anger.

And this distrust *probably*, in my opinion, stems at least in part 
from his ideological differences with Snape, and his issues about the 
Dark Arts with his family.  Sure, it's Sirius's problem.  But it's 
our problem, and Harry's problem, too, because Sirius is a primary 
witness to these events that we want to know about.  We have to know 
how to negotiate what he says.  Knowing that he has issues with the 
darker side of magic helps us to interpret his testimony.

Ceridwen.