Death, Snape Headmaster?

[pigwidgeon37 at yahoo.it]

No: HPFGUIDX 22414

Jenny from ravenclaw wrote:
<My point is, JKR is, IMO, trying to show us how serious and tragic 
<death is.  I felt terrible for Cedric and for his parents, who 
<clearly adored him.  How can anyone *hope* to see a beloved and good 
<character like Harry, Ron or Hermione die?  Voldemort I can 
<understand, even though killing him makes me uncomfortable, too
<( guess you know where I stand on the death penalty).  When I 
<predict who I think will die, I am not crossing my fingers and 
<thinking "Ooooh!  I hope he kicks the bucket!".  I am hoping no one 
<will die, but JKR is not writing Pollyanna.

As always, I loved your post! surely, JKR, writing about the world of 
wizards, magic etc., gives us a clearer image of our own world than 
we would probably accept if she wrote about the "real world". Evil 
and death are parts of our world we just don't like to give a closer 
look, which is especially true for death. There is no counter- curse 
for Avada Kedavra, there is no possibility of bringing back the dead. 
This is one of the many reasons why I would hesitate to label her 
books "children's books", but advise everybody to read them to/with 
his or her children. As for Voldemort being killed, I wouldn't like 
to see him sentenced to death and executed, but I can't resist 
thinking that to see him finally defeated (and with him, I'm afraid, 
final defeat cannot mean anything else but death) would be very 
satisfactory. Although, if he wasn't, that would leave an 
infinitesimal possibility of more than 7 sequels......


Hillman wrote:
<Think about it: If you're Snape, the LAST place you want to be is in 
<a position of relative power and influence over the school. 
<Especially if the DE's orchestrated it, they will expect you to 
<immediately and permanently begin implementing changes that affect 
<the future of the wizarding world. And Snape, since he is ultimately 
<on the side of right, DOESN'T want to be put in that conflict. If he 
<_does_ change things, he's doing the bad guys' work for them. If he 
<_doesn't_ change things, he blows his cover and what little credit 
<he's managed to reconstruct with the DE's after all the work it took 
<to get back on the inside. If, on the other hand, he can make sure
<someone _else_ gets the job, he can shrug his shoulders and 
<say, "Look, man, I tried my level best, but the old broad just isn't 
<listening to reason" and continue doing his real job: being a spy.

Ooops, I think there was something of a misunderstanding there: I 
don't *want* Snape to become headmaster and I don't think he would 
like it at all. But look at it from a different point of view: JKR is 
so skilled at changing pace whenever things *might* become slightly- 
well not boring, but taken for granted. My favourite example is 
Quidditch: I'm sure we all loved the matches at Hogwarts, but after 
PoA JKR obviously decided we'd had enough of it, gave us a last short 
glimpse on it at the World Cup Final and then cancelled it. (BTW, 
that's why my least favourite moment in all the four books is when 
Rita Skeeter is outed as yet another unregistrated animagus). OK, so 
we've had Snape for 4 entire years yearning for the DADA job and 
quite stuck at a certain stage of his character's development. He is 
too interesting a personality (and JKR *very* carefully built him up 
as such) to go on like that for one more book. IMO, it is therefore 
time that he either leaves the school ambiente completely (which 
depends mostly on whether Dumbledore and Harry are going to stay 
there, as Voldemort wants somebody close to them as his spy), or his 
role within the school *must* change. We have seen some first, very 
small hints at a change in his relationship with Harry, at the end of 
GoF, and I'm sure that wasn't a red herring. That's why I thought he 
might become headmaster and it would put him, as you pointed out, 
into an extremely awkward position- I' find that very interesting.

Susanna