#Snape was a bully as a teenager

[blitheringmcgonagall]

I don't know how to ask this, but, like, I like reading Marauders content but sometimes I read some stuff about them that makes me think I'm a bad person for that. Like. They were bullies. So, isn't horrible that I like them anyways? How can I? Don't I think bullying is bad? Am I making light of how bad bullying is? I wanted to ask you what you think. Like, do you ever get affected by these feelings. Do you ever get affected by how other people see these characters. Do you ever get affected by people implying you are a bad person if you like character X?

Snape says they were bullies. Snape doesn’t tell us that far from being a harmless little loner, he was in fact hanging around with Mulciber and other mini wannabe Death Eaters (Sirius tells us). This gang bullied muggleborn Wix and called them slurs like mudbloods (Lily tells us), and we’re also involved in using dark magic against other students (Lily tells us Snape’s mates did this to Mary). Snape tries to pretend it was no big deal (it was a joke, he says) but Lily angrily disagrees. Snape used dangerous curses like Sectumsempra against people he hated eg James Potter, which btw he invented himself.

James used Levicorpus against Snape which btw was a curse that Snape had himself invented. James wasn’t happy that Snape was salivating with glee at the thought of discovering and proving Remus was a werewolf. Lily wasn’t happy either. Despite their rivalry, James saved Snape’s life when Snape made the dangerous and frankly terrible decision to follow Remus past the Whomping Willow on a full moon (yes Sirius was wrong to tell him but that still doesn’t make it his fault that Snape consciously/deliberately put himself in mortal danger to out one of his classmates because he hated them).

During 7th Year, when James had deflated his head a bit and was mature enough to be named head boy, Remus tells us this:

‘She started going out with him in seventh year,’ said Lupin.

‘Once James had deflated his head a bit,’ said Sirius.

‘And stopped hexing people just for the fun of it,’ said Lupin.

‘Even Snape?’ said Harry.

‘Well,’ said Lupin slowly, ‘Snape was a special case. I mean, he never lost an opportunity to curse James so you couldn’t really expect James to take that lying down, could you?’

Well, tbf, no, you couldn’t.

So you see, as far as I’m concerned, there were two gangs who were fighting a bit like the golden trio and Draco’s mates, and Snape was just as mean to James as the other way around?

But at least the marauders were fighting blood purist, racist, bigoted little shits who clearly made it known to everyone that they were planning on joining a murderous fascist- dictator type whose forces terrorised a minority group and were at war with innocent people (1970s Wix UK).

So the marauders went out of their way to antagonise these feckers (who clearly did the exact same thing to them). And? I’m not even sure that counts as bullying. It’s not very mature, and I’d prefer if they didn’t, but if my child went out of their way to antagonise bigoted eejits I’m not sure I’d be especially unhappy about it? I might even secretly be quite proud? 🤷‍♀️

[flymetosnarryland]

Bullying.

teenager Severus at muggle school

[batwingsrosa]

Let‘s talk about how Remus Lupin.

Humiliated his colleague.

Who he and his friends had already tormented for years before that.

Who was almost murdered by his friends.

The man who kept his mouth shut for years and did not tell anyone about Remus true nature.

Eventhough he almost died because of it.

The man who never receieved a single fucking apology.

Because, you know.

They were just silly teenage pranks.

Right?

Let‘s talk about how Remus Lupin humiliated his teenage bully victim once more as an adult by encouraging Neville to imagine him in his grandmothers clothing.

In front of the whole class.

Knowing fully well that not a day later every single student in the castle would have heard about it.

And laughed about it.

Let‘s talk about how fucking cruel Remus was towards Severus.

He did it deliberately.

Fully knowing what would happen.

For a laugh.

Just like in the good old days.

[deathnguts]

Me: I think Sirius’ traumatic and oppressive upbringing made him constantly in fight or flight mode and he is a man who will always choose fight, making him vindictive, argumentative, petty, and volatile as he grows older and holds these same values just with new context he views as morally better even when it still leads to hate and anger in his life. I think his trauma made him kind of an asshole and a nightmare to be around if you caught him in the wrong moment or god forbid he didn’t like you for whatever reason

Snape apologists: yea-

Me: not you.

[enfinizatics]

it’s the way i’ve wanted to read all the young dudes ever since the author started publishing it on ao3 but i’ve never made myself do it bc of being a survivor of the marauders fans bullying back in 2017-2018 tumblr bc i posted stuff about snape LMAOO truly an extraordinary time on harry potter tumblr, the marauders fans were so vicious back then i actually avoided every single marauders content like the plague until like last year because the bullying made me feel physically nauseous whenever stumbling upon the content please-

[martinskis-lydias]

If someone tells me they like Snape (as a person) and he wasn’t a bad person and was redeemable blah blah blah I will never fully trust that person

[liliana264]

I wanted to respond to this comment in a little more detail than I can in the comments.

I don't think it's possible to put the end of Lily and Severus's friendship exclusively on the blood supremacy issue. Yes, canon shows that the breaking point was his use of a slur against Lily, but there is a classist dynamic in their friendship from the beginning that we can't discount. Severus is known for being from the poor side of town whereas Lily is middle class. We can conclude that the reason Lily deigns to be friends with him is because he's a wizard.

We also can't forget that when they go to school, where he's no longer the only other witch/wizard she knows, they are in separate houses, meaning they don't see each other much during classes. Lily is also constantly surrounded by other witches and wizards who tell her that Slytherins are terrible people. Her friends don't even understand why she talks to Severus, let alone why she is friends with him, so they put pressure on her — directly or indirectly — to end her friendship with him. Thus, their friendship is affected by many more factors than just the blood supremacy issue.

The argument I'm making is about why Lily is willing to date her (former) supposed best friend's bully/abuser.

Even though Severus is wrong, that doesn't make James (a wealthy, Pureblood bully who comes from a loving home environment that chooses to abuse people because they annoy him) suddenly right. What leads her to give him a second chance but not Severus, who is from an abusive home environment and a decidedly low-class background and is surrounded by blood supremacists who are offering him power if he goes along with their values and actions? If anything, we can say that James has less of a reason to be a bully than Severus has for falling in with the Death Eaters. There has to be more at play for Lily to give James a second chance despite his pattern of horrible actions but not Severus for using a horrible word on her once.

Basically, I'm trying to make sense of how Lily could possibly get over James's bullying of Severus. As someone who was bullied as a child, I can sympathize with Severus's position, but I find it difficult to make sense of Lily's decision to date James. A year and a half is hardly enough time to get over the bullying of one's supposed best friend of seven years. Thus, I argue that she doesn't actually view Severus as her best friend, hasn't for a while, and doesn't really care for him.

Severus is the one who says that they're supposed to be best friends, and Lily merely affirms it. He doesn't seem to think that Dark Magic used by one of his housemates on an acquaintance of Lily (because despite what fanon believes, nothing in canon indicates that Lily and Mary were actually best friends) is unforgivable. Even calling Lily a Mudblood doesn't seem unforgivable to him, or else he wouldn't try to apologize. In his mind, their friendship has not been nearly as tenuous as it actually was.

Yet, Lily isn't even willing to listen to him when he tries to ask for her forgiveness, let alone try to reason with him about how his association has changed him so that he could at least hear why she won't forgive him. No, she just drops him. Then a little over a year later, she gets together with his bully/abuser, meaning that she doesn't even have some sentimentality or respect for their ended friendship. If she did, she would recognize how much it would hurt Severus to see her with James, but she's clearly not above hurting him. We can look to Snape's worst memory for proof of that.

When he calls her Mudblood, she quickly turns against him, calls him Snivellus, and tells him to wash his underpants. That's hurtful stuff that she doesn't even hesitate to say. Of course, she's angry in the moment, but where did that come from? In the same way that Snape shows that he has spent far too much time with his housemates and has allowed himself to change by calling her a Mudblood, she shows that she doesn't really care about him as deeply as he seems to think by calling him the name that his bullies use. So either she says something she doesn't mean (and doesn't apologize for it when they talk about that moment later), or — and this is what I believe — their friendship has not meant much to her for quite a while, and her true colors are now showing.

Thus, when she and James start dating a year and a half later, his bullying is a non-issue because she doesn't really care about the people he abused and bullied (read: Severus) and how it may or may not affect them.

Musings on Jily

I've been thinking a lot about how Lily could go from being best friends with Severus and hating James for being a bully to ending her friendship with Severus and falling in love with James.

First, her friendship with Severus had to have been on the rocks from the outset. When they first meet, there is a class difference: Severus is from the poor side of town, and Lily is from the better-off side. Plus, Severus doesn't like Lily's sister, who is her literal family, or Muggles in general, which again is literally Lily's family. There’s also the difference in their emotional development. Lily comes from a home where she is loved and cared for, and she has a sister, so she has an emotional advantage over Severus, who is an only child growing up in an abusive and negligent environment. When they go to Hogwarts, they're in different houses that have a historical rivalry. It doesn't help that they each align perfectly with that rivalry: him, a Muggle hater and Dark-Arts lover with a thirst for recognition, and her, a stubborn Muggleborn with a temper who values standing up for what she believes is right above all.

Because of all this, I firmly believe that their calling one another best friends is unrealistic on both of their parts. We're meant to believe that Lily is pretty and popular, but for five years, her best friend is Severus, someone who isn't even in her house and thus that she doesn't see often? Unless she really doesn’t have many friends and is popular on a superficial level without any other relationships of substance. Now, if she allowed Severus to call her his best friend and humored him by responding in kind, that might make more sense, especially since he is in love with her. Another possibility for this title of "best friends" would be that they based it on the time they spent together in the summers away from Hogwarts when they maybe made a childish declaration of being best friends. Then, as one is wont to do as an emotionally developing teenager, they cling to that title without either of them actually doing anything to maintain that supposed friendship when they are at Hogwarts.

Thus, being that they’re not actually best friends — just childhood friends that have devolved into acquaintances with a storied history — when the pressure from their friends and housemates is exacerbated by the real world politics of the imminent war and gets to be too much to keep up this farce, they fold at the confrontation to the reality that they are (and have been) on different sides of these huge issues (AKA Snape's worst memory).

Because of this friendship not being nearly as substantial as both parties have pretended it to be, Lily can turn on Snape (as seen in Snape’s worst memory), move on from it readily, and refuse to even hear his remorseful apology. Later, she can find herself validated in abandoning this supposed friendship for the aforementioned political issues and in becoming actual friends with his bully, who eventually does abandon his bullying ways whereas her former friend only goes off the deep end.

With James and the other Marauders, she actually becomes friends with them thus showing she can be a good friend, which she never really was with Severus. This leads to their holding her in such high esteem. Unsurprisingly, this actual friendship with James leads to romantic feelings and eventually love.

[singmyaubade]

No Longer Yours

James Potter x Female!Reader

A/N: I am trying a new way of writing these stories, there won't be lots of dialogue in this part, but there will be more; this is just a look into where the story starts.

IB: In The Cold November Rain by @sweetsweetjellybean (Make sure to check it out, it’s amazing and one of the best I’ve ever read !)

Summary: James had disregarded you for multiple years, but when you have an epiphany in your final year, how does it feel to taste his own medicine?

Warning: It may contain swearing and soon-to-be smut.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

You never considered yourself to be a pushover when it came to things. Instead, you would use the word "understanding" and used it the most when it came to James Fleamont Potter.

He meant the absolute world to you since you were nine when you first met him. He lived next to you, both of your rooms being next to each other. You could always see him in his window, not that you were stalking, but you could never quite get your eyes off him.

Every time he would catch you staring, he would give you a wave, never felt weirded out. Then he would ring you up and ask you to come for dinner with your family. You would always accept unless your mother insisted on not intruding on them anymore.

You always caught his look of disappointment when you told him you couldn't come over, seeing him on the phone with you. It would always make your heart flutter, always having to stop the smile from forming on your face.

And then, after dinner, he would always come over, and you two would hang out (of course, with the door open). But you knew James would never try anything.

Your parents had suspicions when you both were fully formed teenagers and had hormones. Again, you knew James wasn't a perv; he respected you.

Even when he would slap your thigh in laughter when you said a joke or when his front pressed against your back when you two joked around, or his touch would linger when he ticked you.

But that was all besides the point; you loved James like no other. You loved the rest of the Marauders, too, but with James, there was no questioning if the love was different.

The only times you weren't sure about that 'love' was when Lily Evans would come around. He never truly knew how to pay attention to or regard you when she came around, but he claimed it was 'love.'

You wondered if he loved Lily the same way you loved him or if it was more complete, passionate, and extraordinary. You could never ask; James wouldn't know what to do. You couldn't blame Lily, it wasn't her fault, and she turned down his advances multiple times.

You were sure that James would move on, but then, during sixth year, Lily confessed that she was starting to have a crush on James.

You tried hiding your disappointment, but it was hard; it nearly broke your heart; you knew James would tell you all about it as soon as you saw him again.

There was no wish to be cruel, but a part of you, maybe the whole, was hoping she would joke. Perhaps she would again realize how immature James was and remember how he bullied Snape.

But that would be selfish and unfair to James; you were supposed to be his best friend, and he deserves this.

And you knew Lily was kind, beautiful, thoughtful, and honest. She deserved James more than he deserved her. You wouldn't break her happiness because it was pure; if you did, it would be evil.

So when she asked you if you were okay with that, constantly questioning your feelings towards James, you said,

"Of course, you should go out with James," You placed a hand on her shoulder, "I think you two would be amazing together." A genuine bright smile passed your face as she embraced you and thanked you for being truthful with her.

While they dated, James would always tell you every time he and Lily did something.

From every kiss, every date, and every cute moment to Lily laughing at a joke he made about crisps in Hogsmeade or the dove they saw randomly, which is a sign that they are genuinely in love.

After telling you every detail, he would embrace you in a tight hug so you could smell his scent entirely. He would thank you for being "such a good friend and say that "he loves you."

You knew he loved you but you wished he loved you in a different way. A way that his heart would scrunch when you were around or a way that made him want to compliment your hair or your smile like he did with Lily.

You wished it pissed you off enough to be mad at him, but every time he hugged you, you forgave him and knew it was just him being happy and wanting to tell a friend.

He still always joked around with you the same and bantered with you, but it was just less, you wanted more, but he could only give you so much time, and you knew that.

Only a few of your friends understood, like Remus and Dorcas. They would comfort you in every moment when you felt unsure of yourself, or you just wanted to talk.

You probably would have been misunderstood if it weren't for them, but they acknowledged and validated your feelings.

That's what got you through that time.

Nonetheless, there was no point in dwelling on past memories. James and Lily broke up at the end of that very year, it being mutual due to the realization of too many things clashing.

He was a bit of a wreck but recognized that it was for the better. It didn't stop him from sometimes crying in your arms, talking about how much he missed Lily.

Eventually, James started to move on, talking to you more, joking with you, and inviting you to sit next to him at dinner. You had missed this for so long and were grateful.

He went back to tickling you and playfighting with you. He would even make you sit with him during potions.

This was until the end of the year Quidditch match, Gryffindor had won, and excitement had raised. You went to congratulate James on the win, having a big jar of Fizzing Whizbees in your hand, his favorite.

You opened the door a crack, overhearing him but not wanting to interrupt his conversation with the rest of the Quidditch team.

"Come on, Potter, don't tell me you aren't going to snog her tonight," A boy you recognized as Matthew Collingwood teased, "She's been over you for years; why not just hit it and quit it?" Your face contorted to disgust after hearing his use of words.

"Don't tell me you are talking about Y/n," James scoffed, "There is no way I would ever think of her like that," A part of your heart broke hearing his words; he didn't even defend his last words.

"I mean, she does have a fat bum," Another boy laughed.

"Oy, she's like a sister to me, don't talk about her like that," James warned, his tone sounding half serious as the boy put his hands up jokingly.

A sister.

"Okay, but come on, Potter, you have to shag her at least once before we graduate," Matthew sneered.

"Listen, boys, I wouldn't touch Y/n if she were the last girl on earth," He belittled, "Besides, she would cling to my cock like crazy after that; I mean, look at her now, can't even take a piss without her peering over my shoulder." He gestured, pretending to take a piss and looking behind him to see if you were around.

The boys hollered, laughing at James’s visual representation of you.

Tears brimmed your eyes as you dropped the glass-made jar, shattering in the process. You let go of the door, turning your heel to run away.

The tears started running down your cheeks as you wiped each of them as they came. You went under a tree, crying your eyes out, wondering why James would be so cruel.

He was your best friend, and you thought he loved you enough to not make fun of you. James could sometimes be thoughtless, but he never was brutal to you.

Did he really think you were clingy, consistently all over him? Did he get annoyed by how much you were around him? Would he never like you even if you were the last girl on the planet?

You were humiliated, embarrassed by his words, his thoughts. Every feeling of James Potter that made you happy and wanted to fall into his arms turned into hate and resentment, his words reiterating in your mind a thousand times.

That night, you vowed never to make James Potter make you feel that way again.

So that night, you didn't join the celebration. You told your friends that your stomach was hurting and you weren't in the mood for festivities.

You didn't know if James had asked where you were during that night, and you didn't want to know after the words he had shared with others.

Since you were allowed to leave Hogwarts the day after summer began, you did. You didn't wait for James to go with you; you left without him, wishing all your friends goodbye, dismissing all questions about why you were leaving early and blaming it on your mother's wishes.

"Okay, well," Lily sighed, "Make sure to ring me over the summer and visit if you can." You embraced her and nodded your head, telling her that you will.

"And don't forget to ring me as well," Dorcas said from behind you as you went over to her and hugged her tightly, "Whatever he did," She whispered in your ear, "Give him hell."

You pulled out of the hug and gave her a smile, "I will."

As she left, you approached the Gryffindor common room to find Remus reading as usual.

"Gonna wish a good friend goodbye?" Remus questioned, looking over at you. You were glad he wasn’t questioning why you were leaving so early in the morning.

"How could I ever not?" You asked, embracing him for a minute.

"So, are you gonna tell me what he did?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"How do you and Dorcas know everything?" You said, rolling your eyes.

"How good of friends would we be if we didn't." He smirked, "I can ta-"

You cut him off, "No, this is not your responsibility; I will take care of it." You smiled, "But thank you for caring; it means the most to me."

"Of course," He said as you nodded and turned to leave, "And take care of yourself." You turned back, giving him a reassuring smile.

After saying all your goodbyes for the school year, you sat in a window seat, looking at the school you loved dearly. You never thought you could quite say this, but you were ready for home.

Once you returned home, a letter was waiting for you on your window seal stating,

Dear Y/n,

Give him hell.

Sincerely the only one you need,

Dorcas Meadows.

And what kind of friend would you be if you didn't do what was asked?

[maxdibert]

Severus Snape in a rage over the most absurd things. Severus Snape losing his composure because one of his students is an idiot or another reminds him of his teenage problems. Severus Snape turning into a rabid cat when his old bully appears and is ready to gouge his eyes out. Severus Snape going from zero to a hundred in a millisecond when something triggers him. Severus Snape making sarcastic comments in class that are more fitting for the children he teaches than for a grown adult with chest hair. Severus Snape being a subtle bitch, throwing shade under his breath at those he can’t stand, laughing at them internally. He’s such a dramatic diva, extra to the max, and I love him. I wish it hadn’t been a children’s series and we could have had Severus Snape throwing so many bad words that even Dumbledore would be scandalized because I’m sure when Sirius referred to knowing more “curses” than any seventh-year student, he wasn’t just talking about magic.

[dinarosie]

The Marauders were so much better than Snape because they matured and grew and regretted their mistakes.

Really? Let’s start with Sirius Black, the gold standard of 'growth.'

Sirius Black, at 35, was so grown up that he still called Snape 'Snivellus,' a nickname invented when he was eleven to bully a kid for existing. Maturity level: 100%.

And oh, Sirius, who totally let go of his childish grudges… except for the part where, after 18 years, he was still so consumed by his petty hatred that he wished Snape dead and showed zero remorse for nearly getting him killed as a teenager. Even knowing how much it would’ve hurt Lupin, he never regretted it. Such maturity

Speaking of maturity, let’s not forget the time 33-year-old Sirius carried Snape, unconscious and defenseless, in a way that was meant to harm him—and took sadistic pleasure in doing so, because what screams "adulthood" more than that?

Oh, and he was so grown up that he still mocked Snape for his appearance as an adult. Yes, making fun of someone's face and hair at 35 is peak personal growth. Clearly, he outpaced Snape in every way.

When Sirius felt powerless or sidelined during the war, his go-to coping mechanism? Humiliate someone else! Mature behavior 101.

And just for good measure, let’s throw in the time when 35-year-old Sirius tried to physically attack Snape, forcing Harry, his 15-year-old godson, to step in and stop him like a toddler having a tantrum. What a shining example of the 'grown-up' Marauders we keep hearing about.

tell me this: which of Sirius Black’s childish, bullying behaviors towards his schoolyard victim did he actually stop to earn the title of ‘mature’? Did he stop mocking and belittling Snape? Did he stop physically attacking him? Did he ever regret plotting his murder? Or, at the very least, stop trying to harm him altogether? Because from where I’m standing, the answer to all of these is a resounding no.

[lilithofpenandbook]

I don't love him in spite of his flaws, I love him because of them

I’m absolutely fed up with having to defend any positive thing I say about Snape. Every time I acknowledge his significant contributions, people rush in with, “But he bullied children,” as if that one fact erases everything else he did. Yes, I know he was nasty to students. So what? His behavior doesn’t cancel out the immense sacrifices he made or the critical role he played in the war.

It’s exhausting to repeatedly clarify my opinion of him and that Snape can’t be labeled as simply good or evil—no human can. He was deeply flawed but still made substantial contributions. His wrongs don’t erase his heroism, just as his heroism doesn’t excuse his wrongs. They coexist. If you dislike him, that’s your prerogative, but stop pretending his faults are some sort of ultimate argument. They aren’t. If you can’t understand that, then you can stick your opinions where the sun doesn’t shine, because I’m done listening to you.

[saintsenara]

Do you think James and Lily's marriage would have lasted if the two survived the war? I've seen a lot of different versions of this, ranging from "they divorce within a couple of years because James is still the privileged pureblood asshole that he was in school" and "they have a genuinely strong marriage built off of mutual honor and love that would have survived and probably given Harry some siblings".

thank you very much for the ask, pal!

my opinion is quite boring - i think james and lily would have had a perfectly ordinary, perfectly unremarkable, perfectly happy marriage, which may very well have resulted in more children.

broadly, this is because i think a lot of the "james and lily would never have lasted" takes are just cope from fans who dislike jily as a pairing either because they don't like james and don't want to see lily with him or because they prefer him with a non-canon partner.

while marrying your teenage sweetheart and expecting the relationship to last would probably be considered quite unusual in the real-world context in which most readers live, it's clearly the norm in the wizarding world. almost every heterosexual couple we meet in the pre-epilogue canon got married when one or both of them was still a teenager - tonks and lupin are the only definite exception. james and lily would exist, then, in a context where their experience was considered entirely standard - and this would give them things like a social circle at a similar life stage which would make sustaining their relationship easier.

particularly because james and lily do genuinely like each other. while we don't see very much of them in canon - since their roles in the story are to be fragments, never seen or known in any significant way, as an illustration of what was taken from harry [and sirius, and remus] by voldemort - it's apparent even in their few scenes together that they are sincerely compatible.

[and mutually interested in each other - i'm afraid that "james forced lily into a relationship" or "james would never change from who he was at sixteen and so they'd break up" takes really don't hold water. she likes him when he's sixteen! he doesn't need to deceive her! i don't actually think she'd have regarded it as evidence of some horrifying deficiency of character that he continued bullying snape without her knowledge!]

harry's great tragedy is that he's someone who longs for a completely average life - it's his greatest desire! the thing he sees in the mirror of erised! - but has this ordinariness stolen from him when voldemort makes him the boy who lived. james and lily surviving allows him to have that.

although that's obviously nowhere near as interesting as what actually happens....

[meear]

Are we finally going to talk about how POC James Potter does NOT make sense... I'm so glad someone finally said it because some of you guys are delusional. They want to turn him into their uwu cool boy so much they forgot to read the books

James was a rich privileged bullying jock in the 70s what the fuck makes you think he would not be white.

I have............ opinions on the new Harry Potter show, specifically the diversifying of the cast

Maybe this is me being overprotective as a poc myself but I really don't want to see white hp character become poc. Mainly because their whiteness is such an integral part of their characterisation.

I don't want to see a Black Hermione because her performative activism is very white savior. She canonically disregards the people she is protesting for and she just is privileged and acts like it. Like in 'Falcon and the Winter Soldier' Sam is a lot more careful around the law than Bucky, because well Black people tend to face harsher sentences. Hermione is canonically reckless now it would be different if this was just a flaw she grew out of but no this is a part of her personality. And one time commenting on how she'd rather be killed then expelled does not change the statement. Also Hermione has never canonically discrimination, besides some cheap remarks, she has not faced any real discrimination I mean she is regarded as one of the brightest witch of her time and heck she was lended the f*cking Time Turner for classes.

Also another discussion I have seen on the internet is a Arabic Harry and honestly I have no problems with he is great I love him. My problem is with his parents Lily is a green-eyed ginger she is undoubtedly white which leaves James f*cking Potter. Let me start this of by saying I hate James, his entire character is just of a rich, privileged, white boy who got away with all the harm he did, I barely even like Snape but James Potter just disgusts me. He canonically just approached another student, disarmed him and humiliated them in front of a mob by stripping him. He is nothing more then a bully. His privilege is what kept him safe, he should have been suspended but no if you as administrator are going to protect one student over the, protect the privileged perpetrator

[loverboyjamespotter]

i think my main problem with marauders meta at the moment is that (and this has always been a problem) a LOT of people underestimate the sheer insanity that was sirius and james' relationship. i think people play it off as like 'aw how cute, best friends! :)' and its like ... I DONT KNOW HOW TO TELL YOU THEYRE SO MUCH WEIRDER THAN THAT. in whatever way you take sirius and james platonic romantic WHATEVER you HAVE to realise they were NOT NORMAL about each other. they were cathy and heathcliff. i think the word that describes james and sirius' relationship to each other is OBSESSION. not like a cutesy best friends forever kind of way i mean talking about how they want to be buried next to each other kind of way. i mean that canonically their relationship exists outside the bounds of morality sirius thinks its FUNNY that james bullies people and vice versa. james only bullies snape because he wanted to amuse sirius. i think sirius LIKES all of james awful qualities (being conceited, arrogant, self-centred) which is a stark contrast to lily who canonically does NOT like the fact that james is a spoilt rich boy strutting around the castle hexing people for fun. i think james wouldnt even ... CARE if sirius HAD ended up killing snape at the whomping willow incident. not really. because it was sirius and every single moral value goes straight out the window when its sirius. do people realise that they were doing the most INSANE acts of magical devotion for each other as TEENAGERS that ADULT WIZARDS couldnt do if they tried for YEARS? why dont people talk enough about the fact that they had such an intense relationship that they excluded everyone else from it? why doesnt anyone talk about the fact that the two way mirrors WERE ONLY FOR THEM. like they didnt give one to remus or peter or lily. it was THEIR thing. sirius went to JAMES' house after he ran away. james made SIRIUS harrys godfather. QUITE THE DOUBLE ACT. NEVER SAW ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER DID YOU? the fact that people from their time MULTIPLE PEOPLE described them as jamesandsirius. .... idk i just think. its a shame people dont really talk very often about how insane and weird and unnormal james and sirius were about each other bc to me its the most fascinating part about the marauders era.

[wee-chlo]

I'm rereading Harry Potter and it's baffling how people just... pretend Snape was a completely different person than who he actually was?

Granted, Alan Rickman's Snape and Book Snape are two genuinely different people, to the point that I think Movie Snape would be mildly disgusted by Book Snape. Movie Snape came off more as someone who was angry and spiteful to a select few for reasons that ranged from Understandable to Irrationally Petty, but generally very grim and stern, with a good heart beneath it all. Book Snape is a piece of shit.

Movie Snape doesn't have the same cruelty as Book Snape: his targeting of anyone other than Harry is framed in a more slapstick way and his teaching isn't neary as abusive. Neville being terrified of him doesn't have the same implicit showcasing of Snape being abusive but rather Snape being stern and unforgiving while Neville is meek and needs positive reinforcement to flourish.

Movie Snape is stoic, deadpan. I saw a clip of Rickman on YouTube and either he, a commenter, or both noted that a touchstone of Rickman's performance for Snape was that he didn't raise his voice. Not so in the books, where Snape's described several times loosing his temper and screaming, even shrieking. Snape is terrifyingly volatile in the books, in contrast to the movies where even at his most furious, most emotional, he remains in control of himself.

Book Snape is, unambiguously, just a bad person. Not just a bad teacher, a bad PERSON. He is a small, bitter, petty bully who shouldn't be anywhere near children, and honestly Dumbledore letting him near children is probably more of an indictment of Dumbledore's character than the fact that he used to be a wizard supremacist.

And to be clear, while teenage Snape isn't AS bad as adult Snape by virtue of being a teenager... he was also just Not Good. He ran around with Wizard Nazis. Lily called him out on that, on the fact that he was clearly ready and rearing to join Voldemort, that he used Dark Magic on other students alongside his death eater buddies, etc.

James and Co were little shits who teased and picked on students. But Remus and Sirius made a point that Snape and James had a uniquely, mutually hostile relationship. Remus and Sirius state directly that ultimately, one of the primary reasons James targeted Snape was because Snape was "up to his eyeballs in the Dark Arts and James hated the Dark Arts".

I've seen people use the fact that James never apologized to Snape as an indictment of James' character but like... when and why would he have apologized?

Genuinely, I think if Snape had made a good faith effort to be a better person BEFORE the death of the Potters, James may have apologized. But Snape at the time of James' death was a literal wizard nazi and honestly? I can't see him feeling terribly bad about bullying him, or at least not feeling obliged to apologize. And even if he had, how would he have done so? Send an owl to wizard nazi HQ?

But I think the thing that made me bristle the most about the books was the gaslighting that happened in book 6.

Remus is... going through it in that book, fair enough, but when Harry is talking to him about his suspicious, he gently accuses Harry of "inheriting James' and Sirius' prejudice" and being "determined to hate [Snape]". Like.... I'm sorry, but did Remus get hit in the head? Are we supposed to just casually forget EVERYTHING SNAPE HAS SAID AND DONE TO HARRY IN THE LAST FIVE BOOKS?!

If anyone came into it with an inherited prejudice and a determination to hate, it was Snape.

Justice for Book 6 Harry, everyone's treating him like he's bonkers but he's right.

[aithusarosekiller]

Why Jegulus would actually work with their (barely existent) canon personalities:

This isn't a place for a debate so literally don't bother, I'm just trying to articulate to appeal to the 'iT maKEs No seNsE' crowd because while I don't care about canon, some Jegulus haters don't respect you unless you worship it so

-

First: James' benefit from it-

To begin with, you have the superiority complex. As much as fans (and Sirius) like to say that Sirius immediately saw through his parents' beliefs when he was born and was a perfect activist from infancy, this is not true. First of all it's highly improbable and much more likely that he told that sort of tale that in order to convince himself and Harry that he was always good, but he isn't and we see that. He is progressive but he still treats Kreacher incredibly poorly, he uses oppressed creatures as jokes and sees no issue with it (yeah, canon-worshippers, sorry but in PoA there is no remorse for the prank, he laughs about it proudly) so he would have had to grow out of most of the behaviours he did have when he was sorted. He would carry some leftover beliefs from his family that James and the others had to help him unlearn. He would be willing to of course but it was still work. Why on earth would James not have reason to think 'I can do it again! They were raised in the same house they're practically the same.' Sirius had described his brother as weak and idiotic so James sees it as an easy win for his ego and the worth of his name, maybe even in Lily’s eyes.

And even when he falls in love and realises he may not be able to change them? Canonically? James wouldn't care. Not before he was 17 at least. He only ever relies on equality when it matters to him. They bully for no reason but target Snape a lot anyway, they already hate him when James sees the opportunity to stand up for Lily, speaking over her wishes instead of with her. He seems more intent on humiliating Snape and making a scene than actually fixing any issues. He's never truly evil but he's not a perfect virtuous angel. So him staying with someone who's morals are compromised wouldn't feel evil to him, he still thinks he's great and perfect, he just loves people who aren't. Let teenage James be morally grey, it's all he ever has been. It would give a pretty cool exploration of his growing maturity in the later school years. There's no real explanation for it apart from 'well it worked for him getting Lily' (which I hate, he nastily jokes about dating her infront of a crowd in exchange for not physically assaulting her friend and then she marries him? Give them more fucking depth than that, it reminds me of too many creeps I know) so it would be kind of cool to explore what could have set him off down the path of becoming a better person. Maybe age or outside pressure but I like the idea of him having a personal relationship that helped him to grow. He's with someone he can never be open to the public with and it's eating away at him because technically he should call it off but he doesn't bloody want to. When it ends, it's all too much and he chooses to flip his life over. He realises how Lily must have felt having Severus turn around on her and force her to leave him; he looks at the war and social climate with more integrity. He begins to change for the better in response to this upheaval of his life and his heartbreak. Also regulus gave him that snitch he was playing with and nobody can convince me he didn't.

Now for Regulus:

The betrayal is the obvious one, he'd always been tentative and naive according to Sirius. Sirius is under the impression he would've just tried to run when it got scary and we can assume he just misjudged him but wouldn't it be interesting if somebody was there to help him embrace his courageous, reckless side? If James sat there whispering words of victory and bravery to him, planting the seeds for his later rebellion? It could also have begun to place seeds of doubt in his mind surrounding the death eaters, even if they did not come to fruition until later. Even if you think he only changed due to Kreacher being hurt, the disproportionate response of sacrificing his entire life over it in some grand display of power is SO JAMES of him.

Then there's the opportunity to explore him on a more personal level. Who is he outside of his family? Was the locket the only secret betrayal or were there more? How does this impact his relationship with Sirius, regardless of him knowing of it or not? It adds even more layers to the meaning of his name and it helps to explore his own doubts before they are ever apparent to his family. James would likely not feel a sense of betrayal in not telling Sirius due to his ego and the fact that British teen boys are just like that™️ with their friend groups. But would Regulus? He would likely feel guilt anyway, but towards his brother? Did he still see him as a family member, as someone worth telling things to, as someone James belonged to? Well never know the canonical answers to this and that's why it's so FUN to explore. The layers to the secrecy and hope in their relationship is amazing.

What are his lingering feelings like after it ended? Hatred, regret, jealousy? And for James- guilt, sorrow, crushed hope?

The timelines add up too- the mark, James growing more mature, the snitch and the bullying of Snape.

And if your argument is 'they're not gay' tell me what makes you think that. Their personality? There isn't one 'way' to be gay. Prejudices? You think gay people are born holding a rainbow flag and chanting peace and love? So may gay ppl are vile to other marginalised groups. James married a woman? Bi people exist.

You don't have to like it, but don't say it makes no sense becuase it can and neither do half of your hcs about wolfstar and the prank and James' sunshine personality and how perfect jily were