Snape should have kicked James/Sirius' behinds!!.

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 156157

Eggplant wrote:
> James and Sirius became animagus when they were only 15, something
> Snape apparently never accomplished and only a few dozen adult
wizards had managed in the entire century. Also, in the only
documented physical confrontation we have between James and Snape
James seemed to beat the hell out him without even working up a sweat. 

Carol responds:
Which is not to say that Severus couldn't have become an Animagus if
he had chosen to do so. We don't know whether he could or not, but if
Peter could, I think it's safe to say that Severus could. James and
Sirius were motivated by their desire to join Remus on his monthly
excursions. I doubt that they would have become (illegal) Animagi
otherwise. However, if we look at James's wand, which was particularly
suitable for Transfiguration, perhaps that was his forte, while
Severus's double strength was Potions and DADA, shown by his knowing
more hexes than most seventh years when he entered Hogwarts, the
spells he invented (we don't know that James invented any spells), his
detailed responses to the DADA exam, and his Potions improvements
(Slughorn says nothing about James's performance in Potions,
suggesting that he was no better at it than Remus). Ron calls the HBP
a genius, and I'm sure he's right. Later, Snape mastered Legilimency
and Occlumency, skills that we don't know that James ever attempted.
James took part in designing the Marauder's Map, which perhaps also
involved skill in Transfiguration, and of course he was good at
Quidditch (he shows off his fast reflexes catching the Snitch), but
Severus also apparently had quick reflexes, considering how quickly he
drops his bag and draws his wand. Unfortunately for him, he was
outnumbered two to one and it appears that Sirius and James had
already drawn their wands or he wouldn't have drawn his. And either
Lupin or Black says that Severus "gave as good as he got" in other
confrontations--it's only this one, his worst memory, in which he's
bested (and publicly humiliated in a bvery unfair fight). In HBP, we
see that the adult Snape has extremely quick reflexes, plus the
advantage of Legilimency.

I'd say that in terms of power, James and Severus were roughly equal,
with different strengths that would have been nicely complementary if
they'd been friends instead of enemies. In terms of intelligence, it's
hard to say since James eventually became Head Boy and was (according
to McGonagall, who is not exactly an unbiased witness) the best at
everything he did, whereas Snape is inventing spells at an early age
and shows othe evidence of being extremely bright (but perhaps
unrecognized by anyone but the Slytherins and their HoH, Slughorn).

It's pretty easy, BTW, to "beat the hell out of" an opponent whose
wand you've knocked out of his hand when you've caught him offguard
and when it's two to one.

James was good at hexing people in the hallways because they annoyed
him (not exactly admirable, but that's beside the point), but AFAWK he
didn't invent hexes (or charms like Muffliato) or come to school
knowing more hexes than most seventh years. What we have here is, IMO,
two gifted boys, one a Transfiguration specialist and the other a
Potions and DADA specialist. In a fair fight, one on one with neither
taken offguard, I'm pretty sure they'd have been a match for each other.

Carol, who thinks that HBP pretty clearly shows that Snape really is
an expert in DADA