You know the whole wizarding thing really makes us ignore the level of bullying going on at Hogwarts, particularly between The Marauders and Snape
Like during the books the bullying is relatively chill? It's getting people caught out of bed late, and taking other people's stuff and the occasional spell cast is like, densaugeo which makes your teeth grow, and can be fixed by the end of the day. I'm ignoring Harry and Draco in book 6 since they were actively on opposite sides of a war there and fighting like it.
But in the Marauders era? That shits intense.
Like we only get one memory, so let's look at the spells cast. They take his wand (we have no idea what spell Snape was going for there) trip him up, make him eat soap - extreme but I'd say within the realm of high school bullying, especially what, 50 years ago now. In muggle terms it's just, they tripped him and made him eat soap? Idk if anyone's done that but it's on the level of sticking someone's head down a toilet imo, which Dudley mentions doing to Harry age 11.
But also then in muggle terms Snape pulls a fucking knife and stabs James in the face?!?!
Like I can feel sympathy for Snape in general, the Marauders in canon were dicks, but wow that is an escalation. Sectumsempra can literally kill someone very easily, one cm off and you hit an artery and James is bleeding out on the grass.
Maybe this is a wizarding issue though cause literally noone reacts lol, quote:
A gash appeared on the side of James's face, spattering his robes with blood.
And then James levitates him, arguably as defence. Everyone laughs at that, zero reaction to how James is currently bleeding out of his face. Lily demands they let him down after this. James is trying to fix his hair WITH BLOOD DRIPPING ONTO HIS ROBES
Ok to be fair that probably looked hot
But siriusly! No reaction from anyone! It's not even mentioned again in the scene, or later in the book? When Sirius and Remus are trying to defend their actions they at no point go "yeah did you miss the bit where he stabbed your dad in response?" Like honestly if I was Harry I'd be watching that like "yikes my dad and Sirius were shit- oh fuck OK nvm I think Snape deserved that if his instinct at age 15 is stabbing people. And, okay yep, one person defends him (why?) and he calls them a slur."
Also he didn't just use diffindo and hope it worked on human flesh, he made that spell himself, specifically "for enemies". He didn't just bring a kitchen knife to school, he made a fucking shiv for the exact purpose of stabbing classmates.
I'm trying to be balanced here but I just think Snape takes it absolutely way too far? Like there are so many fun and humiliating spells he could use to retaliate, I'm not saying he shouldn't defend himself, but his response is physical, blood spilling violence. And if we read into everyone's reactions, then it's probably been his response before.
Like yeah he has a right to retaliate, but dude. Change the colour of Sirius' hair or something, that'll distract him. Turn one of them into a ferret. Conjure a snake. Literally anything other than the equivalent of pulling a knife and stabbing someone.
