I need to say something that I don't hear anyone talk about
TW: Child Abuse, Child Torture, Swearing, Sexual harassment/abuse, Child sexual harassment/abuse.
And is that people like to hate on Snape a lot and love The Marauders and Lily, they like to point out all the things Snape did, as an adult I remind you, but ignore all the things they did to him, like it never happened.
First James tied him up so he wouldn’t fight back and when he swears at him he choke him with soap and sexually harass/abuse Severus. And if you think someone stripping someone else of their clothes and humiliate them in front of everyone is not sexual harassment we are going to have a very short conversation. There is the thing that this wasn't the first James did this to him. Which it would be sexual abuse.
After James leaves Severus in his underwear, Lily smiles at that, Snape calls her a mudblood in a moment of heat without any textual reason. Snape being sexually harassed in front of everyone, and Liliy contains her smile.
She tought sexual harassment was funny, who does that? Who is enough of a shit of a human being to smile at someone who is being harassed publicly, especially to a friend, because in her eyes she was a friend of Severus, what would Harry have done if Ron was being harassed? or Hermione? He would certainly not smile, I can tell you that much.
Lily even has the nerve to scold him for having called her a mudblood and being friends with Death Eaters, after she contained her smile, and Severus was aware of this fact, since all that was in Severus' memory.
I almost missed to mention that she walked away while her “friend” was still being stripped from his underwear, all because he said a slur. If a friend calls you a slur you have all the right to stop being their friend, but you don't walk away from that and let that happen, that’s just heartless and shows you never really care for them.
Some people think that Snape actually deserves that, because of his actions, actions that happened when he was an adult.
How exactly do you deserve something that happened to you before you act wrongly? I still wonder, because that's not how this works.
You don't get punished for something you unlikely would do, you just don't mix these things either. If you do something, you should be punished fairly for what you did, If someone did something wrong to you, you should have the right to have this person being punished for what they did to you, fairly. Pain and abuse aren’t tradable.
None of these things happened to Severus or Lily or The Marauders. And a child is never at fault of their abuse, never.
And I focused on Lily because she is viewed as someone gentle and kind, instead of a hypocrite.
When Harry wonders why she would marry someone like his father, it was possibly because she was like all the audience Severus had when he was being abused, the difference is that she pretended she wasn't.
And for all the people who love the Lily and James relationship or think it’s lovely, James threatens to hex Lily when she pulls her wand out, and trying to manipulate her into date him by torturing her “friend”. We already knew of his abusive behavior by not taking a no for an answer , and well… Everything else he did.
If these things didn't have happened to Severus he most likely wouldn't turn out the way he did, people aren't born evil, they could be born without empathy, which is not the case of Snape.
James was a mentaly healthy boy, he was also privileged with a wealthy wizard family (and feel superior by it) with loving parents, there is no reason for his behavior more than that, this is weak writing by JKRowling, but that is not a surprise. It could be that he was jealousy of Severus for being “friends” with Lily, but jealousy dosen’t make a minor sexually harass/abuse another.
(I just reread the book and it was in fact because he wanted to get Lily attention, not exactly by jealousy.)
He also bullied other people and hexed them, anyone who would bother him.
Sirirus grew up in a house of Death Eaters and, again, it doesn't explain what external influence made him hate the doctrine his parents tried to give him, and it wasn't his friends since he hated them, their doctrine and Slytherin House before going to Hogwarts. Weak writing.
Sirius send Severus to Remus while he was a werewolf, with the intention that that would kill Severus and make Remus a murderer, for the people who still don’t have it clear, Sirius atempted to kill Severus, and wasn’t a loyal friend.
18 years old Regulus black did realize how bad the situation was when Voldemort killed people, Regulus felt that wasn't right, and sacrificed himself trying to stop him.
He would not get along, much less have a relationship with James or Sirius, he was a Slytherin, James and Sirius hated Slytherins, didn't matter their beliefs or personality, they bullied anyone weak who couldn't defend themselves, in that case Severus.
It’s said that James saved the live of Severus (like that would make amends for all the abuse he give him, It wouldn’t), when it could be that he simply was saving his friend from becoming a murderer.
We were shown a Peter excited when his friends tortured Severus, which make sence his then future actions.
What did Severus do to them? Just existing according to James.
The list of things that we know James and Sirius did to Snape (they probably did more since they started bulling him since first year)
Choke him and make him gag with soap
Hex him and caused him bleed
Tried to make one of his friends to kill him
Sexually harass him publicly
This lasted for a period of seven years. Psychologically, being abused for years, and the most important years of human brain development do affect it, deeply, which could lead to developing all the trials and mental illnesses that Snape has been shown/implied to have in his adulthood.
But putting all this horrible things aside, the one who is the most to blame for how Severus turned out, and then makes fun of him, when he is an adult for joined the Death Eaters, for letting James and Sirius did this things, and even help them have more authority, was Albus. He was the adult, the director that supposed to protect the students, and fail by his own decision, he didn’t guide them, he genuinely thought that if a kid is being bullied or harassed they should know how to defend themselves, that they were responsible of their own safety, he is childish and irresponsible, neglected and abused his authority and students, and the character to have the most blame for everything that happened in Hogwarts. And he did know very well what they were doing to Severus.
So my point is, you can hate Snape, you can even hate Draco, who, correct me if I’m wrong, never did the most extreme things that James and Sirius did, and changed before he reached adulthood, I wouldn’t give you shit for that. But if you like Srius and Lily and James and Albus then you are just being a hypocrite and you don’t hate the Slytherins because they are bad, that's just an excuse.
Source: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix