We did not take on faith that James was a bully- we were show this.
Not until the fifth book, we weren't. We didn't see anything of James until then, except for Harry's memory of his death. We were meant to take on faith that Snape had some kind of legitimate grudge based on his statements.
By the same token and in the same vein, we're given plenty of information that Snape was a thoroughly unpleasant kid who liked to curse people. We have as much evidence of it as we did, pre-OotP, of James bullying him. All we're lacking is the flashback scene, and we'll probably get it in book six (JKR said in that recent chat that we'd learn quite a lot about the back story in books six and seven). As I took on faith that Snape wasn't totally off the mark about James, I'm also taking on faith that Sirius wasn't totally off the mark about Snape. With James, it turned out to be true. I expect that it will turn out to be true with Snape as well.
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Date: 2004-05-09 11:27 am (UTC)Not until the fifth book, we weren't. We didn't see anything of James until then, except for Harry's memory of his death. We were meant to take on faith that Snape had some kind of legitimate grudge based on his statements.
By the same token and in the same vein, we're given plenty of information that Snape was a thoroughly unpleasant kid who liked to curse people. We have as much evidence of it as we did, pre-OotP, of James bullying him. All we're lacking is the flashback scene, and we'll probably get it in book six (JKR said in that recent chat that we'd learn quite a lot about the back story in books six and seven). As I took on faith that Snape wasn't totally off the mark about James, I'm also taking on faith that Sirius wasn't totally off the mark about Snape. With James, it turned out to be true. I expect that it will turn out to be true with Snape as well.