Just one little bitty question

[julie]

No: HPFGUIDX 177070

Steve/bboyminn wrote:
 
> I think James simply grew up and wised up. Perhaps
> the Snape Prank woke him up to how childish he and
> his friends were acting. Perhaps a near death and
> the grim compromise of his friend Lupin were the
> wake-up call that he needed. Perhaps that was the
> slap in the face that forced him to mellow. Once he
> mellowed, Lily would no longer have any objection to
> being friends with him.

Julie:
It wasn't the Prank, because now we know that Snape's Worst
Memory came *after* the Prank. Whatever reason James had for
saving Snape (probably to keep Lupin and Sirius out of trouble,
and perhaps also his own ethics against allowing even those he
is more than happy torturing on a regular basis to die if he
can help it--rather like a certain Potions Master!), and however
the Prank may have affected him, what it didn't cause was any 
sudden leap of insight or maturity on James' part. He's still
eager to go two on one against Snape because Snape "exists."
So something must have happened later to provide that wake up
call.


Mercia wrote:

I've speculated that James had a trauma after his O.W.L.S year which
prompted him to mature rather quickly. Since Harry has no grandparents
or relatives other than the Dursleys, (very unusual given that James
and Lily were such very young parents) I guessed that James' Mum and
Dad at least, became victims of Voldemort. Such traumatic grief could
maybe produce a bit of empathy in the arrogant prat that James was at
that stage and also perhaps evoke Lily's compassionate nature. Of
course we don't know what happened to Lily's parents either but they
were clearly also both off the scene by the time Lily was in her
twenties. But that's another mysterty. JKR simply wanted an orphened
hero and wiped out a whole generation above his parents to keep it
neater for herself. In RL it is highly unlikely that two sets of 
middle
aged parents would be dead by the time their grandson is 1 year old. 
So
that started me thinking maybe James' parents died while he was still
at school, though they were at least alive long enough to be
accomodating to Sirius when he ran away from home.

Julie:
I like the idea that James' parents were victims of Voldemort,
and I really can't figure out why JKR didn't run with that, 
instead of just tossing into her James backstory (surely he
has one if even Dean Thomas has a detailed one) that his
parents died of...er, how about old age. Even if you put them
at 50 when James was born (i.e., really old for a mother 
especially), they would have died around 70, which isn't 
old age anymore, especially for a wizard. (Add Lily's parents
both dying at quite a young age, as they weren't noted to be
"older" parents, and it's all pretty strange.) 

Well, as you say, JKR just wanted all those grandparents out
of the way. But she does miss some pretty obvious opportunities,
IMO. In any case, James' parents died before Harry was even
born AFAWK, so they could have died in his sixth year or the
summer before his seventh year. Being suddenly left alone and
responsible for himself would likely force some maturity in
James. Works better than any other theory I've heard as a 
reason for such an apparently dramatic change in James from
his fifth year boorishness to his seventh year, when he became
Head Boy and quit hexing every student who annoyed him, and
managed to win Lily's admiration and eventually her love. 

Julie