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

[abergoat]

No: HPFGUIDX 156158

I hope you don't mind if a newbie joins in. You brought up a bunch of
great points.

> Eggplant wrote:
> 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.

But we do have the puzzle that Snape seems to have used his
Sectumsempra spell but seems to have been able to control it to only
cut James' face.

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" <justcarol67 at ...>
wrote:
> Later, Snape mastered Legilimency
> and Occlumency, skills that we don't know that James ever attempted.

And this is another puzzle. These skills take two people to learn and
it seems you need to trust the person you are working with. Perhaps
Harry could have learned it if Snape wasn't his 'partner'. Who did
Snape trust enough? He is a loner.

> 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).

And I'm curious about Lily's 'smile' when Snape is strung upside down.
We know that is Snape's spell. Had Snape tortured others with it on a
regular basis? Until this NON-VERBAL spell slipped out of his
possession and became widely used? Lily would see a moment of justice
there. And just how did this non-verbal spell become widely known?
Could it be that THIS is the reason that Snape doesn't speak to Lily
directly in that memory? Does he blame his potions partner for giving
his worst enemy his very own non-verbal Levicorpus spell? A spell that
had been in such wide use for several months that we are told you
couldn't move from class to class?


> But AFAWK he
> didn't invent hexes (or charms like Muffliato)

Another fascinating little hint. Snape had someone to talk to that he
needed muffliato for. Did he perchance invent it after Petunia
overheard him (as an excellent candidate for that 'awful boy')
speaking to Lily about Voldemort?

> or come to school
> knowing more hexes than most seventh years.

And this is another gem. Sirius (and the black family tapestry) tells
us Bellatrix was must likely one of those seventh years. And as
Sirius's vindictive cousin, would she want to make Sirius 'pay' for
joining the 'wrong' house? Was it a family betrayal to become a
Gryffindor? Did Bella use Snape to make Sirius regret this choice?
Snape was probably flattered...at first.

So the Marauders might have had an excuse for treating Snape poorly
even if it isn't a good one. For all we know perhaps Bella and friends
(with Snape in tow, perhaps telling them were they could find Sirius)
would gang up on the Marauders that first year...until Bella
graduated. James and Sirius should have risen above revenge, but it is
human not to and I see James and Sirius as having plenty of flaws to
go along with their virtues.

abergoat