James and Intent

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 187000

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "jkoney65" <jkoney65 at ...> wrote:
>
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Carol" <justcarol67@> wrote:
> >
> >
> > jkoney: 
> > > We see that it is Snape in SWM who draws his wand first, not James. Sirius doesn't cast a spell. So it is one on one. Not two on one. While James is apparently more skilled with a wand (drawing faster the first time and flipping Snape upside down after he's been attacked from behind while Snape had his wand out).
> > 
> > Carol responds:
> > I don't think so. The narrator, speaking from Harry's pov, says that James started it all simply because Sirius said he was bored. Severus draws his wand because James and Sirius are standing over him, apparently with their wands out--a defensive reaction "as if he were expecting an attack." Severus has to drop his bag and plunge his hand inside his robes, and even though the narrator notes that he reacted extremely fast, James has the advantage. He shouts "Expelliarmus!" which would have been pointless if his wand weren't already out. And Sirius follows immediately, hitting the Severus with Impedimenta as he dives for his wand. That's two on one in my view. 
> 
> jkoney:
> Actually the text says they stood up. It doesn't say they drew their wands. 
> 
> Snape went for his wand and James disarmed him. Sirius laughted. Then when Snape went for his wand an Impedimenta was cast. I read it as James casting the spell, although after several readings I can see why you might think it was Sirius. Then they walked up to him.
> 
> It was Snape who walked towards them across the grass from the "shadows of the bushes." He could have easily walked away from them. He may have reacted so fast because he was looking for a fight. Otherwise why not walk away?

Carol responds:
I don't even know how to react to this reading. Severus was studying his notes. Sirius looked at him "like a dog that has scented a rabbit" and says, "Excellent. Snivellus." Severus stows away his papers and emerges from the shadows. James and Sirius stand up (surely they have their wands in their hands, stated or not), Remus and Peter remain sitting, but Remus pretends not to know what's about to happen, burying his face in his book with a frownline visible on his forehead while Peter looks from Sirius and James to Severus with a look of anticipation on his face. Obviously, he knows they're about to attack Severus, who at this point has done nothing more than set off across the grass. When James says loudly, "All right, Snivellus?"  it's not some friendly greeting. He reacts by dropping his bag and starting to pull out his wand. There's nothing about James thinking *he's* being attacked. He obviously already has his wand in his hand. JKR doesn't need to say so. It's a given. As I said before, Harry knows that his father attacked Snape and not the other way around:

"Harry tried to make a case for Snape having deserved what he had suffered at James's hands--but hadn't Lily asked, "What's he done to you?" And hadn't James replied, "It's more the fact that he *exists*, if you know what I mean?' Hadn't James started it all simply because Sirius said he was bored? Harry remembered Lupin saying back in Grimmauld Place that Dumbledore had made him prefect in the hope that he would be abe to exercise some control over James and Sirius.... But in the Pensieve, he had sat there and let it all happen" (OoP am. ed. 653).

If Severus were the aggressor, why would Harry feel so sick over this incident? Why would he actually identify with Snape, his least favorite teacher, who has just furiously ejected him from his office and ended the Occlumency lessons? "What was making Harry so horrified and unhappy was not being shouted at or having jars thrown at him--it was that he knew how it felt to be humiliated in the middle of a circle of onlookers, knew exactly how Snape felt as his father had taunted him, and that judging from what he had just seen, his father had been every bit as arrogant as Snape had always told him" (650).

Two years later, in DH, Harry can't bear to watch this scene again and keeps himself as far from his father as possible.

> jkoney:
> Snape was already a junior DE at this point. He invents Sectumsempra, a spell that Snape himself calls Dark Magic in HBP. He's hanging around with other junior DE's (which he doesn't deny), calling other people mudblood, inventing dark spells, etc. ,snip>

Carol responds:
Associating with DE wannabes (they haven't yet joined up, according to Lily) is not the same as being a junior DE. Yes, he invented Sectumsempra, which he labeled "for enemies," but there's no evidence that he had done so at this point. (The little cutting hex that he hits James with doesn't so much as leave a scar. There's no evidence that he's "cut always" or even needs to go to the hospital wing.) At any rate, James doesn't say, "We attacked him because he deserved it. He hates Muggle-borns and Dark Magic and associates with junior DEs." He says that he does so because Severus Snape, the boy he rescued just the week before, *exists.*

I'll take Harry's interpretation, thanks.

Carol, tired of the topic and ready for a new one