lucy 🎀

So I’m watching Prisoner of Azkaban for the 17,000th time and I JUST realized that the aunt Harry made float away is Ms. Trunchbull from Matilda. 🤯

In Harry Potter, was Severus Snape ever truly a blood supremacist or did he behave that way only because of peer pressure and to fit into the Slytherin house? Well, it really should be obvious that Severus never actually believed in the bigoted nonsense he was repeating in his teens. Consider: • His best friend was the antithesis of Pure Blood. • At a minimum, he remained loyal to the memory of that friendship, even after his friend left him to be further embarrassed by the two biggest bullies at Hogwarts when he attended. • As soon as the threat to his muggle born friend was made, Severus completely let go of his allegiance to the Pure Blood ideology forever. • He spent the rest of the First Wizarding War spying on Voldemort, then spent the entire Second Wizarding War spying on Voldemort. • He chastises Phineas Nigellus Black for using the term, Mudblood. The fact that the most important person in the world to him was the epitome of what Severus should have abhorred should be the most obvious clue. I’m reading a lot of postings in this string that purport the answer to be, “both,” from people who want to present themselves as objective, when what they are really doing is a variation of the back-handed compliment. Sort of a, “How can I disparage the character of Severus Snape, while appearing to be unbiased? I know! I’ll claim he was, ‘both!’” If someone has to answer, “both,” it’s really an admission that Severus *didn’t* believe what he was saying, but someone is simply trying to be clever. It’s related to the idea that Severus was a “good person doing bad things,” which is to say, backward and twisted commentary that sort of gives him credit, while also attempting to take it away. You know the argument that’s been floating around for over a decade now, that Severus only ever did anything for Lily? It’s not really accurate, considering he protected and assisted Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, as much as he protected and aided Harry when they were on the run from Voldemort in that last year of the Second Wizarding War. That’s not to mention how he made sure the Carrows didn’t torture Neville, Ginny or Luna when the mini-Trio tried to steal the Sword of Gryffindor from his office.But to the degree that Severus held Lily on such pedestal, coupled with the fact that Severus doesn’t seem to ever actually *harm or penalize* anyone because they are muggle born should be indication enough that he never really believed what he was saying in his youth.

In Harry Potter (book 5.), if Sirius and Severus had duelled at the 12 Grimmauld Place's kitchen and Harry and the others hadn't stopped them, who do you think would have won? 1/2 Well, despite the misguided and inaccurate, if well-intentioned postings by others in this string, it would have been Severus Snape, and it wouldn’t have been close. Something I think most people widely assume — but which is completely unsupported in the text — is that Sirius Black was some great duelist. Sirius wasn’t really even all that great a wizard. In fact, none of the Marauders are ever said to be anything special when it came to dueling. They are all sort of given credit where it isn’t due, which is that, because they were good students at Hogwarts, and, because they turned the trick of becoming Animagi, that this immediately translates to excellence in every form of magic that’s convenient, including dueling. But there’s never really any indication or demonstration of any outstanding dueling prowess by Sirius Black, not even by third-party reference — in other words, there’s never the old stand-by we can fall back on that “So-and-so SAID he was!” We don’t even hear this about James, really. But what we SEE… is that neither James nor Sirius were all that great as a solo act, and certainly not as duelists. When they were together, they were awesome. Like in that prequel short story where they take on Death Eaters and Muggle police officers. A regular Dynamic Duo with wands. But once divided?… They were both rather easily conquered. Severus Snape, on the other hand… Well, we actually witness… his prowess with a wand. He’s Professor Lockhart’s choice to assist in the dueling instruction club Lockhart establishes in Harry’s second year, and we see Severus take on Professor McGonagall without harm to himself (or her) when he flees Hogwarts for the last time in …Deathly Hallows, and he simply toys with Harry as he’s exiting the grounds after the Death Eaters invade Hogwarts in …Half-Blood Prince and Harry is trying to stop him following Dumbledore’s death. That’s not to mention — or I guess I am mentioning — that Sirius had been in Azkaban for twelve years, meaning physical and psychological atrophy would have set in. He was also couped up in Grimmauld Place for a couple of years, where it’s inferred he pretty much goes through the same psychological cycle he’d been prone to in Azkaban, of blaming himself for James and Lily, which probably amounted to lying in bed until all hours of the late morning. There’s certainly no indication Sirius was doing anything to keep himself in shape, either physically or with his wand. Then, there’s the rather dubious manner in which Sirius meets his demise. He’s dispatched by Bellatrix Lestrange while spending more time coming up with a one-liner than paying attention to his own defense. By itself, that rather loudly shouts out how lacking in focus he was. And even when he was facing Severus there at Grimmauld Place, it seemed apparent he was not really willing to take on Severus. Of course, Sirius never uses his wand. He waits for Harry to get in the way, so he won’t have to take Severus on. At least, that’s the reasonable conclusion to draw, if we assume Sirius had any skill with a wand and didn’t need any time to think of the incantation for just the right hex or curse to cast. But this is usually overlooked or explained away with something like, “Sirius just didn’t WANT to take on Snape,” or something along those lines. You can really sense the anti-Snape bias that seeps out of people in some of these other answers. It really just oozes out in answers to a question like this. Because anyone with a practical view of things could tell that Sirius had not the skill nor the fortitude to defeat Severus in a one-on-one duel.