amos-diggory

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a canon url is a position of power

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hmm

5. he threatened to poison him, and we don’t know if he would have gone through with it i.e. he could have had the antidote at the ready. regardless, it was still grossly emotionally abusive

6. snape believes, justifiably, that said faculty member aided a mass murderer for the majority of the school year. he (remus) also withheld information from dumbledore, and forgot to take his potion that night, which is more than enough for snape to see him as a threat. his actions were tainted by anti-werewolf prejudice, but i think it’s reductive to ignore other factors

snape’s catalyst for defection was lily, and he’s still atoning for being complicit in her murder (as i’d expect someone who was complicit in the murder of an ex-close friend to do), but we’re not privy to his inner thoughts, so i don’t think you can say he has no other moral opposition. he strives to do the right thing re: the death eaters to make up for being complicit in lily’s death, and relies on a dumbledore and what he thinks she believed in to outline how to do that. he also says things like:

“Don’t be shocked, Severus. How many men and women have you watched die?” “Lately, only those whom I could not save,” said Snape. He stood up.

Everything you hate about snape is funny bc literally all teachers are worse than him, and Neville was endangered worse by his own head of house than him. Like really. If You're going to hate someone for being a bad teacher, then hate all bad teachers.

Hey anon! My dislike of Snape is totally separate from a discussion about the unsafe practices of Hogwart’s curriculum. I don’t hate Snape for being a bad teacher (in fact, if he wasn’t an abusive asshole, he’d probably actually be a good teacher). My problem with him is a very long list of things which also happen to make him a bad teacher.

1. That time that he called his supposed best friend and crush a racial slur and then demanded that she listen to his apology, despite the fact that he didn’t actually care that he had used a slur, only that he said it to her.

2. That time he became a wizard Nazi

3. That time he was totally cool with infant murder as long as his crush stayed alive

4. That time he was an abusive asshole to his crush’s son for no other reason then the kid’s dad used to bully him

5. That time he was an abusive asshole to some poor kid for struggling in his class (Neville), and basically tried to kill his frog. He frightened Neville so bad that he was his greatest fear

6. That time he outed a fellow faculty member (who was one of the few competent teachers at Hogwarts and was the best DADA teacher that taught during Harry’s time at school), for a condition that was under control and not a threat to the students. This faculty member resigned under fire from parents, and then was discriminated against until his death.

7. Blatant favoritism for his own house.

8. Taking points away from students because they know the answers to his questions.

9. When one of his students was hit by an errant curse, he did not say that she should be allowed to go to the hospital wing, instead, he said that “he saw no difference” despite the fact that her front teeth had grown past her chin.

10. Breaking and entering, and then taking a personal letter that did not belong to him because it had his crush’s signature on it.

I could probably come up with more if I really thought about it, but I haven’t read the books in a while so my memory is a little foggy.

Are you honestly saying to me that reckless endangerment and systematic abuse are the same thing?

Look, appreciate Snape as an interesting character. But remember this: Every good thing that Snape did was either related to personal loyalty (like Malfoy) or because of his crush on the long dead Lily Potter, not because he actually cared about doing the right thing.

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Screwing with people before hexing them into the Hospital Wing? Sounds like Black and Potter.

Bertram Aubrey (via incorrectmarauderquotes)

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like, the entire issue with ‘james and severus were rivals’ is that it was never just james and severus- it severus and james and sirius and peter. if it was only those two- that’d be an entirely different, more equal dynamic

also...the claim that snape had a group of friends that also attacked them is...disingenuous, because

there’s no evidence of that

lily only mentions avery and mulciber in fifth year. that’s five years of abuse prior. even then, we have no idea of the dynamic with snape and the others, just that lily is uncomfortable with their association

no one came to his rescue in swm

neither remus nor sirius ever mention a group attacking or retaliating to them

jkr has explicitly said he was an outcast

James could certainly have been kinder to this boy who was a bit of an outcast

she also specified, on pottermore that james and sirius, plural, relentlessly bullied snape, singular. no proto-DE friends are mentioned

He did not approve of their relentless bullying of Severus Snape, but he loved James and Sirius so much, and was so grateful for their acceptance, that he did not always stand up to them as much as he knew he should.

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anyway, we see that james instigates things with snape during their first meeting on the train by insulting slytherin. sirius joins in and attacks snape who retaliates. james and sirius then mock lily and try to trip snape. this was before dark magic or whatever. james and sirius have a reputation for attacking students, not just snape, just because they can. it’s entirely possible, and i’d say, more likely within the narrative, that snape’s use of dark magic was in retaliation to them hounding him, as well as pushing his eventual involvement with the proto-DEs

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"James could certainly have been kinder to this boy who was a bit of an outcast. And he wasn't. And these actions have consequences. And we know what they were."

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i mean, their being rivals doesn’t negate the reality of james bullying him- especially considering snape was outnumbered. you openly say ‘the marauders’ did fucked up things to him, but ‘james and severus were rivals’’

and, per pottermore:

“Remus functioned as the conscience of this group, but it was an occasionally faulty conscience. He did not approve of their relentless bullying of Severus Snape, but he loved James and Sirius so much, and was so grateful for their acceptance, that he did not always stand up to them as much as he knew he should.” 

so calling them bullies is...pretty accurate

The marauders obviously did some fucked up things to Snape, but can I remind everyone that canonically, James and Severus were rivals. Not just a bully and his victim, as far too many people seem to think.

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we aren’t privy to his inner thoughts in the books

from interviews:

Lechicaneuronline: Do you think snape is a hero J.K. Rowling: Yes, I do; though a very flawed hero. An anti-hero, perhaps. He is not a particularly likeable man in many ways. He remains rather cruel, a bully, riddled with bitterness and insecurity - and yet he loved, and showed loyalty to that love J.K. Rowling: and, ultimately, laid down his life because of it. That’s pretty heroic!

about why he became a DE:

J.K. Rowling: Well, that is Snape’s tragedy. Given his time over again he would not have become a Death Eater, but like many insecure, vulnerable people (like Wormtail) he craved membership of something big and powerful, something impressive.

I can’t really remember, but correct me if I’m wrong, does it say anywhere in the books that Snape had self-esteem issues? Because all I can remember is him always acting superior to everyone, even as a student. It just seems to me that tumblr always tends to describe him as being the loner who hated his life and all that, but that’s not how he was in canon.

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1. sirius also had members in his family that actively supported them, even if it meant risking their own estrangement i.e. alphard. also in contact with his cousins incl. andromeda, who was his favourite and who openly defied her family’s beliefs. so not the same

2. jo has said that they ‘relentlessly bullied him’ on pottermore

3. trying to get them expelled for...relentlessly abusing him. and he correctly guessed that their actions would have gotten them expelled anyway: endangering innocent people while out with remus, etc.

4. petunia...who was emotionally abusing and trying to manipulate (in lily’s case) him and lily. his actions were in response to that

5. right, they singled out snape, a poor half-blood, as opposed to any other wealthy pure-blood bigot. this also doesn’t change that it would have affected his development

i really truly don’t get how the hp fandom can draw comparisons between sirius and snape and somehow think snape comes out on top? like, yes there are similarities:

1. they both came from abusive households. just because sirius’ family was richer, it doesn’t make his home life any easier or happier (for fuck’s sake, dude ran away from home when he was sixteen and all his parents did was burn him off the family tapestry rather than, you know, get him back) 

2. they both had pureblood supremacy ideals instilled on them from a very, very young age 

3. they both had friends who challenged those ideals (snape had lily, sirius had james and remus) 

4. they both were assholes as teenagers

but also like??

1. snape fully embraced the pureblood supremacy ideals he’d been taught al his life, eventually joining wizard hitler, while sirius went against everything he’d been taught by his family and joined the order of the phoenix, actively fighting against the murder and torture of muggles and muggleborns, which snape was actively engaging in

2. we don’t??? actually know how one-sided snape’s bullying was? in fact, by textual evidence, it certainly looks as if it’s far more balanced than snape apologists would want to believe. even if snape’s worst memory is true as told, which it might or might not be, this happened after snape was openly associating with pureblood supremacists, dismissing the use of dark magic as ‘a joke’, and led to him using wizarding slurs against the girl who’s supposed to be his best friend

3. in fact, it’s mentioned by anyone who talks about the marauders and snape that the animosity and hexing between them was mutual

4. snape’s worst memory happens after snape has been trying to get the marauders expelled for years and has actively tried to out remus as a werewolf to lily (that we know of).

5. look at snape’s treatment of petunia–he’s been bullying people since before he even went to Hogwarts, but of course this doesn’t fit the narrative of poor, bullied snape, so it gets ignored

6. i mean, if you’re going to excuse snape’s behavior over and over and over again because of what sirius and james might have done to him, then you might want to start by making excuses for petunia’s behavior as well 

6. if the worst thing you did as a teenager was bully a teenage nazi i sincerely hope you get a pony for your birthday and your bedtime is never

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(read through some of the reblogs, so this is a response to some of that also)

* he never tried to say lily was different from other muggleborns? he tried to say it ‘slipped out’. jo also has never said that he wouldn’t have changed his opinion if not for lily

* the context of the petunia thing was her emotionally abusing both him and lily (and in lily’s case, actively trying to manipulate her out of jealousy). and, like others have said, it may have been accidental magic

* he thought sirius was a mass murderer and, reasonably, that remus was his accomplice. he didn’t listen to him, which is more than an understandable response given the emotional context to a supposed dark wizard who’s murdered several people and been found alone with three children. his thinking that remus’ loyalty outweighs his morality is also entirely reasonable, given that remus thinks the same about himself

* remus went out without taking his potion, endangering the students

* lol. he tried to get the marauders expected because they were, in jo’s own words, ‘relentlessly bullying’ him. and he correctly guessed that their actions would have gotten them expelled anyway (endangering people with remus)

* not sure what the points about dumbledore and harry are supposed to convey past their perspectives? dumbledore also was so moved by snape’s affection for lily that he was brought to tears, and thought he was ~super brave. harry empathises with him as a fellow abuse victim, forgives him and also thinks he’s ~super brave

* also ‘the marauders and snape bullied each other’. they were a group, they bullied him. he retaliated and tried to stop it. you can also say he developed sectumsempra in response to what he understandably saw as a murder attempt

* i mean, snape uses anti-werewolf bigotry. anti-werewolf bigots genuinely think they’re dangerous and don’t want to be around them or their children, hence why the students’ parents wrote in. so yeah, i do think he actually thought remus was a monster and wanted him gone. he was trying to expose him even before the sirius incident

Things that the Harry Potter films left out about Snape

Called Lily a mudblood, then tried to cover himself by saying that she alone was different from other muggleborns

Didn’t see a problem with his friends performing Dark Magic on Mary MacDonald, compared it to the Marauders pranks

Dropped a tree branch on Petunia

Attacked Remus in PoA whilst he was trying to explain things and literally said the words ‘I’ll drag the werewolf. Perhaps the Dementors will have a kiss for him too’

Continued to refuse to listen to Sirius’s explanation even though he was being compliant and had only once tried to fight back, without magic, after Snape attacked Remus

After he found out he wasn’t actually going to get an Order of Merlin, or have the satisfaction of seeing two innocent men in jail, he exposed Remus as a werewolf

Ripped a photo of James and Lily and Harry being happy and in love and a family in half and stole the half with Lily on it

Actively tried to get the Marauders expelled from Hogwarts

Dumbledore was 'disgusted’ by his attitude towards James and Harry 

Harry distrusted Snape that much he literally thought he was trying to poison Remus

Abused his position as Head of House to unfairly reward points to Slytherin and take points from other houses, especially Gryffindor, far beyond the extent it was shown in the movies

Told Neville he would feed Trevor Neville’s failed potion so the possibly fatal results would teach him a lesson

Mocked Tonks when her Patronus changed, despite the fact his also changed to match Lily’s

Insulted Hermione’s appearance and told her he didn’t see any difference after Draco cursed her teeth to grow and then watched as she ran out crying