Poll: One Marauder Friend
I picked Moony (Remus) because I feel like he would be the easiest to break away from the others rather than some kind of awful package deal. But only if you got him early enough - if the others have become animagi no luck.
I find the arguments for both Peter and James quite compelling though. I used to have a lot of friends like Peter, but ultimately being friends with them never really helped them be less.... like that.... and while I agree that James is a good friend, I've had friends who bullied people and it's awful, I couldn't stand it. I think I'd really struggle to stay friends with James (or Sirius) because of that.
As for what we'd do, I like to read and spent pretty much all of my own highschool and university in the library so I think we'd get on ok studying and reading together.
Yeah, I definitely think Remus would be a good reading/study partner. For all his flaws, he was obviously smart and cared about education… that definitely shows up in his teaching later on.
I chose Peter because I like the underdogs and feel that he was one of them, in fact I find many similarities between him and Neville.
Both were hatshalls, both were timid and insecure and both were generally mocked and bullied by the others.
Difference for the Neville was support by friends like DA members but Peter was not encouraged or made to feel like he belonged with the group and eventually his insecurity and desire for self preservation led him to make those loathsome choices.
I feel that with right support and guidance, Peter could bloom like Neville, the guy who went from the most bullied kid in Harry's year to the leader of DA in seventh year and a badass who killed Nagini in one of the most epic moment. So I would befriend Peter for his potential. Peter was quite underrated and with right support, I can earn myself a very reliable friend.
You are so right about the differences between Peter and Neville. It's yet another one of those things that goes to show that Harry was a much better person than his father was. In some ways, I think James's abuse of Peter was worse than the way he treated Severus. Neither was great, of course, but mistreating someone under the veneer of friendship is especially messed up.
I chose Remus because I feel like he likely felt kind of trapped into the Marauder friendship, and hopefully if he had other close friends he would've felt more secure and more able to stand up to them when they crossed lines. I also picked him because he values education, and I can't stand people who deliberately and unnecessarily harass/distract others from learning/studying/doing their job. And looking further down the line; he lost his entire friend/support network in one go. That had to be hell. Perhaps, if he had other support/people calling out his BS there, he could've been there for Harry more instead of staying away (presumably because of guilt/being in too much pain to believe he would be welcome?)
I picked Remus as the most outwardly civilized of the four.
As long as them other three gits don't show up in conversation, let alone physically, he could actually be fun to hang out with, in controlled dosage.
