Part 1 of 4 of the "evidence" he didn't change arguments
He didn't change - He continued bullying Snape behind Lily's back and lied to her
First of all, Sirius and Remus didn't say that he bullied Snape in his 7th year, but that he hexed him. Hexing someone doesn't necessarily mean bullying.
Second of all, Remus said that he only continued hexing Snape because Snape never lost an opportunity to curse him either:
"Well, Snape was a special case. I mean, he never lost an opportunity to hex James so you couldn't really expect James to take that lying down, could you?"
This indicates that it was at least a mutual hexing war between both boys. It's not bullying if they were both hexing each other. Some people argue with me that Remus lied, but what evidence do you have that Remus lied? There IS evidence that Remus was telling the truth
Evidence 1: Remus could have outright lied that James stopped hexing Snape in his 7th year
Seriously, if Remus wanted to lie, why not lie that James stopped hexing Snape in his 7th year? Why admit that fact and add that it was because Snape never lost an opportunity to curse him?
Evidence 2: Remus' choice of words
"Well, Snape was a special case. I mean, he never lost an opportunity to hex James so you couldn't really expect James to take that lying down, could you?"
Remus didn't use a dismissive and simplified sentence and neither did he use a convoluted/complicated sentence. But his sentence was complex enough. If he was lying, he would have just said something simple and dismissive like "Snape hexed your father too," People can't really crack their brain on the spot to come up with complex sentences when they lie, and if they do, the sentence ends up coming out muddled and confusing with unnecessary adverbs/adjectives.
- Opportunity = People harp about how James always had 3 friends backing him up, but this is where opportunity plays. Remember at the end of the 5th book, Draco waits for an opportunity to get Harry alone before attempting to ambush him? Similarly, whenever Snape caught James alone, he could have seized the opportunity for payback. And James wouldn't have had the map with him at all times especially since there are 3 other owners of the map. Harry didn't have the map with him when Draco ambushed him.
- Curse = It's telling that Remus chose the worse "curse" instead of "hex". Remus had just said that James stopped hexing people for fun. If he was lying, he would have continued using the same word "hex". His brain wouldn't have bothered switched to using a new word because it would have been busy lying.
Plus, it's also noteworthy that curses are darker and more dangerous than hexes. In SWM, we see Snape choose to use a curse (Sectumsempra) instead of hexes and jinxes to use against James. Later in DH, Remus said that Sectumsempra was Snape's specialty, meaning he used it quite often in school. Remus also didn't know that Levicopus was Snape's spell, meaning Snape probably never used hexes such a Levicorpus on James, but usually chose curses instead.
- You = Lies usually omit nouns/pronouns. But this sentence has 2 "yous" close to each other. A lie would usually be more like "couldn't' expect him to take that lying down"
Evidence 3: Rowling didn't specify that James and Sirius' relentless bullying was for all 7 years.
Pottermore states that Remus didn't approve of James and Sirius' relentless bullying of Snape. BUT, it didn't specify the timeframe of the relentless bullying. It's possible that it was relentless bullying in the first 5 years or so, but by their 7th year when James pretty much decided to leave Snape alone, Snape decided it was payback time and it resulted in a mutual hexing war where they would take turns trying to get each other.
Evidence 4: James was probably not even headboy
There's only one mention of James being headboy throughout the series. Even that was in the first book through Hagrid. In the 5th book, it was revealed that James wasn't a prefect. Harry was relieved when he finds out his father wasn't a prefect like him. If James was headboy, Harry would still have felt bad as his father was headboy.
Maybe he was headboy, but this doesn't mean much. It's possible that James had a virtue to keep his feud with Snape between them instead of telling on him. We have no evidence that James was whinny boy or a telltale who complained about every small thing someone did to him to the authorities. He would be even less inclined to complain if he himself was hexing Snape. If they were both hexing each other, James had nothing to complain about. And Snape doesn't seem like one to be intimidated by James' headboy position.
Evidence 5: Remus is a fair person
Remus is generally a fair person. He's not the type to accuse someone of something they didn't do. In HBP, he fairly advises Harry not to judge Snape and he fairly noted his gratitude that Snape dedicatedly brewed his potion for him during Harry's third year.
Evidence 6: Remus was NOT lying that Snape was jealous of James
Some people argue that Remus was lying when he said Snape was jealous of James, but he WASN'T. There's a memory of Snape attempting to get on a broom. In the Prince's Tale, when Snape speaks about James to Lily, his jealousy of James is evident. Whenever he speaks about James to Harry, he talks about James' fame and attention seeking and Quiditch skills. Rowling herself said on Twitter that Snape projected his hatred and jealousy of James on Harry.
Evidence 7: There is NO evidence that James used the Marauders Map and cloak to scout for Snape
Some people bring up that James had the map and cloak to stalk Snape, but seriously, there's no evidence for this. The one memory we see shows James and Sirius attacking Snape on impulse rather than making a calculated attack. Considering Pottermore states that Snape was obsessed with exposing James in wrongdoing (which Sirius, Remus and Lily attest to), it seems like Snape's the one who was following/ stalking the Marauders rather than the other way around.
Evidence 8: Snape had his Death Eater friends
After Snape's friendship with Lily ended, it's logical to deduce that he got in even deeper with his proto Death Eater friends (He even became a Death Eater). Sirius said that he was part of a group that almost all turned out to be Death Eaters. It's possible that they helped him.
Evidence 9: There's NO real evidence that he lied
Seriously, there's no actual evidence that Remus lied other than the assumption of certain fans. Plus, this is not real life. In a work of fiction, anything a character says is canon unless proven otherwise.
Yes, James didn't seem to have told Lily about his ongoing hexing war with Snape. Not commendable, but just because he changed, it doesn't mean he's saint. Noone is perfect. And he was still a 17-18 year old teenager. His change would have had to be gradual. He had changed enough to be less arrogant and stop hexing people for fun even if he hadn't outgrown his hostility towards Snape by then. Just because he kept his ongoing feud from Lily, it doesn't mean that he was deceiving her and not sincere in their relationship. Lily and Snape were not even friends anymore then. We can't even be sure if she cared about the immature feud between both boys.
Plus, his creator herself (Rowling) said on Pottermore that in the final few months of his Hogwarts years, his priorities changed to focus on the war and a world beyond Hogwarts (Marauders Map- Pottermore). I believe Severus Snape falls under a "world beyond Hogwarts", so even if he was hexing Snape in his final year, evidently stopped in his final few months. And I'm sure he matured even more after he left Hogwarts, especially after he became a father.
