Dumbledore doesn't like snape

[catherine at cator-manor.demon.co.uk]

No: HPFGUIDX 20571

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Magda Grantwich <mgrantwich at y...> wrote:
> 
> --- rowanbrookt at y... wrote:
> > Dumbledore just doesn't like snape so why does he keep him on and
> > does anyone think he will get rid of him or that snape will ever 
> > get the defence against the dark arts job
> > 
> 
> Is there anyone on the planet who "likes" Snape?  (I think there 
will
> be but she hasn't arrived in the plot yet.)
> 
> I believe it would be more accurate to say that Dumbledore sees
> behind the facade Snape has erected to keep the world at bay and
> discerns a desperately lonely man who has much to offer the world 
and
> who needs to belong so that he doesn't make mistakes - again.
> 
> If Dumbledore doesn't give Snape the DADA job (assuming he really
> wants it), then it's ultimately for Snape's own good.

Well, I'm not going as far as to say that Dumbledore *likes* Snape, 
but he, more than anyone, treats Snape with respect.  I think he 
obviously knows more about Snape than anyone - knows his good points, 
his bad points - and it seems clear that Snape actually did do 
something to earn Dumbledore's respect and loyalty.  Therefore, 
Dumbledore lives with Snape's excentricities, in the same way he is 
supportive of Hagrid's wilder indulgencies, and also, in the same way 
he allows Professor Binns to carry on teaching at the school.  
Dumbledore has always struck me as being a very tolerant person - he 
is surrounded by annoying people/beings, and doesn't try to get rid 
of them (Peeves being the obvious example).

The DADA job.  I have never figured out why exactly Snape wants this 
job.  He is described as being very skilled at potions, and makes it 
clear in the trio's first lesson, when he waxes poetical about the 
beauty of the simmering cauldron, that he loves it.  He is the best 
man for the job.  So why does he want to teach DADA?  The only thing 
I have been able to come up with that, as an ex-Death Eater, he 
thinks it is his duty to educate the Hogwarts students about the Dark 
Arts - in order to prepare them for the future.   Does this make 
sense?  Or perhaps he wants to atone?

Catherine