Quote from Naaga on May 10, 2023, 11:35 am

Yeah, both McG and Snape favoured their house above the others. Only difference was Snape openly favoured and disciplined behind the doors and McG did the opposite.

Quote from mmlf on May 11, 2023, 3:00 am

Quote from Motanul Negru on May 10, 2023, 8:21 am

Of which he did little enough on page; about the only really obvious example I can think of rn is the Quidditch booking shenanigans in CoS.

I think he also had a tendency to downplay the errors of his own House during classes, while overblowing those of Gryffindor.

Quote from IFFIN on August 8, 2026, 10:00 pm

Quote from FIQ on April 9, 2023, 9:22 am

Quote from The Gestalt Prince on April 8, 2023, 1:30 am

This is a smaller scale, and I hate saying this, but Dumbledore covering up Sirius Black's prank on Snape to protect Remus. It's a balancing act between injustice and needless death, so he had to choose the lesser evil.

Partial disagree; I think Dumbledore should have been more fortright with Severus about why he did what he did. I also think he should've given Snape the opportunity to choose a person to share the event with in order to give Snape someone to talk to in the aftermath. Remus already had his friends to talk to about things, why not give Snape -- the wronged party here -- the same chance?

I agree. I also think he should have told the others not to mention anything about it. Anything, and that means Severus being saved. Someone was telling others, my guess it was Sirius, that James saved Severus. I do wonder what the Marauders  told others what James saved from Severus from. The giant Spider? I do think that the werewolf incident did show Dumbledore that  Severus kept his word, but it also showed Severus how Lily took others word before his. This must have been eating him most of the year. Not to mention hormones. I think the werewolf incident added more to Severus turning more to his "death eater" friends than I had thought before. I wonder if Dumbledore had allowed Severus to tell Lily, would things be different.  I also wonder why JKR added this incident to the series? ...okay I did a quick Google search and it is a whole different topic. .. I will check if there is a separate post.

As for the necessary evil. I think of how Snape would refer to Voldemort as the Dark Lord and not what others that were not death eaters would. I think he had to say it because first us the readers. It kept us guessing. This was used as a clue that he was on the dark side before book 7. Second, I think one of the first things Voldemort did when Snape went back to him was to read his mind and if he caught Snape using "he who shall not be named" or just Voldemort he would question Snape's devotion.  Voldemort was probably looking for those little things that added up and sometimes show more.

Quote from luke on August 9, 2026, 1:04 am

Quote from Naaga on April 8, 2023, 1:41 am

I also believe the death of Potters to be one of them.

Yes, it led to misery but frankly Voldemort seemed invincible in first war and he was on cusp of victory before the backfiring of his killing curse. Death Eaters had infiltrated ministry, had support from major pure blood houses and were better organised and trained over the Order. Their only canon casualties were Evan Rosier and Wilkes compared to the Order which lost about 70-80 % of their members.

So it was frankly a miracle that Voldemort died and it provided time before Voldemort's second coming, which was utilised by Dumbledore.

I agree with you @naagaa, Peter mentions that Voldemort already taken over everywhere in one year before Peter decided to betray the potter family. Lupin mentioned the order member is so few compared to Death eater that is many times more than order.  I bet the Death eater which we see in goblet of fire is already elite member. There are many death eater that voldemort did never bother to remember their names. Maybe because they are incompetent or not having wealth to support him in the war. Regulus become inner circle because he is from house of black even thought he is only 16.

Compared to Order which is supported by potter family and longbottom,no wonder they have very difficulty to win the war.

And the reader who blamed Snape for death of potters is not thinking ahead. It was not like the potters will go into overseas if voldemort winning. That was not James and Lily personality. They will prefer guirella warfare over running like a coward. Their fate is sealed the moment they joined order.

Honestly,many readers want to believe what they wanted to see. They don't realize how bad first wizarding war is ,because rowling never bothered to show,instead of just tell