A/N: This was originally ch2 of James Potter: A Study, but it didn't quite fit. So now it belongs to itself.
'James the Brute' by one Severus Snape.
He's not worth the brain cells it takes to focus on for even a moment. That jerk lies to torment me, as I do him. We are polar opposites. Black and white. Brain and brawn. Dignity and popularity.
Potter stands so high on his pedestal that it seems to be a blatantly incomprehensible notion for him that I may truly have some spark of goodness within me. He cannot comprehend that I am not the "bad guy." He is not even able to imagine that it may be he who is in the wrong.
From the first day I met him, before we had had the slightest chance to get to know one another, he had already judged me. He had already locked me in a box. He justifies his cruelty to me in thinking that he is the heroic Gryffindor defeating the evil, slimy, traitorous villain Slytherin. How easily he allowed himself to sink into stereotypes. He thinks he's a god. He actually believes that what he's doing- what he does to me- is the right thing to do! He wants to be looked up to! Admired! Loved!
I, for one, refuse to bow down to his pathetic self-idolatry. I cannot deny the darkness that overwhelms me… but it, by no means, makes me "evil." No, I may be irreversibly damaged, but Evans is not. Beautiful Lily Evans, the one light in my life of gloom… I refuse to allow her to be corrupted by that selfish pig, Potter. That is why I must fight him. I must continue this infantile, disgusting war with Potter and his stuck-up troupe. How can they possibly see themselves as the heroes when so clearly it is always the four of them ganging up together on me, and me alone. As if that were not enough, they also cleverly christened me Snivellus. How charming.
That rich boy, Potter has no idea what I have to live with every day. No, he's stuck in his little bubble of ignorance. He had two loving parents who doted on him and could afford anything he had ever needed. His class robes are always moderately nice and have an air of wealth about them no matter how scuffed the get. He seems to want to rebel from his loving environment. He complains about his "Mum" and his "Dad." He cannot appreciate what so many others would die to have. What I would die to have. A stable, loving family. But I'm not disillusioned enough to think that it's something worth hoping for. I hate my father. I pity my mother. We never have enough money… not for me, anyway.
He always longs for adventure. What he should appreciate is his stability. He is immature. He is foolish. And with this… conflict… going on lately… with the Dark Lord… that is the last thing anyone can afford to be.
If I may say in all honesty? James Potter is a brute. He is arrogant. He is an imbecile. He is a swine! He is careless and selfish, with the mentality of a two-year-old! I refuse to conform with all his brainless groupies. I refuse to place trash on a pedestal.
I, Severus Snape, do hereby declare my absolute and undying hatred for James Potter.