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i saw someone use this guy to mock snape months ago, he's a ballet dancer. and to this day i still genuinely think he's a good fancast like, one of the best face claims i have ever seen. tell me this isn't severus tobias snape

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The official website, Wizarding World, states that James Potter "bullied Snape for no reason."

James Potter – the one who tormented Snape for no good reason

Lily asked James Potter, "What did Snape do wrong?" Harry thinks that Snape did something wrong to deserve being bullied, but at the same time, he remembers Lily's words and realizes that Snape did nothing wrong. Sirius himself admitted that their actions were not correct. Remus, who watched everything, reminds Harry that the prejudices of James Potter and Sirius Black gave rise to unnecessary hatred. In material found on the "official" website, Wizarding World, it is written: "James Potter – the one who tormented Snape for no good reason."

Some people argue that Snape was innocent only during the SWM incident, and that Snape must have done something wrong before that that deserved punishment from James. But that's not true. If that's true, then why did the article on the official website above say something like that when describing James Potter to Harry? Even before the SWM incident, there is no data showing that Snape attacked the Marauders first and was attacked in retaliation.

Snape and James had been competing all along, and I tried to find official evidence that it was a mutual assault, but I couldn't find any. Harry describes Sirius Black's gaze as he looked at Snape, who was checking his test papers under a tree, as "a hound looking at a rabbit." Even Lily defends Snape, calling him a 'weak'. This is not a typical depiction of competition.

JK Rowling by comparing him to Peter and describing him as unstable and vulnerable. Alan Rickman, who heard about Snape's past from Rowling, explained Lily and Snape's past in an interview.

"Lily Potter really tried to be nice with him, but Snape couldn't support her pity."

If Snape had the ability to fight and win first, Lily wouldn't have stepped up and defended him, or given him sympathetic comfort. The description they want, “arch-rival” appears in “The Marauder’s Map,” written by JK Rowling herself in Wizarding World.

The map was stolen when was in 7th grade, just before graduation. It is said that the map was confiscated following a tip from Snape, who was trying to report James Potter's crimes. There, finally, the description of “arch-rival” appears…

but...

This is a description of the 7th grade, not the last 6 years. Remus's description of James Potter in Year 7, and Snape's description in the material describing the Marauders' Map. Based on the data released so far, if you want to call the two people rivals, you can say it starting from the 7th grade of graduation.

as a result In the canon I've found so far, JK Rowling's interviews, Alan Rickman's interviews, officially published setting materials, and posts from the Wizarding World, I haven't found anything to suggest that Snape attacked the Marauders before his 7th grade year. And I couldn't find any data that said Snape before 7th grade had a legitimate reason to be bullied by James Porter.

Sirius attacked Snape because he was a student in the dormitory he disliked, and James attacked the snape he because seemed close to lily. The fact that he's a weirdo who knows the dark arts well is just an excuse. There was never any talk of attacking Mulciber and Avery, who were actually tormenting others with dark magic. Marauders also bullied other students, but They bullied only Snape for really childish reasons.

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Harry identified with and reluctantly admired Snape even before ‘The Prince’s Tale’

So, ‘Albus Severus’ is admittedly is a controversial name in fandom due to Snape’s own dubious morality. And people also think that Harry going from hatred to admiration of Snape so quickly is unrealistic. But, that’s not true. There’s no doubt that Harry hated Snape, but amid that hatred, there was also reluctant admiration and even identification with Snape. Let’s see a few examples:

Harry did not speak; he felt that to say anything might be dangerous. He was sure he had just broken into Snape’s memories, that he had just seen scenes from Snape’s childhood, and it was unnerving to think that the crying little boy who had watched his parents shouting was actually standing in front of him with such loathing in his eyes… .

Probably the first time Harry is looking at Snape as anything more than his hated Potions professor. But it is still significant considering Harry’s own abusive childhood.

His reaction to Snape’s Worst Memory:

What was making Harry feel so horrified and unhappy was not being shouted at or having jars thrown at him — it was that he knew how it felt to be humiliated in the middle of a circle of onlookers, knew exactly how Snape had felt as his father had taunted him, and that judging from what he had just seen, his father had been every bit as arrogant as Snape had always told him.

His immediate reaction after watching Snape’s memory is to empathise with Snape, because he knows what it’s like to be bullied in front of a crowd.

We also get hints of how similar Snape and Harry are. Even Hermione comments on it:

Did you hear him talking about the Dark Arts? He loves them! All that unfixed, indestructible stuff —” “Well,” said Hermione, “I thought he sounded a bit like you.”

“Like me?”

“Yes, when you were telling us what it’s like to face Voldemort. You said it wasn’t just memorizing a bunch of spells, you said it was just you and your brains and your guts - well, wasn’t that what Snape was saying? That it really comes down to being brave and quick-thinking?”

Hermione comments on how they both sound similar. Snape and Harry do have a lot in common as we will find out later, but this is one of the first hints of another character noticing it.

But imo, the largest culmination of Harry’s reluctant admiration is in the case Snape’s old textbook, when he called himself the Half-blood Prince. This is teen Snape; Snape as Lily knew him, Snape without all the baggage that he has with Harry. And what is Harry’s opinion of him?

Harry woke early on the morning of the trip, which was proving stormy, and whiled away the time until breakfast by reading his copy of Advanced Potion-Making. He did not usually lie in bed reading his textbooks; that sort of behavior, as Ron rightly said, was indecent in anybody except Hermione, who was simply weird that way. Harry felt, however, that the Half-Blood Princes copy of Advanced Potion-Making hardly qualified as a textbook. The more Harry pored over the book, the more he realized how much was in there, not only the handy hints and shortcuts on potions that was earning him such a glowing reputation with Slughorn, but also the imaginative little jinxes and hexes scribbled in the margins, which Harry was sure, judging by the crossings-out and revisions, that the Prince had invented himself.

Harry’s admiration is practically dripping through the pages. He’s staying up at night reading the book, admiring the boy who was so clever.

One of the most interesting lines is also this:

“My dad used this spell,” said Harry. “I — Lupin told me.” This last part was not true; in fact, Harry had seen his father use the spell on Snape, but he had never told Ron and Hermione about that particular excursion into the Pensieve. Now, however, a wonderful possibility occurred to him. Could the Half-Blood Prince possibly be —?

Harry is so attached to Snape’s old textbook that he wishes it was his father. Harry is hungry for father figures and the fact that he elevates the Prince to this kind of figure from just his textbook is significant. It shows the lost potential between Harry and Snape. Who is the Prince but a younger Snape? It shows that had Snape been a little less bitter and damaged, he could have been a mentor figure for Harry.

These two have so much in common: their lives are defined by Voldemort and they’re not truly free until he’s dead, they’re both half-bloods who grew up in the muggle world, they both suffered abusive childhoods, they were both bullied, they’re both sarcastic and dry, they both can get very vicious (Snape more so obviously), they’re both completely loyal to Dumbledore, they’re both brave and stubborn as hell. I truly believe that had Snape not been so blind, he could have been a great father figure for Harry simply because of how similar they are and how much they could relate to each other.

He felt stunned; it was as though a beloved pet had turned suddenly savage; what had the Prince been thinking to copy such a spell into his book? And what would happen when Snape saw it? Would he tell Slughorn — Harry’s stomach churned — how Harry had been achieving such good results in Potions all year? Would he confiscate or destroy the book that had taught Harry so much…the book that had become a kind of guide and friend? Harry could not let it happen…He could not…

Harry thinks of the Prince as a friend and guide.

“Will you stop harping on about the book!” snapped Harry. “The Prince only copied it out! It’s not like he was advising anyone to use it! For all we know, he was making a note of something that had been used against him!”

“I don’t believe this,” said Hermione. “You’re actually defending —“

“I’m not defending what I did!” said Harry quickly. “I wish I hadn’t done it, and not just because I’ve got about a dozen detentions. You know I wouldn’t’ve used a spell like that, not even on Malfoy, but you can’t blame the Prince, he hadn’t written ‘try this out, it’s really good’ — he was just making notes for himself, wasn’t he, not for anyone else…”

Even after ‘Sectumsempra’, Harry defends the Prince like this. As a side note, I also think that Harry’s relationship with the Prince somewhat mirrors Lily’s relationship with Snape. They both admired and loved the boy who was so clever and imaginative and were willing to blind themselves as that boy went deeper into the dark side.

He broke off, looking out of the window. He could not stop himself dwelling upon Dumbledore’s inexcusable trust in Snape…but as Hermione had just inadvertently reminded him, he, Harry, had been taken in just the same…in spite of the increasing nastiness of those scribbled spells, he had refused to believe ill of the boy who had been so clever, who had helped him so much..

This is after Snape killed Dumbledore, and Harry’s primary feeling about the Prince is one of betrayal. Ultimately, I believe Harry’s relationship with the Prince is pivotal in his understanding of Snape, and I firmly believe that this also informed his decision to name his son after Snape. After watching Snape’s dying memories, Harry’s admiration of the Prince returned and merged with his feelings towards Snape. It is no coincidence that the chapter revealing Snape’s true allegiance is called 'The Prince’s Tale’, telling us that Snape truly is the same Prince Harry admired and wished was his father.

Harry’s feelings towards Snape after the Prince’s tale is obvious. Throughout Snape’s memories, he identifies with him, not James. He immediately notices that James has an air of being loved and adored while Snape conspicuously lacks it. He cannot bring himself to watch Snape’s Worst Memory again. After watching the memories, he identifies with both Snape and Tom Riddle as 'the abandoned boys’ who were outcasts and only found their home in Hogwarts.

In short, I believe Harry’s admiration of Snape was not sudden or inexplicable but something he always reluctantly felt. He identified with Snape even when he hated him. Once he saw Snape’s memories in his entirety, he understood and identified with them even more because Harry has been in Snape’s shoes. He’s been a dark-haired, abused, bullied, half-blood outcast. And he knows how hard it is to be brave in those circumstances. While the readers might have trouble understanding why Snape would have a child named after him, Harry doing so is not a surprise.

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It is not good to defend something based on the times.

I think it's foolish for people to say that the bullying Snape experienced as a student and the incident with his pants being pulled down weren't considered bullying or sexual harassment by the standards of the '70s. If you argue that way, then it also means that Snape's cruel treatment of his students as a professor wouldn't be seen as wrong either. By the standards of his time, Snape wasn't a teacher who committed physical violence, so compared to the truly worst teachers back then, he doesn't even measure up. If you use the era as an excuse to justify the actions of the Marauders, it ultimately makes Snape someone who can't be criticized by the same historical standards. I believe that foolish defenses ultimately create contradictions in all arguments.

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*deep breath*

 “Snape helped Harry but he was still a racist / wizard Nazi so there.”

“He believed that muggles were inferior.”

“He bullied Hermione for being muggle born.”

“Snape never changed or matured as a person.”

Me: *gets out blackboard, chalk and pointer*

Actually, Snape’s character arc is depicted rather explicitly in DH. 1969/1970: Snape is a 9 or 10 year old half-blood living in a muggle town. Abused by his muggle father, and ostracized by his muggle peers, Snape identifies as different, clings to his mother’s magical heritage and harbors some anti-muggle sentiment. Snape meets Lily, and is so grateful to have a magical friend that he is willing to overlook his anti-muggle feelings. Lily asks Snape if being muggleborn makes a difference and Snape, after a long pause, says “No, it doesn’t make any difference.” Snape sees Lily not as a muggleborn, but as a magical being, just like him. 1976: Snape, who at this point is in the process of being radicalized whether he realizes it or not, finds himself the target of an unprovoked, vicious and humiliating attack by the Marauders. He lashes out by calling Lily the most hurtful word he can think of. He then offers a groveling apology, and is understandably rejected. This is later revealed to be his worst memory, not due to the bullying, but because he lost his best friend. 1980: Snape, now a Death Eater, asks Dumbledore to spare Lily, who was at the forefront of his mind. When Dumbledore calls him out, he asks Dumbledore to hide the whole family, and agrees to do anything in return. Does Snape ultimately care mostly about Lily? Yes. This is an example of a character flaw. At the same time, this moment marks Snape’s official defection from the Death Eaters, and the beginning of an 18-year long stint as a double agent. Here, Snape shows the beginnings of character development.

1981: after Lily’s death, a distraught Snape returns to Dumbledore and agrees continue working with Dumbledore to keep Lily Potter’s Son™ safe, should Voldemort return, which they know he will. More character development. 1991 - 1997: Snape teaches muggleborn Hermione Granger (along with hundreds and hundreds of others throughout his tenure). Though he actively dislikes her, she still receives high marks in his class. He does not penalize her academically. Furthermore, he refers to her in HBP as one of Harry’s “more talented friends.” This is evidence that he does not discriminate against muggleborn students, and suggests that at this point in his life, he does not believe that muggleborns are inferior. More character development. 1996 school year: Dumbledore asks Snape: How many people have you watched die?” To which Snape replies: “Latley, only those I could not save.” This is a HUGE moment for Snape’s character development - at this point, he shows he realizes the bigger picture, and is actively working to save people who have nothing to do with Lily or Harry. 1997-1998 school year: Snape assumes role of Headmaster, where he works to protect as many students as he can from the Carrows. When Phineas Nigellus Black refers to Hermione as a mudblood, Snape shouts at him “Do not use that word!” JKR really tried to hammer it home for y’all, like literally the only way this could be more obvious is if Snape launched into a musical number called “I’m Not a Pureblood Supremacist Anymore” and people still conveniently ignore/forget about/overlook this moment. Ultimately, the big patronus reveal is meant to show that yes, he began doing it entirely for Lily, and has Always™ been doing it for Lily. But by DH, he is no longer doing it only for Lily - he’s been told that Harry must die with virtually no context, and he realizes the importance of defeating Voldemort regardless. CC: In the AU where Snape lives and Harry dies, which is meant to represent what would have happened in canon if Snape lived and Harry died, Snape says the following: “I couldn’t save Harry for Lily. So now I give my allegiance to the cause she believed in. And it’s possible – that along the way I started believing in it myself.“ And THAT is Snape’s character development, for the people in the back.

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"Harry also had a shitty childhood and was bullied, but he didn’t turn out like Snape."

True, because:

Harry found refuge at Hogwarts, where he felt welcomed, supported, and protected from the very beginning. Severus did not.

Harry had adult figures who protected him, cared about him (Hagrid, the Weasleys, Dumbledore, Lupin, Sirius...), and showed him affection over the years. Severus did not.

Harry had two friends who would have torn apart anyone who dared to strip him in front of the entire school. Severus did not.

Harry and Malfoy had a rivalry because they were on equal footing. Severus was bullied by a group of guys who attacked him together and were far above him socially and economically.

Harry was rich—disgustingly rich, to be exact. Severus was disgustingly poor.

Harry felt loved from the moment Hagrid came for him just after his 11th birthday. Severus never felt loved in his entire damn life.

Harry was favored by Dumbledore and other school staff on multiple occasions. Dumbledore forced Severus to stay silent about an attempted murder against him.

Harry had choices. Severus had nothing.

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"Harry also had a shitty childhood and was bullied, but he didn’t turn out like Snape."

True, because:

Harry found refuge at Hogwarts, where he felt welcomed, supported, and protected from the very beginning. Severus did not.

Harry had adult figures who protected him, cared about him (Hagrid, the Weasleys, Dumbledore, Lupin, Sirius...), and showed him affection over the years. Severus did not.

Harry had two friends who would have torn apart anyone who dared to strip him in front of the entire school. Severus did not.

Harry and Malfoy had a rivalry because they were on equal footing. Severus was bullied by a group of guys who attacked him together and were far above him socially and economically.

Harry was rich—disgustingly rich, to be exact. Severus was disgustingly poor.

Harry felt loved from the moment Hagrid came for him just after his 11th birthday. Severus never felt loved in his entire damn life.

Harry was favored by Dumbledore and other school staff on multiple occasions. Dumbledore forced Severus to stay silent about an attempted murder against him.

Harry had choices. Severus had nothing.

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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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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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i'm so tired of people thinking that fictional characters always need to overcome their traumas or ghosts from the past, move on and become "a better and kinder person". like, let the broken, bitter and unfriendly characters have their space too. as a reader, it's very interesting to analyze characters like that, they often generate controversy within the fandom and that's really funny.

anyway, severus snape, you will always be famous to me.

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I find it disturbing that marauders fans try to turn bullying into a form of activism. They say "it's acceptable, because they were bullying nazis/racist people". Like, okay, let's assume they somehow knew all along that Snape would become a death eater in the future. But then... where do we draw the line?

Is it acceptable to bully someone because they seem like a bad person to you? Is it okay to hurt someone just because they give you bad vibes? Because you think they are secretly evil?

"Trust me, this person is bad, so it's okay that I'm hurting them. I'm a good person, I swear, I can tell when someone is bad. And if you disagree, maybe you're bad too." - that's what it sounds like.

And besides, what are James and Sirius achieving by bullying Snape? How does that make muggleborns feel safer? It doesn't help anyone, because that's not their goal.

Can we talk about how dangerous it is to think you’re justified in mistreating and abusing someone based on their political ideology? Can we talk about how incredibly problematic it is to actually believe that just because someone has questionable opinions, we have the right to physically assault them? What kind of mentality is that? That is exactly the mindset of totalitarian governments and repressive societies. A person can have terrible political views and opinions, but that does not justify persecuting and physically attacking them. That’s not how the world or the law works. What does work that way are totalitarian governments that persecute, imprison, and make people disappear based on their opinions, interests, or worldview. It’s an extremely dangerous and completely anti-democratic way of thinking. The only justified reason to fight someone is if they have attacked you first—if it’s self-defense. But what James and Sirius did was not self-defense; it was harassment and abuse.

I also find it interesting how their fans use Severus’ ideology as an excuse, as if the fact that he associated with questionable people was really the reason he was bullied. Severus was harassed from the first day on the train when he was just eleven years old, without any defined ideology. Severus was publicly stripped because Sirius was bored. He was suffocated because he existed. These are canonical things stated in the books, just like it’s also canonical that none of his bullies even knew he had been part of the Death Eaters until many years later. So their actions weren’t politically motivated—they were purely violent, abusive, and about exerting power over him, period. Everything their fans argue is nonsense to justify bullying, sexual assault, and abuse of power, because none of it has a canonical basis.

And even if it did have a canonical basis, it wouldn’t matter: you cannot mistreat someone because of the people they associate with or the ideas they hold. That is absolutely anti-democratic, totalitarian, and yes, it is exactly what fascist regimes do—since they love using that word so much.

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How the fuck was I not aware of this

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Everytime snaters squeak about "Snape change side only because Lily was in danger so it doesn't count! He is still evil no matter what he actually did to end the war after" I laugh so hard, because...

May I remind you all: Dumbledore changes his mind about slavery of all the muggles just because his crush/lover happens to accidentally kill his own sister.

So pls.

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Mulciber, Mary Macdonald and why Lily almost smiled in Snape’s Worst Memory

Note:  I appreciate that this is very long, but hopefully the theory is worthwhile:

Lily’s twitch in Snape’s Worst Memory has always bothered me.  

Lily, whose furious expression had twitched for an instant as though she was going to smile, said, “Let him down!”

Lily’s half reaction didn’t sit well with me when I merely thought she was the best bystander of a bad lot.

It deeply troubled me when The Prince’s Tale revealed that she was supposedly Snape’s best friend at the time.

Ever since The Prince’s Tale gave us some more context, I have not been satisfied by any explanation of Snape’s apparent loyalty to Mulciber.  His best friend tells him that his housemate is a creep, and Snape completely dismisses her.  

I was always confused by both of these reactions between two supposed best friends. 

We’re repeatedly told that Lily is a kind and caring person - so why would she be amused at witnessing her best friend’s humiliation at the hands of his hated enemies?

We also know that Snape cherished his relationship with Lily above all others - so why would he choose this moment to seemingly side with Avery and Mulciber over something so trivial?  As a consequence, it’s occasionally suggested that Avery and Mulciber had a Marauder-esque friendship with Snape, but canon doesn’t support this position.

However, there is one explanation that makes sense:

The Dark Magic that Lily Evans accused Mulciber of using was Snape’s created jinx of Levicorpus. 

The Half Blood Prince’s Potions Textbook 

Snape’s Worst Memory takes place during his OWLs.  During that scene, we see the use of three spells that later show up in the Half Blood Prince’s NEWT level Potions textbook as scribbled amendments. Snape was the creator of these spells:

the imaginative little jinxes and hexes scribbled in the margins, which Harry was sure, judging by the crossings-out and revisions, that the Prince had invented himself.

…so Snape must’ve been using the NEWT textbook in his OWL year.  This fits with Snape’s studious nature (as evidenced by him studying his exam paper), and given his apparently natural flair for Potions, it is logical that he would be challenging himself with wider reading.

It also means that his spells probably didn’t get into the public domain by accident; nobody would be borrowing his textbook to work from, as it was for a higher level.

So how did Levicorpus get out?

Harry and the Half Blood Prince’s Potions Textbook

When Harry discovers Levicorpus, he realises that it was a much struggled over spell:

Harry turned the book sideways so as to examine more closely the scribbled instructions for a spell that seemed to have caused the Prince some trouble. There were many crossings-out and alterations…

Look at what happens when Harry first unleashes it:

Pointing his wand at nothing in particular, he gave it an upward flick and said Levicorpus! inside his head.

“Aaaaaaaargh!”

There was a flash of light and the room was full of voices: Everyone had woken up as Ron had let out a yell. Harry sent Advanced Potion-Making flying in panic; Ron was dangling upside down in midair as though an invisible hook had hoisted him up by the ankle.

This is really important.  Harry points his wand at ‘nothing’ - and yet the spell finds Ron and hoists him into the air.

With this in mind, it seems fair to say that Snape could not have created this in isolation - even if he intended to; on casting the spell, it seems to pick up on the nearest human.

Who would have been nearest?  Presumably his housemates Mulciber and Avery - so that’s possibly how the spell got out.  

Let’s look at Harry and his housemates’ reaction to the spell:

“Sorry!” yelled Harry, as Dean and Seamus roared with laughter…

There was another flash of light, and Ron fell in a heap onto his mattress.

“Sorry,” repeated Harry weakly, while Dean and Seamus continued to roar with laughter.

Ron’s shock had subsided and he had decided that Harry’s new spell was highly amusing; so amusing, in fact, that he lost no time in regaling Hermione with the story as they sat down for breakfast.

“… and then there was another flash of light and I landed on the bed again!” Ron grinned, helping himself to sausages.

“And also,” she added, as Harry and Ron rolled their eyes, “because I’m starting to think this Prince character was a bit dodgy.”

Both Harry and Ron shouted her down at once.

“It was a laugh!” said Ron, upending a ketchup bottle over his sausages. 

“Just a laugh, Hermione, that’s all!”

“Dangling people upside down by the ankle?” said Hermione.  “Who puts their time and energy into making up spells like that?”

“Fred and George,” said Ron, shrugging, “it’s their kind of thing.”

And there we have it; it’s the sort of spell that’s deemed to be really funny amongst friends.  The boys see absolutely no problem with it - between mates, it’s a bit of a laugh.  Ron compares it to the practical jokes of his twin brothers:  decidedly NOT Dark Magic, but a jokey hex.  

It all comes down to intent:

“Maybe your dad did use it, Harry,” said Hermione, “but he’s not the only one. We’ve seen a whole bunch of people use it, in case you’ve forgotten. Dangling people in the air. Making them float along, asleep, helpless.”

Harry stared at her. With a sinking feeling, he too remembered the behaviour of the Death Eaters at the Quidditch World Cup. Ron came to his aid. “That was different,” he said robustly. “They were abusing it. Harry and his dad were just having a laugh.”

So, we can guess - given that some of Snape’s earlier spells were faintly harmless - that this was created in the same vein.  It was a jokey hex, intended to make people laugh - just like Fred and George creating a product for their shop.

But - like the Death Eaters at the World Cup - it’s how Mulciber uses the spell that causes the problem.  

When Lily confronts Snape, she says:

“I don’t like some of the people you’re hanging round with! I’m sorry, but I detest Avery and Mulciber! Mulciber! What do you see in him, Sev, he’s creepy! D’you know what he tried to do to Mary Macdonald the other day?”

There is a big difference between a boy throwing another boy in pyjamas up in the air in a friendly ‘having a laugh’ manner between mates in the confines of their dormitory…and a boy throwing an unsuspecting teenage girl - who he may not know very well - in robes up in the air in the middle of the school.

In the dormitory, the boy would be relatively harmlessly turned upside down; the girl may not have much on beneath her robes - and amongst teenagers of 15/16, the “joke” becomes sexual in nature…and becomes, as Lily suggested - creepy.   

If this theory is correct and Mulciber used Levicorpus, it’s possible this is how the spell escaped into the mainstream - and how James et al picked it up.  

Snape had taken great care to remark in his book that it should be used nonverbally, but if Mulciber used it recklessly and Mary heard the spell - well, is it any wonder that one of the Marauders managed to wheedle the incantation out of their fellow housemate?  Maybe they suggested they would gain retribution for her, but needed to know the spell so they wouldn’t fall victim to it.

After all, when Snape is attacked in Snape’s Worst Memory, it is curious that he’s wearing nothing but underpants beneath his robes.  It’s summer, so perhaps he’s hot.  He’s poor and it’s the end of term, so perhaps he’s grown out of his trousers.  

…but mostly, I think he’s entirely blindsided and not expecting other people to know the jinx.  If he had, I think he’d have been wearing more beneath his robes.

When we look at Snape’s reaction to Lily’s accusation, he says:

“That was nothing,” said Snape. “It was a laugh, that’s all – ”

His language is identical to Ron and Harry’s; it was just a laugh. 

Incidentally, the same is true of James, Sirius and Peter when they unleash it on Snape - just like Dean and Seamus, they roar with laughter:

Many people in the small crowd watching cheered. Sirius, James, and Wormtail roared with laughter.

But I digress.

The point is, Snape desperately didn’t want Lily to discover that he was the source of the spell that had been used in a creepy manner, because he hadn’t designed it to be used in such a fashion.  

He had genuinely designed it with harmless intent - but he soon saw that it could be used maliciously; and as Hermione pointed out, the Death Eaters continued to do so well into the 90s.

Lily calls the spell Dark Magic:

“It was Dark Magic, and if you think that’s funny – ”

“What about the stuff Potter and his mates get up to?” demanded Snape. His color rose again as he said it, unable, it seemed, to hold in his resentment.

On first read, it seems slightly weird that Snape leaps straight to talking about James Potter - but if we look at Levicorpus as being an ‘innocent’ spell and Lily accusing it of being Dark Magic, it’s easy to see where Snape makes the connection in his head.

After all, look at their next exchange:

“I’m just trying to show you they’re not as wonderful as everyone seems to think they are.”

The intensity of his gaze made her blush.

“They don’t use Dark Magic, though.”

And that’s Snape’s point; James et al don’t use Dark Magic, but their “jokey” spells are enough to bully him.  When does a spell stop being a joke and start being Dark Magic?

Furthermore, Sirius and James constantly bleat that Snape is a wannabe Death Eater and uses Dark Magic - so Snape wouldn’t want Lily to think that he was the mastermind behind a Dark Magic curse.  

So, Snape defends Mulciber because Snape invented Levicorpus, and he doesn’t want Lily to think badly of him.  

But why does Lily almost smile?

Because when she complained about Mulciber using the spell on Mary, Snape completely dismissed her and told her it was just a laugh.

I think that Lily saw Snape on the receiving end of it and a small part of her - even though he was her best friend - thought triumphantly that her point had been proven, “You see!  Now you don’t think it’s funny!”  

Alas, the irony was lost on Snape - and in his fury, he blurted out the slur that would end their friendship.

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it bothers me how snaters completely ignore severus' socioeconomic situation when analyzing the character. like, that's a fundamental point about him.

i live in a country where social inequality is extensive and i see how sects and radical groups take advantage of the economic and psychological vulnerability of young people and working-class adults to entice them.

i think harry potter is a work that deals mainly with class and class dynamics, but this issue is very neglected in most discussions.

[picthos]

HES SO FUCKING PRETTY LITERALLY JUST LOOK AT HIM

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Potion Class by Johanne Matte