Snape & DADA: hearsay, or a true slight?

[ftah3]

No: HPFGUIDX 32043

A tangent struck me while reading the speculation in regards potions 
being a dark art.

If Snape has such a jones for the DADA job, why doesn't he get it?  
Perhaps he's really lousy at DADA, but Dumbledore goes outside of 
Hogwarts and basically scrapes the bottom of the barrel to find an 
instructor.  So even if Snape is not 100% qualified, I would think 
he'd have to be *really* lousy at it to be overlooked every year so 
far.  And if he was really not qualified, Snape seems the type who 
wouldn't lust after a position that he didn't have a chance in hell 
at due to lack of qualification.  

Could he actually be unqualified, but have a deluded opinion of his 
talents? Imho, that doesn't seem in character for him.  I mean, he's 
nasty and mean-tempered, and apt to act superior while assuming the 
worst of people who don't deserve it.  But if he also had such a 
deluded opinion of himself, that seems to me as if he would be 
tumbling into 'mental' territory, and he strikes me as more grounded 
than that.

Or could Dumbledore be slighting him in some manner?  Somehow I'd be 
surprised if it would be due to his past as a Death Eater, because if 
Dumbledore doesn't trust Snape to teach DADA due to his past, why 
would he trust Snape to teach at all, much less send him off on 
mysterious missions as part of Dumbledore's 'inner circle' against 
the second rise of Voldemort?

Could it be because Snape is so ill-tempered that Dumbledore thinks a 
different personality/way of handling students is required when 
teaching DADA?  I mean, making 3/4 of your students feel like 
incompetent morons at potion-making might not have as serious 
implications as making them feel incompetent (and therefore prone to 
hesitate in future, dangerous situations) at DADA.  On the other 
hand...weak reason.

On the other hand...does Snape *really* want the job?  

I don't recall that anyone except students (who are just as notorious 
as anyone about gossiping, especially when it comes to a famously 
loathed 
teacher) saying that Snape has been after the job forever.  And as 
far as Snape glowering at the succession of Dark Arts profs ~ I can 
completely see other reasons he would do so.  

Quirrell was a drip, and it makes sense for Snape to have zero 
tolerance for him; and then later Snape knew Quirrell was up to 
something, so again, good reason to be scowling.

Lockhart ~ LOL, considering Lockhart's froofy, flouncy, publicity-
houndy nature, not to mention professional incompetence, I'm rather 
surprised that Snape didn't snap and, I dunno, drench Lockhart in a 
shrinking potion.  And then step on him.

Lupin ~ well, we already know why Snape hated him.

Moody ~ again, history between them accounts for discomfort/animosity 
on Snape's behalf.

So really, the only solid 'proof' that Snape wants the job comes from 
student gossip.  (Unless I'm not remembering something.  Which is 
definitely possible.)

Also, he seems quite proprietary of the talent it takes to 
appreciate/understand potion-making.  He speaks so indulgently about 
it, with a great air of superiority.  Granted, that could be the 
attitude of a man who is offended at having to teach 'lowly' 
Potions instead of 'prestigious' DADA and who can only salvage his 
reputation by talking the course up.  But I don't think Snape's pride 
is expressed that way.  I think that if he was fixated on DADA, he 
would consider Potions as second-best, and would not hide that 
opinion.

All of which is to say, I wonder if the whole business of Snape 
coveting the DADA job is a complete misconception on Harry's part, 
influenced by student gossip but with no basis in reality.  Maybe?

Mahoney