[HPforGrownups] Re: Harry the martyr/Harry the killer

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 14023

Margaret Dean wrote:

> > Severus Snape.  We know he is NOT bad, yet we all love to hate him
> for
> > and with Harry.  Wouldn't it just blow us away if Snapey was the one
>
> > to help vanquish Voldemort after all - and lose his own life in the
> > process?  Just like we all dislike certain people but wouldn't wish
> > death on them, Harry would have a lot to deal with if Snape died
> while
> > helping Harry.
>
> Oh, I =like= this!  I like this a =lot.=  The more so because Snape
> would thus be canceling out his own burdensome (as he sees it) debt to
> Harry's father . . . and he's also a character who wouldn't
> necessarily =mind= the fact that he was laying a certain, similar
> amount of guilt on Harry.  (Well, he wouldn't...)

I will add to this. I was impressed, Jenny, because as I was reading
your post I was thinking "Snape!" and then you went and said it. Great
minds, I guess.

I still favor the theory that Snape loved Lily, in some way, some
fashion, spoken or no, whatever, and that the tangled mess of past
associations in part accounts for the way he treats Harry. Snape's
actual actions, removed from the manner in which he performs them, often
are protective of Harry.

I think there's loads more reason for Snape to watch out for Harry than
an old debt to James (which was repaid, anyway, in book 1, and could be
considered as no longer applying). I think Snape hates Harry because
Lily would be alive if not for him. But he protects Harry because he's
Lily's son, and Lily loved Harry, died to keep him alive, and clearly
would have wanted him safe. Snape, however, doesn't mind trying to get
Harry expelled because safe does not equal happy, and also because he
does hate Harry because he's James' son, too.

What all this boils down to, is that I can see Snape making the
sacrifice for Harry, for two reasons. One, the whole Lily connection,
which just *feels* so valid to me. I've known people of Snapelike
intensity, and it just works; they love with a passion, they hold
grudges forever, they are incredibly loyal, they think they act very
simply and straightforwardly but they confuse everyone, because they
neglect to inform others of their internal codes and parameters. I think
Dumbledore knows Snape's internal code, and details of Snape's past,
which is why he trusts him. I think precious few others will ever know.
But in any case, it would take more than a resented debt to James, or
even the ultimate goal of Good, to make Snape die for Harry. But an old
love, stronger and on a deeper level than "schoolboy grudges" (as Lupin
put it) could bring Snape to it.

Second reason--Snape is coming to see Harry as his own person. For
whatever reason, Snape has never given Harry a chance to be Harry. To
Snape, he's James' son, he's a reminder of his unhappy school days, he's
a reminder of his old master who did something Snape cannot forgive,
he's probably a reminder of why he's at Hogwarts doing a job he patently
dislikes, etc. As I've put it before, Harry is a walking mass of
associations for Snape. BUT. I think the unreadable expression on
Snape's face as he looked at Harry at the close of book 4 is the herald
of a change. I don't think their relationship will get any better. But I
think Snape will begin to be able to see Harry and Harry's strengths on
their own merits. Snape is not a person who will ever apologize for
anything. Snape is not really someone who will even admit misjudgement
unless forced to. But he is someone who will repay. I think when push
comes to shove, Snape will realize that Harry is not James, never even
knew James, and will act accordingly.

In additional support for this, evidence suggests that Snape will be in
a unique position to aid Harry, if he indeed returns to Voldemort's
service at Dumbledore's bidding.

--Amanda (you all knew I'd be chiming in, right? Snape, after all....)

You will not explain yourself, for you will see no need.
Some will love and follow you, and you will learn to lead.
Some will find you difficult and hard to understand.
You will be as intricate as any simple man.

---from a poem to my then-unborn son, likening him to his father; it
seemed to fit


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