Severus's memories and schoolyard curses (Was: Huge overreactions .. . .)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 150329

Carol earlier:
>   And again, there's no indication that the curses Severus came to
school knowing are any darker than, say, the Leg Locker curse or Ron's
"Eat slugs!" 
> 
kchuplis:
>   Snape up to his eyebrows in dark arts has to indicate that Snape
had some kind of Dark Art knowledge beyond what most students had. I
just can't interpret that any other way. Since they don't teach it at
Hogwarts, I have to believe he learned it elsewhere. That is canon.

Carol:
It's canon that *Sirius* made that remark (in contrast to the other
statement about the curses he knew at age eleven, which is spoken by
the more objective Lupin). 

And I still say that JKR uses the term "curses" very loosely and that
the curses designated as such in the books, e.g., the Conjunctivitis
Curse or the Impediment Curse or the Leg-Locker Curse, are not
necessarily Dark, however unpleasant most of them may be. Also, it's
unlikely that any eleven-year-old, even a gifted one, would know
really Dark curses, and certainly his Muggle father was no Death
Eater. (Not so sure about Grandpa Prince, whom I see as being like the
Blacks, with a pureblood ethic but no Dark Mark.) I very much doubt
that little Sevvie came to school knowing how to cast Unforgiveables.
Serpensortia and Densuageo, maybe. Certainly Leg-Locker, Jelly Legs,
and all the other hexes and jinxes we see being cast in the hallways
of Hogwarts by Gryffindors and Slytherins alike. (Funny how we never
see Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws joining in the fun.) 

Also, note that the other "useful little jinxes and hexes" in the
HBP's Potions book are *not* Dark. Levicorpus was a fad and was used
by James himself. (Ron thinks it's amusing when it's used on him, once
he's had time to think about it.) The toenail hex is normal kid stuff.
Muffliato is useful and hurts no one. The potions hints are also
useful (though Harry shouldn't be taking credit for them, to go off
topic for a moment).

There's no evidence other than Sectum Sempra for anything Dark
invented by teen!Snape, and the countercurse is clearly *not* Dark.
Nor is the hint on Bezoars, despite the smartaleck schoolboy tone. (It
saved Ron's life, as we know.)

Carol, who agrees with a snipped statement by kchuplis that Sirius was
a bad influence on James but doubts that we can find enough evidence
to make a convincing case