Harry Potter aged 15, and James aged 15/16.

[English]

Ok, when we see James doing his exam he is probably 16- odds are that he has had his birthday already.

ANYWAY>>>>>>

What a childish bully he is! His treatment of Snape was done to amuse his gang- Sirius and Peter, and that is the worst for of Bullying. The way he talked to young Lilly was bad, too- " I'll stop teasing him if you go out with me... "

Very childish!

And consider how Harry taunts Dudley- he calls him Big D and diddykins (or whatever)- Harry is actually mocking his cousin quite badly. Still, Harry isn't performing for an audience, and so it's not as bad.

Still, it would appear that both senior and junior Potter's have a teasing streak, and are uncomfortable with women- look at Harry and Cho.

[Gwared]

Harry's father's treatment of Snape appalls even Harry; this may lead in further books to be a bridge between them and maybe they'll resolve some of their differences?

Hopefully we'll find out quite what causes James's transformation from oaf to love of the wizarding world in the next book, but my money's on it involving Snape in some way.

The whole Harry teasing Dudley thing is stress relief from the trauma of living with Dudley's parents and how miserable they made his life. Whilst it's not necessarily right it's not quite as bad as the physical and mental bullying done to Snape in front of the whole school just to alleviate boredom. Incidently, did anybody notice that the 10 year old boy Dudley beat up at the start of the book shared Lily's maiden name? I don't think it's a coincidence as it's too big that JK would've used another name unless it mattered. BUT Lily and Petunia are related so she should know him. Thoughts anyone?

[azn wizard]

nah, james does not seem to feel uncomfortable with women....i mean, look at the way he treated lily? i'm thinking that itz b/c harry and james had very different childhoods. harry had to endure the dursleys and their taunt and their constant reminding him that he is insignificant and worthless. He knows how it feels to be humiliated and made fun of. james, on the other hand, although we don't know much about his childhood, but we can deduce that it is more likely that he had an easy childhood. I would think that perhaps he would be the only child in the family...seeing how harry has no aunts and uncles from his dad's side (up till now that is), and the stereo-typical characteristic of being the only child is being spoiled and attention demanding, like the world revolves around him, and that is the attitude he had in his dealing with snape.

[Ginny Malfoy]

Perhaps seeing his father as someone with flaws was good for Harry (it's more realistic, and it shows Harry that NO ONE is perfect...not James, not Dumbledore, not anyone!). I think Harry is going to see that his father later became Head Boy for a reason and that he (James) later went on to do great things, reaffirming JKR's message that "it is our choices that make us who we are"...choices we make all throughout our lives. Look at Peter, for instance...he was pretty harmless during school, and look how turned out afterwards...the same could go for Percy...

[Devinci]

I agree with Ginny's first point.
I know, speaking from personal experience, learning your parents faults makes them more...human. Closer to you. When you learn that your dad made fun of people, and...had trouble talking to girls. I think, after Harry gets over the initial shock of his dads, not so...noble actions, he'll be grateful. Or...another emotion in the same category....

[menotyoo]

I don't think that the experience will strengthen Harry at all, quite the contrary. Harry has felt as though he had some large shoes to fill, upon learning that he was famous, and came from respected parents. HE is constantly striving to be the great man he knew his father to be, and so far, he has done quite well. Now, however, he has no one. He would probably feel more like heading in the direction that snape took. Snape being someone who shared harry's experiences of being made fun of and whatnot.
BUT! James did change, or so we are led to believe. People would tire of his cruel antics if he had kept them up, and yet he was respected. We therefor need to believe that some change occured, and yes, Gwared, it may have had to do with snape.
Sirius said that James stopped bothering snape once he became headboy-and that this was due to lilly, but maybe it wasn't. Maybe James went behind his friends' backs in an attempt to do good----just as he had when he backed out of his plan to get snape killed. He may have spoken with DD or had a major revelation that made him change his ways, and he hid his new kindness from his friends until they, too, matured. This would explain his good behavior during 7th year and on.