[HPforGrownups] James' essence/some Sirius and his family WAS: Re: Choic...

[puduhepa98 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 154121

>Carol writes
>There is absolutely no evidence that even the teenage Severus  (as
opposed to the child Severus) practiced Dark magic at  this
point--except the single spell Sectumsempra, which apparently  was
invented as retaliation against "enemies," nor is there any  evidence
that he was a supporter of the Dark Lord when the Pensieve  incident
occurred. 
<snip>
>Even if James did oppose the Dark Arts as a kid at school, even if  he
disliked Severus because he associated him from Day One with the  Dark
Arts, that was no excuse for his behavior. (Nor does it excuse  his
accomplice, Sirius Black.) More important to the present argument,  I
see no indication of any such association of Severus Snape with the
Dark  Arts in young *James's* mind. I do see it in young Sirius's mind.
His family  were Dark wizards with a tradition of being placed in
Slytherin. Severus  Snape at eleven was a clever little boy who knew
more hexes by far than he  should have known at that age. He must have
seemed like the ultimate  Slytherin to Sirius (something like the boy
his parents wanted him to be).  And it might not have been difficult to
persuade James to share that view. Or  Sirius may simply have been
projecting his reasons for hating Severus onto  James. If I had to
think of a reason why both boys hated Severus (and  Sirius's hatred
seems stronger to me than James's), I'd say that it's  probably a
hatred of Slytherin House, which they project onto the most  talented
Slytherin in their year.
Nikkalmati:
Part of our problem here is not only that we don't know enough about James,  
we don't know enough about Snape (or what exactly are the Dark Arts).  I  
assume that Snape was pegged with the Dark Arts association because he knew so  
many curses when he came to school.  BTW how did Sirius know Snape knew a  lot 
of curses?  I would guess that Snape had to use them in self-defense  because 
Sirius and his friends started bullying him right  away.  JMO. Snape must have 
learned these curses at  home or whatever passed as a home.  Perhaps the Dark 
Arts were the  only form of magic available to him.  Did his mother teach him  
magic? His father was a Muggle.  Was the man angry in the Pensive  scene 
because Snape's mother was teaching him magic?  Snape undoubtedly  would have 
shown signs of magical ability at an early age and someone had to  direct him. He 
had his mother's potions book, not necessarily because he  could not afford a 
new one, but perhaps, because she had used it to teach  him?  The notes could 
be partly hers or things he had learned from  her.  Were the Princes a Dark 
Magic family like the Blacks?  That  would explain why Sirius would have labeled 
Snape from the very first as an  opponent.  As Carol says, we have much more 
reason to believe Sirius hated  the Dark Arts than James.  
Nikkalmati



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