[HPforGrownups] Snape & DADA: hearsay, or a true slight?

[Jenett]

No: HPFGUIDX 32045

On Fri, 21 Dec 2001, ftah3 wrote:

<various theories snipped which summarise to: lousy at DADA, unqualified 
but doesn't realise it, Dumbledore slighting him, Snape's temper, does he 
really want the job in the first place>

I've got another one: he might really want the job, and would be good at 
it, but both he and Dumbledore realise that giving it to him could 
jepoardise a lot of other delicate issues. So Snape doesn't get it, 
intellectually understands the reason, but has to deal with watching 
several incompetents get it instead.

What do I mean by that? Think about this for a second. If Snape is a 
competent DADA instructor, and teaches his students well, that will get 
reported back to the Death Eaters and Voldemort. "Why are you teaching 
them so well, Snape? Sabotage their learning, so they won't be hard to get 
rid of." (And how reported? DE's kids, if nothing else...) 

If he *doesn't* teach them well, of course, the students are left without 
adequate teaching, and left more at the mercy of any attacks than they 
would be otherwise, and that defeats Dumbeldore's purpose, if not Snape's, 
in defeating Voldemort once and for all. 

Better, therefore, to hire someone else, even if that someone else is not 
very capable, because it doesn't risk Snape more than he already is (and 
actually, might get him some benefits - "You haven't been given the DADA 
job yet? Darn that Dumbledore for not trusting you. *We* know where your 
loyalties lie, fellow Death Eater..."). It's not a great solution, but at 
least it doesn't make things worse. 

And, honestly, of the four, two were certainly lousy, but Lupin and 
Moody/Crouch certainly taught some useful stuff that would be better than 
Snape could manage if Snape had to continue to walk that very sharp 
sword-edge long-term. (Unlike, say, the fill-in about werewolves, which 
could feed nicely into the DE's general plans anyway, who knows. Certainly 
discrediting Lupin could be useful to them for all sorts of 
Harry-support-system removal reasons.) 

-Jenett