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Severus Snape vs Sirius Black

Sincerely, voting Snape here. All too easy, I'm afraid. Though he was constantly bullied by Sirius and James at his youth, he's grown to a power level that neither of them could dream to accomplish. And that's OK, I'm not saying they're not as talented as Snape (though I could very well say that lol), just saying he's developed better. Mostly because James died and Sirius was sent to Azkaban for 12 years, while he was still growing in power, skill and precision.

That said, Severus' magic far outclasses that of Sirius. Granted, Black's more of a natural when it comes to duelling, but he's nowhere near as accomplished as a wizard. Snape's occlumency's second to none, hiding his true thoughts and intentions from Lord Voldemort himself for several years.

On top of that, he was profoundly powerful in the Dark Arts (the very reason why Dumbledore rejected his applications to DADA), knowing more curses when he arrived at Hogwarts than half the kids in Seventh Year, and creating several of his own, and a good few of these spells will kill or cripple Black with a single use. In fact, he was an academic god, teaching textbooks how to improve on their recipes and inventing complicate charms and spells while still at school. Damn it, he invented ******* Levicorpus. Besides, he was the only wizard apart from Voldemort himself to be capable of unassisted flight. That should give him a great edge when it comes to mobility.

Now, now, we all know Sirius' fighting style's very similar to Bellatrix's - energetic, emotional, fierce. The lack of self-control always was a flaw of Sirius', similar to Harry himself, and even though that could surprise Snape and throw him off his balance, I guess he would most likely take advantage of it. That is, going by his lessons to Harry Potter, Legillimency works best against those like Black (those "who cannot control their emotions, who wallow in sad memories and allow themselves to be provoked this easily"), and Snape knows Sirius all too well to leave that opportunity behind.

Now, coming to the direct fight, we know Snape had a nuanced and minimalist wand style, direct and precise, no great flourishes. He could contend against somenone as powerful and able-bodied as Minerva McGonagall, someone who took on four Aurors at once and was a master of Transfiguration, whose focus was upon transfigurating the environment to overwhelm her opponents. His style was still enough to unbalance McGonagall and retaliate in quick succession.

That said, I do not think Snape would simply spend the Killing Curse and the likes. It is most likely for him to surprise Sirius with an uncommon or rather unknown curse. Snape only needs to find a small crack on Sirius defense before finishing him off with a self-invented spell, not easily or knowingly defended. For example, Sectumsempra cannot be healed by any other magic in the franchise besides Vulnera Senentur, and we have implications that Snape would have crafted many other spells that neither we nor his fellow wizards know nothing about.

All in all, I bet Sirius's a bit outclassed here.
 
If Sirius didn't go to Azkaban though he would have been really powerful, he and James are like Hermione-level academically.
 
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