Explanations You Would Want Revealed by Book 6 (poll)

[Imelyen]

The fact of the matter is...that particular confrontation between james and snape was cowardly no matter how you look at it. He had 3 people backing him up, where as snape had no one and he was just sitting in the shade reading... Don't get me wrong I still think James rocks, even more so because of this...But the way he went about this scenario was cowardly, and nothing you can say can change it.

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

And nobody should say anything to change it, as your absolutely right. However, it's almost guaranteed that someone will try to change i, as this is a forum, and people have their own opinions. Annoying as they are...
(lol jokin )

[Cedric]

Four Words: Wait until July. The new book will be coming out and I'm sure all these quibbles will be answered. (Is quibbles even a word? It sort of just popped up when I was typing and I thought it sounded good:))

[Imelyen]

Four Words: Wait until July

Wait until july is three words...

[Cedric]

Yeah, I know its only three words. I was making fun of Mistress Siana in a previous post. Just a joke!

[Tanuki]

The fact of the matter is...that particular confrontation between james and snape was cowardly no matter how you look at it. He had 3 people backing him up, where as snape had no one and he was just sitting in the shade reading... Don't get me wrong I still think James rocks, even more so because of this...But the way he went about this scenario was cowardly, and nothing you can say can change it.

Wormtail was useless

Lupin was reading

I didn't see Sirius do anything

As far as I can tell, the other three were window decorations. the only action occoured between Snape and James. If the others had taken turns cursing him while James was levitating him, then I'd believe you, but they were almost completely uninvolved. Anyway, My problem in this regard is with Siana who claims that Snape was somehow innocent. An oxymoron, considering his foul character

[Cedric]

Both were at fault. Both of them would curse each other when ever they could. I think it makes this point in the OotP.

[Imelyen]

His foul character...Snape really hasnt done anything wrong except hold a grudge for a VERY long time...

[Tanuki]

And taken it out on an innocent boy

And used any opportunity to show glaring favortism towards his own house

And insulted, ignore, and otherwise made it hard for other students simply because he doesn't like Gryphindor (don't tell me you've forgotten all the points he's taken from gryphindor for trivial reasons)

And intimidate students

And harbor feelings of bigotry towards werewolves

And let the son of a man he knows is evil practically have his way

Need I go on

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

And let the son of a man he knows is evil practically have his way

That's the one that particulary interests me. During the first 4 years, and even as an Order member, he persistently favoured Slytherin & Draco. You can say it was an act and all in OoTP, but what's your excuse for the other years?
The only other one that I have a big problem with is the bigotry toward werewolves because of his hatred for Lupin. Sick.
Everythign else, including Harry being embarrassed by him in class, is poor teaching, and just a cruel way at getting revenge on a dead man, but I don't think Harry's done much to bridge the gap, so if he's just gonna keep moaning about how unfair it is, he should think about doing something about it. Standing up to him would make a good scene.

[Tanuki]

Exactly, now as far as Harry not doing anything to help the grudge. Harry is a teenager, he was eleven when he met Snape. How in god's name do we expect him to be the bigger person? He's a kid. The reaction is going to be pretty predictable; get angry back. Snape is a thirty something year old man. Just suck it up and move on! Everyone else has.

[Cedric]

Yeah, and I believe if we look back, Snape was the person who started it all in his first Posions class. And Harry taking defense, is trying to protect himself. This feud will probably never end between them unless they start working together for DD and they end up helping each other in a way that each other can see clearly as a sign of thanks.

[Mistress Siana]

Sirius wasn't decoration, read the scene again if you don't remember.
Tanuki, it starts making me angry that you always accuse me of saying things I never said. Please, where did I say Snape was just an innocent schoolboy? You clearly seem to think that in every, say, dysfunctional realtionship there is an offender and a victim. But this world isn't quite as simple, you know? When I say James wasn't innocent it doesn't mean Snape was. If I say Sirius was a hypocrite, I don't say Snape was the opposite. Apart from that, I remember you accusing Scellanis of not understanding the principle of irony or humor. And you, of all people, take a statement such as "my poor Snape" dead serious?

I know Snape is mean, immature and biased, and I'm sure I wouldn't like him if I met him in person. Reading about him as a character in a book is a very different matter. The only thing for which I really need to defend Snape is the favouristism of his own house. Don't tell me Dumbledore and McGonagall don't favour their precious Gryffindors, they don't do it as openly as Snape, but it adds up in the end. No excuse for being mean, of course, just for the favouritism itself. It just makes me sick when everybody says, "look how Draco is favoured by Snape", when Harry gets away with so much more. If McGonagall had discovered Draco flying around on a broomstick in first year, would he have gotten away? If Draco and his friends had arrived in a flying car instead of the train, would their punishment have been signing Lockheart's fanpost? If Snape had tried to feed Sirius to a werewolf, would it have been laughed off as a childish prank? And what really annoys me is the fact that Saint Albus and his order seem to expect the whole Slytherin house to join the Dark Lord, and simply watch. Again. The did it last war and they do it now. Are children of Death Eaters not even worth trying? Lost at the age of eleven or what, even if Snape has shown that you can change? If this is Gryffindor bravery, I can do without it.

[thestral]

i agree with you mistress siana about the assumption that any slytherin will automatically become death eaters. some diversity please! i thought slytherin was originally meant for those of cunning and ambition or something like that and ambition also requires a degree of bravery so i think it stands to reason that there must be at least one good slytherin.

[Tanuki]

And: If somebody cowardly outnumbered me four to one and tortured me in front of the whole school, just for the fact that I exist,

Do you remember these words... did you think people would take your opinion any other way with wording like that. and yes, I take almost everything dead serious. I'm kind of like that...dead serious most of the time.

would their punishment have been signing Lockheart's fanpost?

I couldn't think of a better punishment for anyone then being stuck in a room with Lockheart for so many hours... I'd have attacked him. In their first year, she gives all four of them the same punishment. Also, granted, Dumbledore and McGonnagal are lighter on Gryphindor's than other houses; however, Snape flat out ignores any wrong-doing on Malfoy's part. He doesn't just lightne the load, he altogether destroys the load. He also goes out of his way to find reasons to insult other students outside of his house; you can't tell me that he hasn't been creative in his attempts to make the trio miserable

If Snape had tried to feed Sirius to a werewolf, would it have been laughed off as a childish prank?

The difference is in motive. Sirius probably did think it was nothing more than a childhood prank and a good way to scare Snape (Sirius isn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer), while Snape would have done it intentionally hoping Sirius would get mauled or killed. He and Draco do have that sort of personality where they actually want someone to get hurt

Are children of Death Eaters not even worth trying?

Pretty much, we've seen how they act. you're also assuming Dumbledore hasn't been trying and that being in Slytherin doesn't mean that someone is prone to certain habits. Now granted, being in Slytherin doesn't entitle you to be a death eater, but if you read the books, it is the Slytherins who are usually the only ones doing dark stuff outright. When Cedric died, it was Slytherins who were the only ones sitting down.

Now the dumbledore point; in every book I've seen where he's trying to turn people against the dark lord. He isn't only speaking to Gryphindors or Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws, he never excludes Slytherins. Instead, he says that the school has to be united against the Dark Lord. The only problem here is that The only contact with Slytherin's that Harry has had is with Slytherins who either side with Malfoy, or are the children of death eaters (and yes, they are NOT worth trying since it seems that their parents have done a fine job corrupting them). there are thousands of students in Hogwarts, so JKR can't possibly write about al of them in 7 books, and Harry isn't likely to notice these decent Slytherin's since their paths don't cross much, therefore, they are left out of print

In the other houses, Harry only knows a handful of people from other houses, and the most noteworthy of the Slytherins are Harry's enemies, this is why things seem the way they do. If you read the end of the fourth book, there are some Slytherin's standing to salute Cedric Diggory, and it seems like a small groups of people working with Malfoy in the inquisitorial squad, but it seems that indeed a lot of lousy wizards do pop out of Slytherin. Death eaters and dark wizards are going to take Salazar Slytherin's words to heart and impress them into their kids, so when they go to school, they want to be in Slytherin. They go home in the summers and listen to their parents be dark wizards, and when they leave school they become dark wizards

As far as people changing is concerned, a leopard never changes its spots. Snape may not be working for Voldermot anymore, but he is the same he always was