Young Snape - H/N - Mrs Figg

[MMMfanfic at hotmail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 15265

Well, then we agree to disagree then.
My reasoning of why Dumbledore can't expel Snape is the following:
It's known that werewolves are dangerous and the parents will be 
happy if someone blew the whistle -- not withstanding the fact that 
Lupin is not particularly dangerous.  If the 'whistle-blower' is 
expelled, then there will be naturally an uproar from the parents.  
In addition, Dumbledore has no proper ground to expel Snape at all -- 
as far as I can see, he's not breaking any school rules by revealing 
Lupin's condition, except he disobeys a direct order from the 
Headmaster, which he can always say was a honest mistake.  If he 
takes his case to the Board of Governors, there's no question that 
the parents will side with him.  Both factors work in Snape's favour -
- but of course teenage Snape may not realise that or he just freaks 
out by the *possibility* of expulsion.  So, I'm rooting for something 
other than expulsion.
To go back to my original point about blackmailing -- the threat of 
expulsion is still a form of blackmail.

> I agree with Monika, but I'll go further: it doesn't matter whether
> Severus was the innocent boy who was tricked by Black into breaking 
a
> school rule (curfew) and putting himself in danger, Dumbledore 
STILL let
> him know that if ANYONE among the students, other than the select 
few he
> was bawling out in his office just then, found out about Lupin's
> condition, Severus would be expelled, regardless of whether he was 
the
> one who let on and without any reason specified for the expulsion 
other
> than Headmaster's discretion. MMMfanfic seems not to have noticed 
that
> one thing Dumbledore could do to the teenage Snape is expel him, 
which
> (judging from Hagrid's case) could involve breaking his wand and 
making
> it illegal for him ever to do magic again.

No, I'm not ignoring the fact that Dumbledore can expel him but he 
has to have a very, very good reason such as the death or serious 
injury to a fellow student.
May be it's because I am younger and still remember how school and 
punishment works. There's a due process involving expulsion because 
as you mentioned, there are grave consequences and they have to make 
sure everyone is being treated fairly.
Here's a summary of how expulsion works:
There're the interviews with both the student and parents (jointly 
and separately), psychological assessment with counselor, the board 
of governors (which takes about two weeks) and all of them have to 
agree that the transgression is serious and unacceptable and they 
cannot see the transgressor to continue his education in this school--
 i.e. they have to be totally irredeemable.  Then they have to wait 
for the confirmation from the Education department, which gets the 
final say.  And muggle kid can always go to another school.
May be things are different for magical world but expulsion as I know 
it is not something Dumbledore can just do on the spot.  So, all 
Snape has to do is to say it was an honest mistake -- he can even do 
a Tom Riddle -- writes a diary and leaves it lying around.  Surely, 
Dumbledore cannot expel him on that and even if he tried, the Board 
will certainly reverse it.

> For that matter, what Dumbledore could do to the Potions Master is 
fire
> him. "Severus, I regret that someday you must learn that you cannot
> always get away with crossing me every time the whim takes you to do
> so." If he has to stay at Hogwarts to protect him against vengeful 
Death
> Eaters, that would be a death sentence. Otherwise, only his feelings
> would be hurt (as he could get another job). However, Remus 
insisted on
> resigning and leaving even tho' Dumbledore tried to talk him into
> staying (I'm not sure if that is in canon or just my impression) 
and I
> suppose Dumbledore decided there was no point to losing a good 
Potions
> teacher in addition to a good Defense teacher.
 
I'm questioning whether Snape's 'a good Potions teacher' but somehow, 
I always feel there are more between Snape and Dumbledore than reveal 
to us.