Yeah, it's like we're supposed to think that because of things that happen in the future, their behavior is justified, or at least not that bad. But the characters aren't Seers. They don't have the reader's knowledge of what's going to happen in five or fifteen years. Even with the benefit of hindsight, the best justification for James continuing to hex Snape during those two years--according to his best friends, trying desperately to convince Harry that his dad was a totally great guy--was basically, "Er. Um. Snape... fought back? That's a crime you can't take lying down, right?" And Lupin in the past claimed Snape didn't like James because he was jealous of his Quidditch prowess, so he's willing stretch the truth pretty far in pursuit of defending James and vilifying Snape. But in this case, even he can't quite bring himself to tell a whopper of the required magnitude. Which says something about just how bad James's unprovoked hexing must have been.
It's also pretty sad how Harry thinks his dad must have done something as drastic (and horrible) as using a love potion to make Lily date him, and Remus and Sirius respond that no, actually he just hid things and lied to her, which is fine! And the narrative seems to be pushing us toward agreeing (otherwise an epilogue where Harry names one of his kids James would be horrifying and/or tragic, not a cathartic happy ending as the narrative structure insists). But poor Harry is so desperate to hold on to the idea of his dad as a good guy that he accepts this. Everyone telling him for years how much he looks like his dad and encouraging him to identify with James can't help matters.
OotP is the one book I don't have a copy of at present, so I don't remember exactly how that conversation went. Did they say James hexed only Snape after fifth year, or did they just agree that well, yes, he kept hexing Snape, and we're not saying one way or another about whether he kept hexing a few other favored targets? I seem to remember that Harry never asked, and Sirius and Remus never volunteered, whether it was only James continuing the hexing those years, or whether it was still four-on-one, only now in secret. (Kind of like how they never actually said whether Snape was right about them all being in on the Prank from the beginning, and just let Harry assume they weren't.)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2019-06-04 02:55 am (UTC)It's also pretty sad how Harry thinks his dad must have done something as drastic (and horrible) as using a love potion to make Lily date him, and Remus and Sirius respond that no, actually he just hid things and lied to her, which is fine! And the narrative seems to be pushing us toward agreeing (otherwise an epilogue where Harry names one of his kids James would be horrifying and/or tragic, not a cathartic happy ending as the narrative structure insists). But poor Harry is so desperate to hold on to the idea of his dad as a good guy that he accepts this. Everyone telling him for years how much he looks like his dad and encouraging him to identify with James can't help matters.
OotP is the one book I don't have a copy of at present, so I don't remember exactly how that conversation went. Did they say James hexed only Snape after fifth year, or did they just agree that well, yes, he kept hexing Snape, and we're not saying one way or another about whether he kept hexing a few other favored targets? I seem to remember that Harry never asked, and Sirius and Remus never volunteered, whether it was only James continuing the hexing those years, or whether it was still four-on-one, only now in secret. (Kind of like how they never actually said whether Snape was right about them all being in on the Prank from the beginning, and just let Harry assume they weren't.)