Filling in the blanks: Snape, DD and Snuffles

[jules]

No: HPFGUIDX 190421


 Here's Sirius- after 
> he graduates school, he is trusted enough that the Potters made him best 
> man at their wedding, Godfather to Harry, and Secret Keeper to protect 
> three lives. Snape had no reason to keep hating Sirius, especially after 
> Sirius was unjustly accused and spend many years in Azkaban. He have no 
> evidence that beyond school, that he did anything to further provoke 
> Snape, and yet still Snape doesn't give up his childish grudge, still 15 
> years later. That's a long time to hate someone without fresh incidents 
> to renew it.

Julie:
Well, one of the first things Sirius did when he and Snape
met up again was to bang Snape's head into the ceiling,
deliberately and repeatedly, while guiding his unconscious
body out of the Shrieking Shack. That counts as a fairly
fresh incident, I should think. And yes, I know Snape had
just refused to listen to the truth and had gloated over 
the idea of Sirius being fed to the Dementors. But if Sirius
had grown out of his animosity toward Snape from their
adolescent feuds, I'd think he'd just feel pity for Snape
or ignore him, not then take the opportunity to deliberately
and rather gleefully injure him, the injury being serious
or not (presumably the latter). And as previously pointed 
out, Sirius knows nothing at all of Snape's activities over
the preceding years since they left school. 


Shelley:
 Sirius had very good reason to not like or trust the adult 
> Snape, but I don't see any reason for Snape's adult behavior toward 
> Sirius. The point at which I was getting at is that I think Snape is 
> just a bitter person, that he doesn't choose to move on and live his own 
> life, but we see that Sirius did, right up until he was imprisoned for a 
> crime he didn't commit.

Julie:
I agree that Snape is a bitter person who has never gotten 
over the past and moved on with his life. We certainly know
the latter part is true from Snape's memories in DH. I also
think Sirius was in the same situation, almost certainly
exacerbated by his time in Azkaban. However, I don't see 
any real evidence of Sirius maturing greatly either, at 
least in regards to his feelings about Snape. Those feelings
hadn't abated at all when Sirius escaped Azkaban and didn't
change even when he learned of Snape's spy role for the 
Order. Neither missed an opportunity to berate and bait
the other, even some 20 years after their school days. 

As for getting on with his life, sadly Sirius never really
got the chance. Snape and Sirius were both still in their
very early twenties when Voldemort killed the Potters, an
age when life experience is still relatively limited and
maturity is in a developing stage for most of us. So we
don't know where Sirius's life might have gone, and whether
he would have eventually set aside his childhood animosities,
but hopefully he would have done so. We can't even be sure
about Snape, if the Potters had survived and he hadn't lived
with his lifelong remorse over Lily's death, and in all but
indentured servitude to Dumbledore. I doubt he would have 
become a truly kind man, but perhaps he would have moved on
too, away from the Death Eaters and to an occupation or life 
that gave him some sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.
At which point he might have been able to set aside his
animosity and bitterness too. 

Julie