"No," James said, frowning. "Look, we've both let him provoke us plenty of times, but I've never been angry enough to - Lily," he said. "I wish I'd been around when Sirius got the idea, because it wouldn't have happened. He doesn't think when he's angry, at all, he just... he has so many buttons to push, more than I do, and Snape knows all of them. I'm sure he was provoked, not that that excuses... anything."
Damn it, he didn't want to blame this on Sirius, didn't want to drive the wedge between Lily and his best friend even further. But all he could do was tell the truth. He inhaled deeply, exhaled. "As soon as I heard about it, I went after him. My best friends do stupid things sometimes, but they're not murderers. I won't let them become murderers," he added. "Obviously Remus wouldn't have done any of it on purpose."
Was any of this explanation even making sense? It was impossible for him to tell, at all. "I've hated Snape - I still hate him," he said, deciding to be completely truthful, "But I never wanted him dead, especially not like that. I swear that's the truth."