Also, I really think it needs to be said:

It doesn't matter if it was "stupid" of Snape to assume Sirius Black wasn't going to actually risk murdering him.

Poor judgment isn't a capital offense. What the hell, HP fandom?

yeah, i know it wasn’t mentioned in the books because it wasn’t relevant to harry’s story BUT: everytime severus roasted sirius i was there, right behind him, high fiving him each and every time

One of them rewrote Libatius Borage’s entire textbook, grew up to get a Mastery and become a professor while the other two respectively impregnated a girl and then got dusted and the other got arrested and spent the next several decades in prison. So yeah.

oof

Horrifying explanation for the Werewolf Incident

“Definitely not. Firstly, he was probably already being bullied - JKR has said that James and Sirius subjected him to “relentless bullying”, she implies continuity by having them still use an insulting name they gave him in first year, and the fact that Mooney’s is the first voice on the map to insult him suggests that Remus initially took part in the bullying, and did so in fifth year when that map was written, and when he was a prefect. If you are being attacked, and even the “policeman” who is mean to protect you is supporting your attackers, you have a right to try to protect yourself by getting something on them.

Secondly, it is unlikely that he was trying to get Remus specifically into trouble. If he knew Remus was going down the tunnel he knew Poppy Pomfrey was as well, so he knew that whatever was happening, was happening with the approval of the staff.

Thirdly, he had the right to find out whether he *or Lily* was in danger from a werewolf. The fact that the staff were involved didn’t mean that what was going on was safe, any more than it would be in Harry’s day. Nor is curiosity a capital offence. How would those who think Snape deserved to be killed feel if Hagrid had been executed for his interest in giant spiders?

Fourthly, the idea that Snape necessarily broke curfew is a fanon myth. If this happened in winter, full moonrise could have been as early as 4:30pm.

Fifthly, there is no reason to think that he knowingly walked into danger. He would presumably think that the tunnel led to Hogsmeade (which in a sense it did, since the Shack is on the edge of the village), not to a dead end, and that Remus was being taken *out* at the other end and then to a safe place.

Sixthly, there is no doubt that he was in extreme danger, because Remus says James put himself in extreme danger to save Snape.

Now, this is complicated. There is no indication that Remus’s howls are ever heard from under the ground or under the tree, and it would be very risky to have him loose in the tunnel, where he might barge out before the Willow could hit him, so we can I think assume he is normally confined to the Shack.

The tunnel is about half a mile long and very low and narrow, and a significant period before reaching the Shack it turns upwards and ascends a long flight of stairs which ends either in the floor of the Shack or very low down in the wall. This combined with the low ceiling means that it would be impossible for a person who was in the tunnel itself to see the top of the stairs: they would have to be actually on the stair. Nor would it be possible for a person who was on the stair to see Remus in the Shack unless they were right at the top of the stair looking in, or Remus was right at the entrance looking out - and then only if they were close to the top.

Neither scenario sounds much like Remus’s claim that Severus glimpsed him at the end of the tunnel, and in neither case would Snape have been in much danger. We know he didn’t open the door (or ward or trapdoor or whatever) and go into the Shack, because aside from being stupid that wouldn’t remotely resemble Remus’s description.

The implication, therefore, is that Sirius loosed Remus into the tunnel, meaning Sev to be killed or infected, and showing a startling lack of consideration for Remus, as well as for Sev. The fact that he is still bragging about it 19 years later, at the mere mention of Snape’s name, shows just how malign and murderous Sirius was. How would you feel about a real bully at a real school who tried to trick one of their classmates into going into a cave where they knew there was a grizzly? Would you say it was their victim’s fault?

[But allowances should be made for the fact that it happened round about the time of Sirius’s break from his family, so he may have been having a mental breakdown, and later on after 12 years with the Dementors he was *definitely* having a mental breakdown.]”

-Claire Jordan, Quora, Is Snape to blame for the Whomping Willow incident? (Warning, lots of victim-blaming bs in the answers)

The HP fandom be like “physical assault, sexual harassment, and habitual bullying that causes lifelong trauma are hilarious pranks and totally normal things for teenagers to do but being a rude teacher is horrific child abuse and can never be forgiven”

The HP fandom be like “a well-raised, sane 15-17 year old boy can’t be held responsible for directly and repeatedly abusing people who were powerless against him because he wanted to but a traumatized, impoverished teenager who was manipulated into joining a hate group because he had no where else to feel safe and probably didn’t know what he was getting into until it wasn’t safe to leave is literally hitler even after he spends the rest of his life fighting against said hate group and dies to protect the world from it”

The HP fandom be like “a 15 year old who is being physically and sexually assaulted in public and saying one bad word towards his abuser who is taunting him is irredeemable because he offended the little cunt who was smiling at his abuse and didn’t stop it even though she had every ability to. And said 15 year old boy will never be ‘deserving’ of the person who victim-blamed him and was an accomplice to his trauma because she’s more privileged and therefore better than him”

Anyways it is 100% canon that the Marauders, mostly James and Sirius but all of them, abused and traumatized multiple kids simply because they enjoyed it. They were sadistic abusers and that is inexcusable. To defend their actions is to support abuse apologist rhetoric.

There is nothing Severus or anyone else could do to deserve that kind of abuse and even if there is, it’s a canonical fact that James and Sirius chose to victimize Severus before they knew anything about his interest in the darks arts. They chose him because he was vulnerable. There is nothing cute about two privileged white boys who choose to torture and traumatize an impoverished, traumatized child.

James and Sirius were never redeemed. I don’t give a fuck if they saved the entire Wizarding world, they never acknowledged that the abuse and trauma they inflicted was wrong. They never did anything to apologize to Severus and even if they did, he doesn’t owe them jack-shit least of all forgiveness.

Also James has the charecter depth of a chewed-up, flavorless piece of gum stuck to a jizz-coated locker room wall so I don’t even believe you if you say you like his charecter. Dudebro literally has like 5 pages of development and all he does in those pages is abuse Severus and be a misogynistic shithead to Lily. You just like the headcanons written by illiterate 13-year-olds on tumblr that completely contradict everything in canon.

Dear authors: you have to learn the difference between a bad boy and a bastard abuser.

Um, yes.

For those of you who are confused: Bad boy: probably poor, doesn’t follow rules because he thinks they are harmful or stifling (”I can’t sit there all day when teachers don’t give a shit if I learn or not”), outbursts are at injustices, fights to defend (”leave them alone/you’re hurting this place leave!”) Bastard abuser: probably middle class or higher, doesn’t follow rules because he think’s he’s above them (”school is a waste of time I can learn what I need to from books”), outbursts are about things not going the way he wants them, fights to prove superiority or lay claim (”stay off my turf/away from my girl!”)

Bad Boy: Teen Severus Snape

Canonically:

- extremely poor

- abused and neglected in all spheres of his life

- everything fuck him over, teachers don’t give a shit(apparently, they never did shit)

- just trying to mind his own business learning, walking around, and gets shat on and is mad about that

- mad in general about how life fucks u over hard and apparently no one cares even when it’s illegal and well-known that it happens

Bastard Abuser: Teen James Potter (& most of these are Teen Sirius Black, too)

CANONICALLY:

- rich

- both Actually Entitled and Self Entitled

- breaks rules for fun and because of boredom, bc if he wants fun — even by hurting other ppl — the rules don’t matter

- is deliberately and gleefully cruel, canonically for no reason other than ppl existing

- sexually assaults people, publicly and with intent to humiliate

- harasses THE FUCK out of Lily to date him when she has repeatedly said she isn’t interested

- literally threatens her friend to try and FORCE her to date him

- set up a student to be enclosed in the same room as a werewolf with NO POTION to Keep His Mind and at BEST this is deliberately traumatising someone, bc YOU WERE BEING SNEAKY SHITS AND THEY WANTED TO KNOW WHY

(And no, changing his mind at the last second when his own rep, studenthood, and possibly freedom are on the line doesn’t actually mean shit-all)

(Also, when ur canon daily abusers are Up To Some Shit and it might give u some Peace and Safety if u can get them expelled and they can be some other schools problem, trying to get them expelled…

DOES NOT MAKE IT OKAY TO DELIBERATELY PLACE THEM IN LITERALLY LIFE THREATENING SITUATIONS!!!

bc I know some of you ACTUALLY like to claim it does! Holy shit.)

And a lifetime of abuse and ongoing lack of autonomy (which can also be abusive) leading to someone LATER ON IN THEIR LIFE being a super strict asshole teacher — whether u consider what he does abuse or not, and many abuse victims fall on both sides of that debate — actually has ZERO bearing on their life BEFORE that comes to pass, and DOES NOT excuse the abusive behaviour of the marauders, again, BEFORE that comes to pass.

I have never been a fan of Sirius, and never before have I been able to say exactly why. A part, about 10%, of the reason is him bullying Snape. Of course I’m biased since Snape is one of my favourites.

But when I re-read Snape’s Worst Memory, it all became clear.

So we all know the little “prank” Sirius played on Snape in their fifth year. You know, the one that could’ve gotten him killed or turned into a werewolf. It was extremely shitty to Snape, but also to Remus. Remus hated being a werewolf. Wouldn’t killing or turning someone be one of his worst fears? I know Sirius didn’t think it through, but my heavens, what a dick move.

But that’s not everything.

“I’m bored,” said Sirius. “Wish it was full moon.”

“You might,” said Lupin darkly from behind his book.

Really, Sirius? That’s your friend. You know he hates his condition. Are you really that inconsiderate of your friend’s feelings? I feel awful for Remus.

This is also the reason I don’t understand wolfstar or whatever it is.

I so agree, and I’m not wild about Snape even (I don’t hate him or love him, I honestly just feel neutral towards him). The entire prank as well - not only would that action have led to Snape’s death most likely (bullying is one thing, putting someone in a situation where they could die is another) but it would also leave Remus with someone’s blood on his hands. It would have killed Remus to know he killed someone in his werewolf form, and would likely lead to him being found out and maybe even sent to Azkaban, as a kid, for murder that would be Sirius’s fault.

Sirius doesn’t consider the consequences of his actions. What, to him, is a funny joke, to others is a life threatening situation. I am always astounded people can ship Sirius and Remus because the entire concept of it disgusts me, especially when Sirius and James are right there (and I don’t even care about them, but Sirius didn’t put James in a position to accidentally kill someone). 

I always kinda suspected James to be so into Lily, not despite being her a muggleborn, but because she was. He was so deep into his anti dark-magic-blood-purity-death-eaters-same-difference, and with his friendhsip with Sirius who hated the blood-purity culture, I think James decided to marry a muggleborn, and chose Lily because she was the muggleborn he liked the most.

It’s mostly a canon-supported headcanon, and I never realized that, even more likely, they befriended Remus not despite him being a werewolf, but because he was. 

They’re young and they mostly built their political opinions in oppositions. Sirius does everything to piss off his family, James does everything will piss off a death-eater. We could say they understood that a fair society judges his citizens on their actions, not their nature, and that’s why they don’t judge Remus for his lycanthropy. 

Except they don’t. They judge Severus on his sole existence. 

Their view on the world is immature, and I think Lily and Remus were mostly here so they could do the thing “I can’t be a death-eater I have a muggleborn crush / I have a werewolf friend.”

It’s sad to think it’s the best Remus ever received, and probably ever hoped for. They even became animagus for him, how cool is that? Does it really matter that they obviously have more fun than him? That the fun grew to be more important than him? Does it?

I think he grew out of being a fool of this attitude. After all, he believed that Sirius betrayed James and killed Peter. Remus probably understood that James and Sirius had the best intentions, but their opinions were weak.

The real, deep, pure friendship was between James and Sirius, two priviledged, rich pure bloods, who wanted to change the world but had no idea how, because they spent too much time into their own world, putting effort into looking cool, and hating the haters, instead of listening others.