Well,their is one boy I know who I absolutely hated last year, and now we're best friends. It happened like that for Lily, but it just took longer. I think James wasn't mature enough for her until her 7th year. That was when he became responsible and they fell in love. James always loved Lily more than any other girl, ever since he laid eyes on her. He may have dated other girls, but Lily was the only one he truly cared about. I could keep going on for hours and hours about their love, everything James did for Lily, and how they died *tear* too soon, but I'll stop now. I just love James, Lily, and James' love for Lily!!!

As GrennDayGirl9293 said before me, James was not mature enough or not really Lily's type until later. But it might also be true that Lily herself was not ready for a relationship but in her last years of school. Or maybe she had some fancy of her own earlier in life, and had no eyes for that little brat of a Potter.

i think that he was alwyas lily's type...and that she just hadn't seen it yet. that maybe she had grown up too fast and she didn't know what it was lke to be young and careless like james. I think the way he acted scared her and that is why she ran forom him instead of towards him. But its just my opinon.

I don't think she was "scared," as you put it. Maybe she just didn't like violence and wanted him to mature. Grow up a bit, stop hexing everyone and all that. The scared part is a bit, well, odd. But then again, that is just my point of view. *loves on Bri*

Maxie

I'm more of the she had to grow up a bit line of thinking. I was trying to remember being 11 (will not say how long ago that was) and i remember "likeing" a certain boy and having crushes but there is no way that i fell in love with anyone at that age. I think Lily probably did have a crush on James but knew that he was too much of a twit at that age to waste her time on him then. Later when she saw that he had started to grow up (finally) she was ready to give him a chance.

i think that snape was jealuse of jame's life and that was one of the reasons they hated each other and i think snape liked lily too and that he hated the fact that james loved her too. but the fact that james hexed random people had to have started part of it as well. i think it was a bucnh of stuff all mixed together.

I think that Snape was jelaous of James he was popular and he had Lily. I think that Snape wanted to be more like James and he knew that it would never happen. I think that given the chance he and Lily could have been friends but James kept that from happening so that is just another reason why they where always fighting between one another. Then you bring into play the one time that Snape might have actually been hurt by their pranking and he could not stand the fact after all the fighting that James had been the one to save him.

#1 - Gryffindor vs. Slytherin
#2 - Lily
#3 - Arrogance

These are the three reasons as to why I believe that Snape was not fond of James and vice versa. Gryffindors and Slytherins have never gotten along in the past or the future and well, they probably never will. I am not sure if this was the thing that triggered it or not between them but I am sure that it played a major factor within.

I also believe that Lily was another reason for Snape to hate James the way he did. I have believed for a long time that Snape had a huge crush on our dear Lily and was quite upset at the fact she gave Jamiekins a chance. But I am not too sure if James realized that Snape had a crush on Lily. Men are a little nieve when it comes to stuff like that...they have told me so themselves!!

Thirdly, James' big head was a key factor too. He played Quidditch and was a star of Hogwarts along with his best mate, Sirius Black. Together they picked on the runts of the school and I am sure that at age 11, Snape was a rather small boy with greasy hair. James thought it would be funny to pick on this unusual boy and so together he and Sirius did just that!! James noticed that the girls were starting to pay more attention to him in the latter years and thus he kept it up.

Now I will ask a question here, how do you think it all started between Snape, James and the rest of the Marauders? It had to have started somewhere!

I think it started on the train or at sorting (like harry and draco). snape, who had a bad life and childhood sawsomeone who he might want to be friends with. i think the reaction with james was automatic. like when u meet someone for the first time and u just don't like them, no reason really just don't. so james rebuffed snape but was friends with a whiner like peter and snape couldn't understand why. the relationship went down hill after that culminating in james saving his life.

<just my opinion i could be wrong>

Now this is an interesting observation, but it does make me wonder...what if James indeed knew that Snape had a crush on Lily? Would he have tried harder to win Lily's affection because of his animosity towards Snape? It would have been like a sort of motivation to take away anything that Snape enjoyed just to make his life miserable. Of course James loved Lily, but he could have had an ulterior motive in his pursuit of her; such as enjoying Snape's reaction when he discovered that James and Lily were together.

I think it might started with just James and Snape. The two could have met up somewhere, such as on the train or at the sorting as Beck mentioned, and took an immediate dislike to each other...sort of judging a book by its cover. Perhaps they didn't even give each other a chance to show their true personality. The fact that Snape wasn't exactly the most popular boy in school probably further spurred the Marauders dislike of him, although I'm not sure why. People are strange like that...with popularity and cliques and such. As for the rest of the Marauders...well I think they just took their cue from James. If James didn't like Snape, the others didn't like Snape and didn't even bother giving Snape a chance.

i agree with that!!!

I think that was definitely part of it as well and I also think Lily was a factor because it seemed as if Snape liked Lily too and was jealous that she eventually ended up with James. Maxie, in my opinion had another point that I agree with; they were both at fault, James with his hexing and Snape with always retaliating and determination to show James up.

Well, I really can't say much about their relationship. But I expect their rivalry was from the start like it was with Harry and Draco. They are opposite poles. I also think, like certain name origins suggested at mugglenet, that they really fought over lily. James was always smarter, quicker and better at loads of things, and that did cause a struggle between them - atleast that's what I wanna think !

I think Lily thought that his 'puppy love' would go away, because most people dont fall in love at the age of eleven. I dont think she was as harsh as people think she is towards James, I think she is a little more mature than the standards they hold her to. If James had not slacked in teh mature department, I think they would have gotten together faster.

I think Snape was jelous, but not as jelous as James makes it seem. Also James does have a big head and is very arrogant [so we have read/heard] so that was also a main factor.

Okay here is a thought!! There are two reasons why I see James as Head Boy:

#1 - for him to obviously grow up but I wonder if there was more....

#2 - Someone was sick and tired of watching these two running in circles around each other that they placed them together (Dumbledore) and knew that they were perfect for each other!! I would have done it...heck I would have been the first one there clapping and saying "It's about time!!!"

As I have said before, for someone who said she did not like James, she surely watched him closely and knew every move he made. I will have to find my quote again....*runs and grabs quote*

Edit: I found it

Okay, I had to go back and read one of my favorite chapters in the whole HP series, Chapter 28 - Snapes Worst Memory in OoTP. There was a part in there were and I quote Lily on this:

Okay, this is during the time that Sirius and James have hexed Snivelly and turned him upside down. Wow! She sure does notice ALOT about a boy she does not care for!! And he was just playing with the Snitch too!!

Tell me what your thought are on this quote!!