Snape fulfilling his life debt

[darrin_burnett]

No: HPFGUIDX 42407

Fyre wood wrote:

> 
> 
> Snape has gone out of his way time and time again to save precious 
> Harry Potter from mortal peril. We've seen him stand up to Sirius 
> Black in an attempt to save his life, as well as considering that 
> Potter wasn't the one to petrify Filch's cat in book 2. There's 
other  instances with Snape performing a counter curse in book 1 so 
that  Harry wouldn't fall off his broom, and much much more!
> 

I've got less than "much, much more" in the attempts of Snape to save 
Harry's life.

First, I'd like to say I'm not totally sold on the "Snape owes James 
(or Lily, my own pet theory in a concept I haven't bought yet) a life-
debt."

At least one on the level of Pettigrew-Harry. 

Then why would Snape be tortured by what James did for him? Personal 
honor. I get on Snape's case a lot, but I believe he's got a sense of 
honor that's different from most people's. That could include his own 
reckoning of debts, whether there is a magical covenant or not.

Further, there is a difference between having a person's life in your 
hands and sparing it, such as Harry did for Wormtail, and yanking 
someone out of danger. With one word from Harry, Wormtail is dead.

James kept Snape from going to a dangerous place. The odds are very 
good Snape would have died when he met a fully-grown werewolf, but we 
are talking about a kid who knew more curses than any seventh-year 
too. It's possible Snape could have dealt with it on his own and 
escaped.

Now, on to the attempts:

SS/PS: The broom incident. 

Again, Harry isn't completely out of danger until Hermione comes 
along. Snape didn't do this alone. At best, he gets an assist. 
Probably not enough to satisfy either a magical convenant or his own 
code.

CoS: What exactly? He tried to scare the bejeezus out of Harry with 
the Snake (or, for eternal DISHWASHER-ites, tried to spur Harry's 
inner Parselmouth.) 

You could argue he showed concern over Harry and Ron after they 
wrecked the car, but he didn't have the chance to do anything to save 
Harry. 

And in the big showdown with the basilisk, Snape really didn't play a 
huge part in that.

PoA: Raced in to save Harry from Sirius. Ah, but poor, poor, Severus. 
Harry wasn't in any danger from Sirius. The last thing Sirius wanted 
to do was hurt Harry. And Snape never lifted a finger to help Harry 
deal with the dementors, his real enemies throughout the story.

He did try to bully Harry out of Hogsmeade, and snidely told Harry 
that everyone, from the minister of magic on down, was trying to keep 
him safe. But, Snape appeared to get distracted when he found the map.

GoF:  He probably tried to keep Harry out of the tournament, but he 
failed and besides, trying to keep him out of the path of some 
undetermined danger seems lame. I think it needs to be a specific 
threat.

So, to sum up: If Snape is in life-debt to James (or Lily) and is 
trying to work it off by saving Harry, he still has a ways to go.


Darrin
-- Likes being called brilliant, but I'm afraid my head will swell up 
like Aunt Marge