When Severus was younger do you think it was difficult for other people to approach him or to try to be friend with him??

First kids are cruel but to be honest so are adults. I get a feeling his father was one probably not well liked and I wouldn't be surprised if the neighborhood kids were told to steer clear. Tobias more than likely had a the title of vicious and dangerous man. There were no details but I'm almost sure that what Patunia may have been hinting at by knowing him and where he lived. Then Severus being standoffish by learned response from abuse added to his being looked at as unfriendly when it was truly lack of trust and faith in people. Just as were he lived the same at school. We also know from our own experiences in school that even if the intelligent ones are friendly, out going, and dressed well their always on the outside.

Yes and no. I think Severus' reputation, more so than his actual personality, kept most people away, especially after the incident with Lily.

Yes, he might have looked quite scary if "he knew more hexes in first year than most of the seventh-years" (as Sirius said).

Besides, Slytherin House was ostracized, it might not have been that easy for a Slytherin to make friends with the other House members. Slytherins tended to keep among themselves.

I totally agree with bri-marie. Things people thought about Severus made them not to approach him and not to try to be friend with him...and I also think that people thought that he was weird because of all his clothes things and his appearence...And we must say the truth, he was not very friendly, but I think that he was like that because of his parents...poor Sev...
Besides, Lily saw something good in him. They were friends. People had to have the same courage that Lily had to start a friendship...

I don't suppose anyone at Hogwarts, apart from Lily, wanted to sit next to him, let alone be friends with him. And I don't think Severus would ever have wanted it otherwise. It would make him uncomfortable.

But I don't know, I always imagined that Remus would be his friend, and Severus would've allowed it, if James and Sirius hadn't got to him first.

And with Lily, I think Severus tended to go to the opposite extremes. I mean when he hated, he hated without reservation, without stopping, but it's the same when he loved, without reservation, without stopping, even after they're dead.

He's a good person, and everyone would've known that. If not for one word spoken by a dusty, old hat.

x

Yes, I think it would have been difficult for most, since Hogwarts (like any other school) is clearly very clique-ish. Knowing myself, I would have tried. I myself was a misfit, but I was proud of it, I didn't want to belong to anyone's damn group. I *did* reach out to other kids who were in awkward situations, and while my friendship wasn't always accepted, it was more often than not a worth-while effort.

Do I think Severus would have accepted my offer? I don't know. I was a freak at that age (well, I still am), and we would have had at least three things in common, and I wouldn't have wanted to go into Gryffindor, so...I can only imagine. :-))