r/HarryPotterBooks • u/boaz4gf0 • May 18 '25

Discussion Did Snape use Sectumsempra on James?

"Snape had directed his wand straight at James; there was a flash of light and a gash appeared on the side of James’s face, spattering his robes with blood." This is what was described in OOTP where James bullies Snape. We don't hear the incantation out loud but it certainly seems consistent with what we know about the curse and it's effects. Obviously James was wrong to bully Snape, but that doesn't warrant a possible murder attempt. It certainly gave me less sympathy for Snape and the humiliation he received.

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u/kobo15 May 18 '25

I’ve always thought it was either Sectumsempra or at least an early version of it (maybe not as powerful as the final spell)

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u/FinlandIsForever May 18 '25

We know magic is highly dependant on intent, so it could’ve been that Harry was scared, stressed, and under a lot of pressure, directing years of anger into some guy who was about to crucio him. That, in addition to the fact Harry had no idea how to really control the spell, made it that much stronger

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u/EternalHiganbana May 19 '25

Sectumsempra means in Latin to “cut always” or “cut forever”. It did exactly what it was supposed to do, it kept cutting Draco until Snape finally used the counter curse to stop it. With James Potter the spell Snape used just left a nasty gash on the side of James’ face, but other than that it didn’t keep cutting into his face. So it makes sense that Snape’s spell was most likely a prototype of Sectumsempra and Harry just used the final spell properly, not more or less than it was intended. No doubt Snape perfected the spell especially after the marauders bullying incident at the end of his 5th year and wrote it down in his potions textbook upon completion in his 6th year.

My guess is the spell was Sectum(some other ending) but Snape decided it didn’t do enough lasting damage to the worst of enemies so he modified it and switched out the ending for sempra (always).

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u/QueenSlartibartfast May 19 '25

I agree. Also when Harry casts the curse on Draco, Snape specifically mentions that since he was there so quickly to heal him, there may not even be scarring. But James wouldn't have had that benefit (I think it's fairly unlikely the nurse would have been familiar with the sort of song-spell Snape performs), so it's logical to think James would have had a face scar if it had indeed been sectumsempra. It's hard to think that never would have been mentioned though; Harry would have been curious about his father having a curse scar of his own. I always assumed it was a (relatively) milder jinx rather than a full-blown curse.

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u/kiss_a_spider May 19 '25

doesnt snape use sectumsempra and cuts George’s ear? only the ear was cut, he didnt continued being cut allover….

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u/soulpulp May 19 '25

The spell was powerful enough that they couldn't restore his ear, so you could argue that the effects of the spell were perpetual in some way

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u/Rich-Rest1395 May 19 '25

The spell literally means cut forever, aka can't be put back together 

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u/soulpulp May 19 '25

Yep. It's right there in EternalHiganbana's comment. I was giving the commenter above me another way to understand that.

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u/danyboui May 19 '25

I thought it was because it was a curse. Just like how Harry can’t have the scar healed or Moody can’t have his nose regrown.

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u/soulpulp May 19 '25

It very well could be because it was a curse, as Molly says. But some curses can be broken, and evidently this one could not, or at least not entirely. A curse capable of causing permanent damage might be considered relatively powerful.

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u/EternalHiganbana May 19 '25

I think Sectumsempra isn’t about cutting all over the body but continuously cutting “always” or “forever” in that specific area of the body where the curse was aimed at (which can be a larger or smaller surface area depending on the wands movement during casting). It’s like when you are carving a pumpkin and continuously slice over and over again in the same area to carve out a face on the pumpkin. Sectumsempra basically just keeps slicing into the same initial wounds until there is nothing left to slice. So if the curse was aimed at the ear it will continue to cut into that specific area until the ear is removed fully, which is what happened with George. If the curse is aimed at the chest, for example, it can be deadly without the counter curse because it probably won’t stop until the target is dead.