The first time I read Snape's Worst Memory, I couldn't sleep. I stayed up 'til 3AM torn up about the sheer cruelty of that scene and how it was never addressed again.
No one helped. Worse, they revelled in his pain. Laughed at him. Even Lily cracked a smile. Lily was heartless enough to be amused by the public humiliation done to her old friend. It got worse and worse and worse.
And it was completely unprompted. The bullying was because Sirius was bored and James wanted to grab attention by any means necessary. James even said himself that he's doing all this because Severus, well, "exists." These kind of statements are enough to plant suicidal ideas in Severus' head—if he wasn't already contemplating it after the Marauders made sure his life was a living hell since he was eleven years old.
No one was punished. Not even a detention. Not a fucking apology from either Sirius or Remus during the entire run of Harry Potter. And as grown adults, they still fucking called him Snivellus. The bullies got away scot free, the ring leader got the girl. And died a heralded hero.
Severus was dehumanised in every sense of the word. He was clearly already beaten down before they even touched him. But no, they wanted to crush him. For no reason. He was bound and helpless and stammering. Mocked for his looks and hygiene and his name. He was choked with soap. He was strung up like a lamb and stripped. And I legitimately could only sleep after I crafted a nice little revenge story in my head about how Severus gets back at James and Sirius for what they did to him.
I bet you come sixth year, nobody has forgotten what happened to Snivellus Snape on their last day of OWLs. The state of Severus' underpants are common knowledge. The shape and length of his prick—of his entire body—is common knowledge. The rumour mill must've done what they did best and skeeved the details to their liking to make Severus look even worse in front of the whole school population. He would walk down any hall, meet someone's eyes, and have to wonder if they knew—how much did they know—how much did they see.
Shit like that affects your job opportunities. Severus has good as lost any nice, respectable reputation. Lost connections he could've made with peers and sponsors. And don't get me started on the effect all this must've had on his mental state. It's no fucking wonder he turned to the Dark Arts if this is how the Light side treated everyone.
I'm just utterly disgusted with how Hogwarts brushes the whole situation under the carpet, doesn't offer Severus support or counselling, doesn't enforce anti-bullying rules, doesn't even punish the abusers. What a joke.
