All in the Family

Chapter 125: Grawp

To Sanne (Guest):

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

A quote from the book none ever seem to acknowledge that always fascinated me, Lily does get some sort of petty relish out of Snape's torment in this scene but doesn't ever let anyone see. Her reaction in the previous chapter is admittedly a fanon answer to this moment, but one I stand by, she did find it justifiably funny he never listened to her to stop fighting and this was his comeuppance.

 No, I don't think James was a bully, as that statement involves malicious intent of someone else's pain on a repeated basis on a vulnerable other.  I never for once believed Snape was vulnerable, let alone never retaliated with just as many horrible things back. As Remus himself said, Snape never left an opportunity to curse him. I imagine all manor of unsavory retaliation, but individually to them if Snape found them alone. Did Snape laugh while he did that to them? I personally think so.

Fighting from both parties is not mutual bullying, it's a recurring battle that one side had to stop to make it right. James stopped first. Snape joined the Death Eater's.

This lone memory is Snape's worst because of what he said to Lily.  What James was doing was Harry's focus, but not even Snape's, as confirmed in Prince's Tale when the memory replays in conjunction with his other times with Lily, not all of what happened between him and James.

 Considering Snape is a bully to the entire student population the past years already as a teacher I don't believe for a second he wasn't the same in his youth, and don't tell me it was to keep his cover as a Death Eater. That is a bull excuse for his behavior when he could have just been a passive nobody and kept his nose down to be in Dumbledore's good graces, hell it would make more sense for him to try to be the best teacher ever if his 'plan' was to infiltrate Dumbledore's school on Voldemort's orders. James' entire character should not be based around this sole instance as so many people do. Snape had years to change his behavior both before and after what he did to Lily; instead of hating a child for his parentage and making Hermione, Neville, and likely countless others feel tormented.

As always if you disagree I encourage you to tell me, I have no problems discussing differences of opinion and I hope you enjoy the rest of the fic.

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They'd finally got their wish for fresh air, the Marauders all glanced around to find themselves back in the Forbidden Forest even! Nobody else seemed particularly happy with these circumstances, oddly enough.

Regulus found himself in some long ropes thick as he was heavily pinning him down, Evans went to help Smith disentangle Longbottom from a gnarly bush, and his brother, Lupin, and Potter immediately cheered in excitement and went to the very end of the barriers' reach as they raced each other to find out where exactly in the massive Forest they were. It wasn't comforting that none immediately knew what could be in the vicinity, nor that it was so heavily dark only the barest of a high noon sun trickled in through the trees to light the ground.

Peter came jogging over to help get him out though, offering him a hand up, and then hefting one uneasily in his hand as he eyed the trees he'd been between.

"I don't like this," Peter told him quietly. "We've never seen anything like this in here."

"Maybe, it has to do with Hagrid?" Regulus struggled to offer something well out of his depths, he'd only been in here a handful of times with some older students on a dare. They'd come across gnomes, a few bowtruckles and alizors before a nearby roar in the gloom had made them all decide a tactical retreat was best. "He keeps all kinds of mad things in this forest, right?" Was Fluffy running around here somewhere still? Or that car? "Harry and him are close, maybe he's domesticating something new, would explain why he's always so injured."