Hating Dark Arts (was re James' essence...)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 154041

 
> Julie:
> It's still strange to me that James hated Snape so passionately
> for performing nasty curses (Dark Arts curses, presumably), while
> he was fine with hexing anyone who annoyed him. Does he really
> think it's fine to humiliate and hurt others as long as it's not an
> official "Dark" spell or hex? Does the label truly make the  difference?
> (Yes, I know this is contradictory to my what I said above!)
>  

Pippin:
Well, as Hermione points out in OOP, the label changes from jinx to
counterjinx depending on how the spell is being used. I don't doubt
that James hated the Dark Arts sincerely, but thought of his hexes
as innocent fun. 

More than that, though, I think James used his hatred of the Dark Arts
to excuse his hatred of Snape in much the same way that Harry used the
murder of Sirius. I think deep down, Snape frightened James just by
existing. The more fault he could find in Snape, the more James could
think that Snape's disadvantages were deserved and not the turn of
fortune, and the more secure James felt that his own advantages could
not be taken away. Alas, he was mistaken.

Pippin