Snape and Slytherin

[abigailnus]

No: HPFGUIDX 37831

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "marinafrants" <rusalka at i...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., Porphyria <porphyria at m...> wrote:
> 
> > Is it just me or would anyone else love it if in some future book 
> > Vincent Crabbe hauls himself into Snape's office and says "You know 
> > Professor, my parents really want me to get involved with this Death 
> > Eater thing, but I've been thinking a lot about it lately, and I
> don't 
> > know...it just seems *morally wrong* somehow."
> 
> I don't know about Crabbe or Goyle, but I would certainly like to see
> *some* Slytherin haul him/herself into Snape's office and say
> something along those lines?  After all, when it comes right down to
> it, isn't it part of Snape's job as head of Slytherin House to make
> sure it's what they do?

Actually, I've been wondering if that isn't going to be a problem for Snape 
in the coming books.  If Snape has indeed gone back to spy on Voldemort, 
he has to maintain the appearance of being a secret Death Eater - there 
are too many children of DEs in Slytherin house to allow him to show 
sympathy for Dumbledore's side without jeopordizing his cover.   I'm not 
saying he's going to throw Muggle hate rallies - his students, after all, would 
believe him to be a spy for Voldemort, and wouldn't expect such overt 
demonstrations of loyalty.  Probably Snape would do well to stick to the 
model he set in CoS when Draco suggested he replace Dumbledore - it's 
often assumed that what Snape wanted to do was box the kid's ears, but 
he wisely kept his mouth shut and his feelings open to interpretation.  

I can certainly imagine a situation in which Snape sees that a Slytherin 
student (Draco or C&B, or anybody else) is teetering over the edge and 
just needs a bit of a push to come back to the light side - but of course 
Snape can't give that push because he doesn't dare risk his mission.  
There are greater things at stake than one kid's soul, right?  I think this 
might be a major  dilemma for Snape, pitting his duties as head of house 
against his duties to Dumbledore and the greater good.

I don't happen to be one of the people who believe that Snape secretly 
hates Draco or that he's trying to weaken the next generation of DE by 
being soft on the Slytherins.  I think Snape is a proud Slytherin, and that 
he'd like to see his house come out from under the cloud of suspicion 
cast by all those DE members.  Ironically, his very attempts to atone for 
some of that shame might help to lead a new generation of Slytherins 
astray, for lack of a positive Slytherin role model.

And while we're talking of Snape (and when are we ever not?) a week or 
so ago someone was talking about the scene in GoF where the trio go to 
meet Sirius in his cave near Hogsmeade.  The poster was wondering 
about the fact that all the statements Sirius makes about DEs in that 
scene turn out to be false (Crouch Jr., for example, was guilty as sin).  It 
occurs to me that one of those statements was about Snape, and I was 
wondering, in the face of the powerful evidence that Snape might be a 
DE (his involvement with future DEs in school, his background in the Dark 
Arts) that Sirius lists, not to mention his own personal dislike of the man, 
what makes Sirius so reluctant to believe that Snape was a DE?  Is it just 
because Dumbledore trusts him?  Any thoughts?

Abigail