LET'S DISMANTLE ATYD Part 4
Let's continue with ATYD's DISMANTLE. You can find the first three parts HERE, HERE and HERE.
As mentioned in the previous part we have finished the third year of Remus (or rather this OC who was given the name of Remus) and now the 4th year is about to begin, let's begin:
CHAPTER 57 Remus is, as always, escorted to Platform 9 and 3/4 by the orphanage's director, which is obviously not canon compliant. She comments on the boy's appearance, saying this:
“They’ll all think you’ve joined a gang,” Matron tutted, barely concealing her disdain as she dropped him outside the station, “You look like a delinquent.” “Piss off,” he muttered, “What do you care?
This seems to me to be very much stolen from the canonical version of Harry, who is seen by his neighbors as a delinquent because he wears Dudly's old, torn and too-big clothes and wanders around alone. So once again, in order not to adhere to Remus's characterization, they're stealing from other characters to give him characteristics that aren't his. Remus joins his friends on the train. Sirius notices Remus's shaved head (when was he ever shaved?). As usual, this is an invention to make it tragic, since the orphanage's director shaves his head to avoid having to deal with lice. His friends are worried because Remus hasn't been in touch all summer because he was busy hanging out with the Muggle criminal gang (oh look, this isn't canon compliant either). But moving on, there's an interesting note. James is reading the newspaper and seems worried because an article talks about the war that's starting to make itself felt. There's a reference to Jenkins, the Dark Lord, and the impending war: "The wizarding world has been officially at war since 1970." That's interesting. The Marauders talk about the attacks that occurred over the summer and the fact that the Dark Lord is using vampires, giants, and werewolves as allies. At this news, Remus leaves the compartment and takes refuge in the bathroom. The most luxurious bathroom I've ever seen, this one made me laugh:
He stormed through the train, younger students leaping out of his way as he passed them, terrified. He didn’t need the loo, obviously, but he there wasn’t exactly anywhere else to go, so he locked himself inside a cubical at the far end of the carriage. It was much posher than the loos on muggle trains – with actual red velvet curtains in the windows and glimmering gold fixtures. The mirror even had a gilt frame. He stared at himself for a few minutes, glaring into his own eyes, clenching the sides of the sink until his knuckles turned white.
Oh, sure, then Remus starts kicking things in the bathroom to let off steam (yes, it's just like Remus to let off steam angrily) and then the moment comes, someone asks what's going on from outside the bathroom because that bathroom is Slytherin's, and guess who it is? SEVERUS SNAPE hahaha, he's always in the middle xd Remus obviously comes out with his wand raised and is aggressive right away.
“Oh my god,” Remus stood up, withdrawing his wand, “Are you looking for a fight or something?!” He flung the door open, finding himself face to face with a very shocked looking Severus Snape. Severus might have frightened him when they were both eleven, but at fourteen Remus towered over Snape now, and with his wand raised and his face screwed up in annoyance, he must have been a terrifying sight. “You.” They both hissed. Snape tossed his black greasy hair and sneered “What were you doing in there?” “None of your business. Out of my way.”
But the best is yet to come, listen here:
“What are you wearing?” Snape pulled a face, looking him up and down with disgust. “Are those muggle clothes?”
What? HELLO???? Snape, SNAPE lives among Muggles, wears his mother's Muggle clothes, and is teased by Petunia for it. SNAPE is the one who gets teased for his clothes and appearance in canon. Here, however, the author continues to portray Severus as an arrogant snob. Seriously, this is all so irritating and ridiculous. Not to mention the constant use of Snape's moody nickname for Remus when IN CANON the one being called by an unspeakable nickname is Snape. This whole attempt to turn things around is so embarrassing. It shows how much the Marauders Stan actually like Snape, like his difficult childhood, his tragic story, his complex and outbursts of anger, but rather than admit it, they rob him of all this by giving it to a completely fictional Remus. Truly, this is SHAMEFUL. And not content with that, Remus Beats Snape, seriously, look:
Snape’s eyes flashed, and a look of pure hatred crossed his face. He reached for his wand but – whether it was thanks to the closeness of the full moon, or just pure adrenaline – Remus was too quick for him. He grabbed Severus’s wrist and slammed it against the wall of the carriage, causing the Slytherin to cry out and drop his wand. Then, thinking of nothing but causing the most pain possible, Remus snapped his head forward and butted Serverus, knocking him down a second time. Snape was staring up at him, his black eyes shining with fear and rage, he clutched his robes against his nose, which was now gushing blood. Remus, feeling no better about any of it, spat on the floor and stepped over Snape. “There’s your warning for the rest of the year,” he growled, “Stay out of my way.”
Remus then angrily takes it and locks himself in an empty compartment with shaking hands. (An empty compartment? Since when have they all been crammed in? Oh well, let's forget it. Remus smokes... oh well, let's forget that too. Shortly after, Sirius joins him in the compartment, worried about him. The two talk for a bit. Remus thinks how cool Sirius is and lets him try a cigarette.
“Moony?” The door slid open, and Sirius’s head poked around the door. Remus glared at him, but Sirius came in anyway, and sat opposite. “All right, what’s up?” “Nothing.” Remus crossed his arms and slid down in his seat, staring at his boots. The laces didn’t match, red on the left, yellow on the right. He’d thought that looked really cool back in July, but now it looked a bit silly. “Something’s up. You’re not yourself.” “How would you know.” Remus spat in reply. “Maybe this is who I really am.” “I just know,” Sirius replied, uncharacteristically calm. Apparently spending so much time at the Potter’s had done wonders for his patience. “It’s ok to be angry sometimes, Remus. It doesn’t mean anything, except that you’re normal.” Remus looked up at him, surprised. Sirius smiled, understandingly, then smirked, “And for what it’s worth, I really do think you look so bloody cool.”
And at the end of the chapter Remus gives Sirius some newspaper articles that Professor Ferox gave him the year before.
CHAPTER 58 Remus arrives at Hogwarts and his first transformation already occurs. As always, these parts are interesting in their description, as is Pomfrey's concern. Remus reflects on the fact that he's starting to feel more comfortable in the wizarding world than in the Muggle one. Let's reiterate this: it's NOT canon compliant, since Remus didn't grow up in a Muggle orphanage. Once again, other characters are being stolen from to give Remus this experience. Remus is described as getting taller (when in canon, he's not the tallest of the Marauders, oh well). He's getting closer to Lily, Marlene, and Mary and talks to them. Their interactions are cute, though, at least until Remus asks Lily about Severus:
“You’ve seen Sniv—Severus today, then?” “Yeah, why?” “Erm… did he say anything about… seeing me on the train?” No,” Lily sounded surprised, “Why? What happened?” “Nothing!” Remus said quickly, “Just the usual, you know. Him being a prat.”
Oh really, Remus? Snape is a prat? Him? Not you, who threatened him with your wand and then beat him? This attitude is becoming more and more unbearable. I understand that the author wants to make Remus have angry outbursts, which aren't canon compliant, but at least it made sense, by Merlin! If you hit someone, you can't make them look like the bad guy; that's so manipulative. And Lily, who shortly after agrees with Remus? What kind of shitty friend is she? In canon, we don't know. It seems like she defends Severus, albeit mildly. Here, however, she's been agreeing for years that he's unbearable, unpleasant, and I'd even like to remind you that she even made a cauldron explode out of spite. This Lily isn't canon compliant.
“Mm.” Lily replied, looking down at her food and playing with her fork. She seemed uncharacteristically nervous. “He can be a bit of a prat, I s’pose.” She looked up again, at Remus, and lowered her voice even further, so that he had to lean closer to hear her at all over the din of the dining hall
And then it just keeps getting worse:
The Snape incident still bothered him, slightly. He had half expected McGonagall to be waiting to pounce as soon as he was discharged from the hospital wing – Severus almost always went running to a teacher, if he could get away with it.
Er, no? This is Draco at most knowing he at least has Snape's support, but Severus is NEVER defended by teachers in canon, not even when he's clearly the victim. (This is not canon compliant.)
James and Sirius argue about who's more successful with girls, and Sirius provokes James by saying he's sure Lily likes him, and Peter confirms that they've been doing this all summer. This part was cute. Remus wakes up during the night and goes to talk to Sirius, and to keep the others from hearing, he uses the Muffliato charm. Sorry, I'll say it again. Sirius uses the Muffliato charm. SIRIUS. This stuff makes me shiver with annoyance. Really, it's just the basics. The Muffliato was invented by Severus. Severus invented this spell and wrote it down in his copy of the Potions book; we're clearly shown it in the sixth book. Why, why go in direct contradiction to canon like this?
CHAPTER 59 This chapter is quite short; the main thing is that we find out that Mary did something with her Muggle boyfriend (yes, she did that) and is now very popular with the girls, who are curious and ask her how it went. And Remus notices and tries to ignore them. The usual teenage issues. My beloved Ferox returns, along with Remus's ever-present and obvious crush on him. This is perhaps the only character I like so far, even if he's an OC.
By the end of September, Snape had still not made his move. This put Remus somewhat on edge – and he wondered whether that was the intention.
Oh, so you know you're a piece of shit, Remus? You attack another boy and then dread the thought of him getting angry? What a coward. Remus and Lily become buddies in Potions class, and this clearly irritates Snape, and now comes the worst part:
“Have you two fallen out or something?” Remus asked, one afternoon as Severus shoved his way past to leave the dungeons. Lily sighed, wearily
What's Severus doing???? Severus shoved his way past to leave the dungeons?? Excuse me, imagine this small, absurdly skinny, sickly-looking boy PUSHING his classmates. You do realize that if Snape had even tried, he would have bounced off the floor, right? This Snape is practically Crabbe and Goyle xD It blows my mind how desperately the author distorts Snape so much to make him hateful, when IN CANON, the ones pushing their classmates are James and Sirius.
“No, not exactly.” She said. “He got annoyed when I had Mary and Marlene to visit over the summer, that’s all. Thinks they’re not the right ‘sort’. I have to keep reminding him that I’m muggleborn too.”
SORRY??? You mean to tell me that in this absurd story, Snape is even hateful to Lily and is clearly prejudiced against Muggle-borns in front of her? I can understand trying to give a personal vision to a character, trying to make him hateable because otherwise you don't know how to handle his complex characterization. (I find this lazy, but I can logically understand it.) But making him even stupid, no, that's unacceptable. I think from now on, when I see Snape's name in this story, I'll mentally correct it to Spungen. Who is Spungen? Well, an arrogant, pure-blooded, classist bully who evidently stole Snape's name but has nothing to do with him. Yes, I think I'll do that. Spungen is the OC that ATYD desperately needs to move the distorted plot forward. (Of course, I could have called him James Potter, but that would have created a continuity problem and would have been too canon for MStans.) Really, the more I read, the more I come across these parts, the more I want to write the ATYD Reworked version to fix all these non-canon compliant things, but it would be an endless job. As if renovating a house meant tearing it down and rebuilding it from scratch. Too much effort... even if...
“Why’d you put up with it?” “I don’t, really,” She replied, sounding sad, “I always have a go at him when he spouts that pureblood nonsense, and sometimes I think he listens to me. But… well it’s not easy for him, you know.”
CHAPTER 60 Remus investigates Greyback and his plan to find him once school is out. This part, despite not being canon-compliant (since it refers to Remus being an orphan, etc.), is interesting to read. The mystery surrounding Remus' father's past deepens. However, in canon, he's alive, so all of this, as we all know, isn't canon-compliant. Quidditch practice takes place, where Sirius and Marlene argue because Sirius is upset he didn't make the team. And wow, now some really strange things happen. As much as the Mstans consider ATYD their bible for cleaning up, the Marauders here are truly savage, and their bullying of the Slytherins extends to the entire school. The Marauders are, in fact, planning not only to beat Slytherin at Quidditch, which would be legitimate; it's a competition, after all. But they also say this:
“You’re the one who wants to destroy Slytherin.” James replied, cheerily, buttering some toast and sliding it over to his friend. Sirius glanced down at the offering disdainfully and looked away, closing his eyes again. James sighed, “Not just you, either. The whole school wants to see them beaten. Think of it as doing your bit for the war effort.”
Oh, really? The whole school dislikes Slytherin, and people still wonder why Slytherins are prejudiced. Merlin, everyone's been hating them for centuries just because of the colors they wear. Oh well...
“I thought you were doing your bit by hexing them in the corridors.” Remus said, helping himself to a slice of Sirius’s toast. “Exactly.” Sirius grunted, eyes still closed. “And that can be done at a reasonable hour.” “This is the only time we can fit practices in,” James said, starting to sound a bit annoyed now, “There’s no point going after dark, the pitch gets booked up in the evenings and lessons start at nine.”
Oh, what a great pastime, hexing them, that's BULLYING. Sirius and James talk to Remus about Time-Turners for the first time during breakfast, explaining how dangerous they are. Remus runs to the library to do some research. I imagine this will be picked up again in the future, but for now it's left hanging a bit.
Remus felt very strongly that the marauders needed a prank – and a big one.
WHO ARE YOU??? Remus in canon would never have encouraged his friends to play "pranks". It becomes increasingly irritating to see him characterized so poorly. Moving forward Remus feels followed in the library, initially he thinks it's the librarian, but then guess what... yes it's obviously Snape stalking him.
Finally, only a corridor away from the Potions classroom, he made a deliberate wrong turn and darted behind a tapestry. He waited. Sure enough, only a few seconds later, Severus Snape peered around the corner, looking confused. Irritation boiled up in Remus’s throat, and before he could think about it reasonably, he pointed his wand at the Slytherin and chanted, “Petrificus Totalus!” Snape went rigid, a look of surprise on his face that would have been comical, if Remus wasn’t so angry. The black-haired boy fell to the ground, arms and legs straight as a board, completely paralysed. His beady black eyes stared around, frantically, as Remus stepped out from his hiding place. He gave him a kick – not too hard, and only in the shin – and smirked down at Severus.
What the hell is wrong with you, Remus?? Really, WHO is THIS?? He cursed Snape and kicked him. You do realize that this is something Malfoy did to Harry in canon, right? Always double standards, Draco is rightly described as a bully while here Remus is supposed to be the good guy? But how do the Stans really think? Or rather, do they? Do they sometimes think or do they just pause? And not content with that, Remus calls Snape a creep.
“Stop following me, you creep.” He said. “Didn’t I warn you?” Snape stared helplessly up at him, and Remus laughed before heading for Potions with a spring in his step.
Remember how I said in the previous chapter that every time Snape is shown acting like a bully in a way that's completely out of line with canon, I mentally change his name to Spungen? Well, from now on, I'll do the same with Remus. These OCs are so absurd they really don't deserve canon character names. Yes, from now on, Remus will mentally be Spinks. (Spungen and Spinks were Draco's initial names before the author chose Malfoy. Given their behavior, it seems very fitting. I have a large project on ATYD anyway; it'll take me some time, but you'll see.)
CHAPTER 61 Sirius's birthday is coming up again, and of course everyone's already starting to plan a party as usual. Remus and Marlene talk, and she asks him if Sirius likes her. This is a way to show Remus's growing interest in Sirius; actually, it's fitting from the perspective of the FF, since he's primarily Wolfstar. Just as Marlene's interest in Sirius takes me back to the golden days when the ship between them was more popular. James and Sirius are still having a bet over who will kiss first (which is quite problematic, with sexist undertones, but hey, what can you expect from 1970s bullies?) The Quidditch match takes place, and Sirius plays in it... honestly, I'm lost for a moment. I'm reading the chapters in installments and have no desire to reread the previous ones. The fact is, he plays his first match. Obviously, Gryffindor wins, and Sirius tries to kiss Marlene, who ducks, turning her cheek to him. The Gryffindors celebrate in the common room that evening, and Sirius unwraps his presents, nothing special. During the night, Remus wakes up to hear James and Sirius confabulating, and joins them, proposing a prank of his own. *I roll my eyes in irritation* But of course, let's keep this Remus practically in charge of the Marauders, thinking up and proposing pranks... how embarrassing.
“Well?” James asked seriously, pointing his wand light at Remus like a microphone. “Tell us!” “Just a second,” Remus rolled his eyes, withdrawing his own wand, “Muffliato!”
Oh yes, of course they continue to use the Muffliato in their FOURTH YEAR, you know that by now, right? This is NOT CANON COMPLIANT. Snape invented this spell and wrote it down in his sixth-year potions manual. Well, the idea of the prank is to change all the clocks in the school, moving them forward by five minutes, so that the gradual change won't be noticed until much later. The chapter ends with an explanation of Remus' idea.
CHAPTER 62 The Marauders go to enchant the clocks, leaving Peter alone (who knows why he'll betray them, they're always so nice to him -.-) After a few days, no one notices that the time has changed, and Remus, after some time, tries to put the time back behind his friends' backs, while Sirius, who has noticed, even changes the time all at once without telling his friends exactly how much. (Honestly, I don't understand this part. Was it Remus' idea, right? And now he wants to end it? Has it gone too far? I don't know, I'm not sure.) Anyway, even meals are messed up with this new timetable, and some students sleep poorly. And the teachers in all this? I don't know, they don't show up, they don't do anything. After a month, Remus stops trying to put things right, and Peter gasps while looking out the window in Transfiguration class. McGonagall looks out and notices (finally) that the sun is rising at what everyone believes to be 11:00 AM. I'd say it's about time. We're told that Dumbledore didn't notice anything because he was practically out of school. This is one of those little details that makes us understand that the headmaster was busy with something outside, probably related to the war. These are interesting parts that I would have liked to see more in depth, but instead they only serve as a reason to explain his absence. What a shame. Anyway, Dumbledore immediately realizes that the Marauders must be behind it.
“Admirable.” He said, approvingly, “Then we shall have to treat you all equally, hm? I think ten points each from Gryffindor, do you agree, Professor McGonagall.” “At the very least!” She nodded, “And detentions!” “I shall leave that in your capable hands, then. Just one thing, boys.” They all looked up, wincing as they braced themselves for the telling off. “You’re all clearly very gifted wizards,” Dumbledore continued to smile. Peter gave an odd sort of squeak. “That much is clear. It was a simple spell, yes, but highly effective. That kind of thinking will take you far. But perhaps a little more forethought and planning next time? You might not have been discovered quite so quickly.”
And this is one of the reasons why I think Dumbledore has been characterized in many stories over the years as... how can I put this elegantly? Well, as an idiot. Okay, even in canon he turns a blind eye to Harry's actions when he breaks school rules, but he never encourages him to put himself in danger when he screws up. When he arrives at school in his second year with Ron, using his machine, he sometimes doesn't say to him: "Admirable, guys, really fantastic, you'll go far, but next time, don't get caught." Dumbledore plays favorites even in canon, that's obvious, and pretends not to see certain things, but not like that, not inciting bullies to harm the entire school, including the teachers. Dumbledore, my beloved old hypocrite, what have they done to you? And nothing, the four get punished with three weeks of detention.
CHAPTER 63 Remus follows news about Greyback's whereabouts and goes to talk to Professor Ferox. The two drink tea, and while Ferox says he's out of cigarettes, Remus offers him one of his. Ferox then makes it clear that he suspected him of being the one selling illegally at school. Like HELLO? Spinks sells... oh, sorry, Remus (the fake Remus) sells illegal weed, a teacher catches him and shrugs, nodding at his cigarette? Why are teachers like this here? Anyway, the two talk about Greyback and his predilection for transforming children; this part is actually interesting. We then return to teenage issues and the bet made by James and Sirius, which becomes increasingly redundant, with James continuing to try to get Lily to notice him, but Lily ignores him. Remus and Sirius see Peter's name in a closet on the Marauders map. Frightened by the thought that someone had locked it, they go to him with the cloak. They throw open the closet door and find Peter with a girl named Desdemona Lewis.
“Who’s there?!” She stared around, pale and wide eyed, her hair mussed up and her lips very pink and wet. Pete stared about as well, slightly more suspiciously, but just as rumpled, “Probably just Peeves.”
Okay, I admit this was unexpected, Peter won the kissing bet.
CHAPTER 64 In this chapter, the boys celebrate Christmas. Remus takes James and Sirius to the movies for the first time, and the two are already very interested in understanding how the ingenious Muggle device works, so much so that they go several times. They're actually cute moments, but it's a shame about the constant references to the Muggle gang Remus is part of, which are obviously not canon compliant. I liked the way James and Sirius change their attitude when they see Muggle girls at the ticket booth on their third visit to the cinema.
However, boredom soon got the better of them, and on the third visit to the picturehouse, a distraction presented itself in the form of a group of girls queuing at the ticket booth. At once, James and Sirius stopped discussing the ins and outs of visual perception versus frame rate, and started acting very oddly indeed. James made more of an effort to flatten his hair than ever, while Sirius began leaning casually against the wall as if he was James Dean. The girls obviously noticed, and kept glancing back and then giggling amongst themselves. They must be freezing, wearing miniskirts in December, Remus thought to himself. Finally, the girls finished buying their tickets and went into the second screen.
As much as I hate them (as fictional people), I really enjoyed this part because, ultimately, they're just insecure kids. The two suggest Remus watch something different and they end up watching... The Great Gatsby. I wasn't expecting that xD They watch the movie and Remus, even though he struggles to admit it to himself, starts to really enjoy it and turns around to see if his friends are enjoying it too.
At some point, Remus glanced to his left, to see if Sirius and James were enjoying the film too - and found that he had been abandoned. Twisting about in his seat, he stared into the darkness behind him, and could just about make out the dark shapes of his two friends sitting in the very back row - both engaged in some kind of horrendous teenage grappling match with two of the girls from earlier.
Poor Remus, hahaha. He gets dumped like that because James and Sirius have to go make out with the two girls. xD From that moment on, the evening is ruined for him. He leaves the cinema and starts wandering around. He first spots a shop he plans to rob, but then thinks better of it, since if the Potters found out, they wouldn't have let him in anymore. The description of Remus as a criminal blows my mind; it's so absurdly unbelievable that it really feels like a parody.
He kicked the side of the shelter with his heavy boots. An old woman, walking past with her little scottie dog tutted at him loudly, and he swore in return, throwing up a middle finger.
What was I telling you? It's getting worse xD Shortly after, James and Sirius reach Remus and ask him why he left and Remus blurts out:
“Why’d you leave?” “Could ask you the same!” “We only popped off for a minute…” “Ugh, I don’t want to hear about it.” Remus covered his ears. He glared at James, “What about Lily? What about ‘it’s not time yet, but I don’t mind’?” Remus parroted back the words James had spoken in November. James looked stricken for a moment, but Sirius laughed heartily and slapped Remus on the shoulder “Oh come off it. Evans isn’t going to care if Potter snogged some muggle girl when he was fourteen. Calm down, Moony.” That did it. If there was anything more likely to send Remus into a rage, it was being told to ‘calm down’. “No!” He growled, “You made me watch that stupid girls film just so you could grope a couple of muggle birds in the back row!” Sirius tossed his dark hair and rolled his eyes, “Merlin, Lupin - we can go and see your beloved Charles Bronson tomorrow , if you really want. I mean, excuse us if we want to act like normal teenagers for five minutes.” Something about this insult struck Remus so sharply, that if he’d had his wand he’d have cursed Sirius right then and there. As it was, he only had his fists - fortunately he was pretty good with those, and punching was often a lot more satisfying than cursing. By the time James had wrenched them apart and stood between them, Sirius’s nose was extremely bloody, and Remus could feel the beginnings of a black eye forming.
This part is actually interesting; it shows how Remus feels out of place, excluded even by his friends, and abnormal in his general disinterest in girls. While this obviously aims to lay the groundwork for Wolfstar, which is the main ship of the FF, I think it's a good point that could be inserted into canon. We know that Remus has never loved anyone before Tonks and that he rejected her too for fear of hurting her and dragging her into his complicated life as a werewolf. So yes, I actually like this point. Once they return to the Potter house, James's mother tends to Remus and Sirius's wounds. Remus then goes to sleep and has a very disturbing dream in which everyone is kissing and he feels increasingly uncomfortable. All this combined with details from the various films, including Ferox appearing and shooting someone. This scene was also very cute. I think this is my favorite chapter so far; it's the least problematic. I don't know what to point out, but it was honestly fun to read. James joins Remus when he wakes in the night after the nightmare, and the two make up, with James admitting that the kisses are nothing special and that he finds them disappointing. In the morning, they unwrap presents with the Potters. Dumbledore's phoenix patronus appears in the hall and warns them that there has been an attack, and shortly thereafter comes to speak with them. Oddly enough, they let James and the others listen. And indeed, the boys offer to help fight Voldemort:
“We can help!” James spoke up. Mrs Potter sucked in her breath, her eyes still very pink. “Yeah!” Sirius said, eager to show himself equal to James. “You can depend on us, sir.” Remus didn’t say anything, but he nodded along, hoping that Dumbledore knew that he too had chosen his side. “I hope it won’t come to that.” Dumbledore was smiling, his forget-me-not blue eyes twinkling with emotion for his pupils. “But thank you, boys.” “No!” Mrs Potter said, “They’re children, Dumbledore.” “I’m of age in two years!” Sirius said, straightening up, asserting his position as the eldest marauder. “And we’re the best in the year at defensive spells!” “And hexes,” James put in, then quickly shut up, seeing the look his mother shot him. Dumbledore chuckled, softly. “Indeed.” He said, “Your mother is quite right, however. All I ask is that you are on your guard, and that you look after each other. Now, I must be going, I have other calls to make. Fleamont,” Dumbledore stood up and shook Mr Potter’s hand, “I will be in touch. Euphemia,” he turned to Mrs Potter apologetically, “Merry Christmas. I’m afraid I won’t be attending your party, tonight.”
I think this is one of the points most Mstans have used over the years to cast aspersions on Dumbledore, describing him as a manipulator who used children to fight. He obviously objects to this, but knowing that all the Marauders are actually part of the original Order of the Phoenix, I understand where this description of Dumbledore comes from. It could actually be interesting if used well; we'll see.
