Explanations You Would Want Revealed by Book 6 (poll)

[Mistress Siana]

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,

I do remember those words. It's just the truth. I clearly remember James saying that he had two reasons for treating Snape that way, a) because he existed, and b) because Sirius was bored.

I'm kind of like that...dead serious most of the time.

Then you use different standarts for others than for yourself? Interesting.

The difference is in motive. Sirius probably did think it was nothing more than a childhood prank and a good way to scare Snape ...He and Draco do have that sort of personality where they actually want someone to get hurt

Sirius wanted the same, because he loathed Snape. And that loathing was entirely mutual. So, not much of a difference between the two, JKR confirmed that on her website.

Yes, it's certainly true what you say about Slytherin, what the book says about Slytherin. But one thing I can't get out of my mind is that it's children that are sorted. At the age of eleven, when their personalities are not even half developed, they decide what will influence them most for the rest of their youth. Just imagine something: What if Harry hadn't met Draco, on the one hand, and Ron and Hermione on the other hand before the sorting? If he hadn't juged Slytherin before the sorting, he would most certainly have been placed there. What would he be like now? For me, this clear separation of the houses leaves a real bitter aftertaste and should be reconsidered.

[Imelyen]

So Snape plays favorites? big deal...every teacher I ever met has had favorites...I've even had a teacher like snape (maybe not one who despised me before he met me...but he sure did afterwards)...And the thing is, How do we know what snape was like as a teacher before Harry's first year? How do you know the way he's treating the gryffindor students isn't just a special thing he does to just harry and his friends...frankly, I may be wrong, but I have never read anything about snape being mean to dean or seamus...only Harry, Ron, Hermione, and neville (because hes a crappy student...even i would be constantly making fun of him as a teacher)..All harry had to do when he first met snape was grin and bear his ill treatment, and he may have eventually one snape over (however unlikely it may seem)

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.

Mistress Siana.... I think I love you

[Cedric]

wow, these are long posts. I'm too lazy to read them so I'll just agree for now! haha

[Tanuki]

Yes, it's certainly true what you say about Slytherin, what the book says about Slytherin. But one thing I can't get out of my mind is that it's children that are sorted. At the age of eleven, when their personalities are not even half developed, they decide what will influence them most for the rest of their youth. Just imagine something: What if Harry hadn't met Draco, on the one hand, and Ron and Hermione on the other hand before the sorting? If he hadn't juged Slytherin before the sorting, he would most certainly have been placed there. What would he be like now? For me, this clear separation of the houses leaves a real bitter aftertaste and should be reconsidered.

I totally agree with you on the sorting, and I'm pretty sure DD and a lot of the people in that world agree with you too; however, that is the system they have to deal with. It is a system that can work to play to these kids strengths, if they can just remove the devisiveness that occours because of it. Granted, Harry would probably have been placed in Slytherin, but I doubt he would have gotten along with Draco anyway. He was pretty disgusted with Draco even before they knew they were going to school together.

This is why in my own imagination, I placed my four heroes of the school in each house, and they are friends. Remember, that there was no friendship as great as between Slytherin and Gryphindor. I think this is part of JKR's morale of the books, the sadness of prejudice in dividing groups. I think the school will be united by the last book; but it will be in spite of the Death Eater kids.

I would love to see the different houses start over; this time more positive. I want to see the houses used to bring out the kids positives, and this might just mean removing Snape as a house head. He may not be a true villian, but I do think he is bad for the kids. He will cause a division

How do we know what snape was like as a teacher before Harry's first year?

He had a reputation... isn't that enough? Nowwith how he treats, everyone else. Harry is kind of self centered (every teenager is) I don't think he'd notice stuff outside of his group.

[Cedric]

He did have a reputation of showing favor to his own house and repulsion on the other houses. It's told to us time and time again.

[Tanuki]

See, other people remember

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

I would love to see the different houses start over; this time more positive. I want to see the houses used to bring out the kids positives, and this might just mean removing Snape as a house head. He may not be a true villian, but I do think he is bad for the kids. He will cause a division.


Hopefully that'll happen at the end of the 7th book. I'm sure JKR wouldn't make such a great point about the old friendship of Slytherin & Gryffindor, if the houses weren't meant to eventually come together. I can sort of see now how Snape could really be a problem in that happening. I hate to say it, but I almost believe that he (and maybe Draco and his gang) are the sole reasons for the houses not uniting. He really brings the students morale down.

[Tanuki]

Thank you

[Hagger 9003]

the thing is, this seems to much like a really corny ending to me. "suddenly, they realised that they would work better together, and that the animosity was unnecessary and unaviodable. never mind the centuries old animosity, the fact that once prejudice is created, it is basically impossible to remove, and that one bad apple can spoil the barrel." this is just too farfetched. i just cant believe it. i can see why it should be necessary, and i can see why it is bad, but it is impossible to do. look at the case of the african americans in america. despite all the effort, all the riots, marches, and powerful characters protesting, peacefully and violently, racism is still there. causing trouble, causing offense, closing minds, and destroying possible friendships. racism and prejudice are human nature. the houses at hogwarts are prejudiced. the wizarding world is prejudiced. both are completely too far gone. it cant be changed. harry will have to try, and DD too, but it cant be completely removed. and if they remove some prejudice, new ones will appear. its human, and since we are all human, stopping it is laughable.

sorry to crash the party. i wish prejudice would go away, but i just cant see it happening.

[Tanuki]

And that is why it wont. If people only wish for a world without prejudice, nothing will change. You must take an active part in changing the world around you. Granted, I'm a cynical, arrogant person, but even I believe that world can change, so long as those negative influences are wiped from the world. I made a promise to myself once that even if it killed me, every human being I run across would get the same treatment and the same chance. If I can convince other people to take this same vow, we may not remove preconcieved notions, but we could make them have less effect

[Nightcrawler]

For the time being, we don't really know all that much about the James and Snape rivalry, only bits and pieces. The best we can do is work from what we have: for example, the pensive scene. This is why so many people believe that James is the one who is at fault.

I must say I agree too. (Although I do acknowlege how very little we know, and that my opinions are based on sketchy evidence at best)


As it was said before, when James tormented Snape, it was done in a cowardly manner no matter how you look at it. It was four against one. It was not a case of James vs Snape with the other three standing at a polite distance wishing for the best man to win and no sore feelings. James was surrounded by friends, Snape was alone. Rather than challenge Snape, or even openly attack him; James chose to humiliate him in front of dozens of other students. There is no honour in this at all.

True, Lupin was reading, but he was a prefect. It was his responsibility to protect Snape from James (and vice versa) and yet he did nothing. And whilst he wouldn't have attacked Snape, he was pretty indifferent to other people doing so.

And whilst Peter wasn't doing much either, he was also indifferent to the way James was behaving. So whilst Peter and Lupin weren't doing anything directly to hurt Snape, they were doing plenty indirectly. Here's a quote from Terry Pratchett's Mort.

The duke was backed by half a dozen large serious men, the type of men whose only function in life is to loom behind people like the duke.

That is essentially what Lupin and Peter were doing. It's mob mentality. Their pressence made James cockier than he normally would have been. He felt more confident with them around, even if they weren't doing anything in particular. It would have also made Snape feel more intimidated.

Don't get me started on Sirius... He was rude as hell and I'm sure if the opportunity had presented itself, he would have been more than happy to tag-team Snape with James.

[Tanuki]

Okay, I'll give you that. However (and this is a big however), the best difference between the lot of them is this; while the maurauders grew up and even admitted that the things they did were wrong, Snape held onto his anger and bitterness. The four friends moved on, becoming better people. They even admitted their guilt and apologized to it. Snape hasn't moved on at all; he let his anger eat at him and let it take him down a path he might not have taken otherwise

Here's another point I might like to bring up: If Harry and the gang were to do something similar to Draco, would you react this way?

[Mistress Siana]

What do you mean, defend Draco like we defend Snape? Draco's a spoiled brat, and I admit that I don't really like him, but if it were a coward action like that of James and his gang, I would defend him just as well. Actually, I always have the feeling that I need to defend Slytherin. The whole war seems to be a kind of fight of Slytherin against Gryffindor, under the leadership of Voldemort and Dumbledore. But I refuse to accept that Gryffindor equals good and Slytherin equals evil, from what I've seen there are more similaritites between the two houses than differences. It begins with the founders. Godric Gryffindor fought Salazar Slytherin for trying to sort out the Hogwarts students more carefully and did what? invented the Sorting Hat. The typical Gryffindor self-righteousness and hypocricy annoys me, not because Slytherin is better, but because Gryffindors tend to jugde Slytherin for just the same character traits they have themselves but fail to notice. Where Slytherins are evil, Gryffindors are wild but lovable boys who do a prank from time to time, where Draco's just mean, the twins a comic relief. Snape clearly has experienced this. He took Sirius's 'prank' as an attempt to kill him, but learned that it was simply laughed off, even worse, the headmaster's greatest concern was not the safety of his students but the fact that Snape could possibly give Lupin's secret away. Snape as a threat to Lupin, not the other way around. I'm sure he got a clear idea of what he was worth and what Gryffindor's golden boys were worth. I suppose he regards his favouritism of Slytherin as fairness, and I for one think that, to a certain extend, he's right. It seems it's one of the Gryffindor's and Slytherin's common traits that they don't live up to their own standards. Snape is arrogant and unfair, so is Harry Potter, Sirius devides the world into good people and Death Eaters, and Dumbledore doesn't always choose right over easy.

I think it's too late for the houses to join sides, and both sides are too blame for that.

[Hagger 9003]

the problem with choices, siana, is that you cant make everyone happy. and if a person wants to believe something, they will do surprising things to do it. you are right, snape has been treated very badly. and it seems that he is very evil, causing trouble. but, he is a spy. whether for voldie or DD, he is a spy, and one working in an atmosphere of great risk. i just have to say, gryffindors and slytherins are opposites of the spectrum. the gryffindors think of the slytherins are cowardly, as they look after themselves, and dont try to help others. the slytherins think of the gryffindors as stupid, as they put there lifes on the line where more could be achieved by not doing so. that is the main reason that i think gryf and slyth cannot be united. maybe, for a short time, they might ally against an enemy. anyone will do that. but they cannot stay together. that is the sad thing about the house system, it breeds differences. i can have a hope for unity, but i cant see it happening in long term.

the marauders were all pretty arrogant, and bad in their own way. snape was bullied, and like so many victims, became a bully. james and sirius were arrogant, and acted like complete retards, and are now dead. lupin just tried to stay out. he is the nicest of the marauders, but he never interfered, and never tried to improve things. he was not strong enough. wormtail was a slytherin stereotype. he was ambitious, and valued his own skin highly. he played a dangerous game tho, and allied himself with too many people, which gave him enemies. basically, the marauders were fine examples of how stupid and scummy people can be. and examples of how life seems unfair for some. snape had it bad, but so did sirius. and, both took it badly. snape just acted up badly, but sirius started raving for blood. neither are better than hte other. botth have good qualities, and both have bad.

[Cedric]

holy cr*p! you two took up half a page with your posts haha. wow