Snapers vs. Sirists; Canon Snape

[marinafrants]

No: HPFGUIDX 34675

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "cindysphynx" <cindysphynx at h...> wrote:
> Judy wrote:
> 
> >Snape has tons of positive qualities, which I 
> > enumerated in a post a while ago. (In a nutshell -- brave, 
> articulate, 
> > brilliant, talented wizard, etc.) 
> 
> On what canon basis can we really say that Snape is all of these 
> things?  Let's take them one at a time:
> 
> Brave -- I suppose the canon basis for this is his spying at great 
> personal risk.  I don't see how this makes him more brave than 
> Sirius, who risks having his soul sucked out every time he tries to 
> protect Harry.  

First of all, the question is not "is Snape more brave than Sirius?",
the question is "is Snape brave?"  Second, there is other canonical
evidence for this besides his spying activities (and given Voldie's
tendency to Crucio anyone who even mildly annoys him, the spying is
enough proof for me).

When Quirrel makes his first attempt at the Stone on Halloween, Snape
goes after him, and gets his leg mangled by a giant three-headed  dog
for his trouble.  He knew the dog was there, so it's not like he
wasn't aware of the danger when he went.

When he discovers that Lupin forgot to take his potion, he goes after
him, even though he knows there's a good chance he might end up having
to face down a werewolf.  When he gets to the Shrieking shack, he
finds himself facing not only Sirius -- whom he believes to be a
particularly brutal killer, the monster who murdered thirteen people
with one curse, the only man ever to escape from Azkaban -- but also
Lupin, whom he believes to be in league with Sirius.  Yet, confronted
with two such vicious and evil (he thinks) enemies, Snape shows no
sign of fear or backing down; instead he faces them in order two
protect a bunch of kids he doesn't even like.

> Brilliant and Talented -- I see no basis in canon for this at all.  
> Snape out-duels Lockhart-the-Fraud.  You have to admit he is out-
> smarted by Moody (twice in GoF) and Hermione and the trio (once in 
> the Shrieking Shack).  He gets his leg mangled in PS/SS.  He doesn't 
> ward off the dementor in GoF.  How do we know that Snape isn't just
a 
> middling potion-brewer? 

It's established in PoA that the Wolfsbane potion is particularly hard
to make, yet Snape get it right every time -- and Dumbledore trusts
him to get it right every time, knowing that lives depend on his
success.  In general, we have never seen Snape get a potion wrong; and
whenever a potion is needed, the people at the school always go to him
-- they don't order from St. Mungo's, or drop into Ye Old Potions
Shoppe in Diagon Alley or somesuch.  Snape can't possibly be the only
potions source in the entire wizarding world.  If he wasn't absolutely
reliable, people would go somewhere else.

Whether he's brilliant at anything else, I don't know (though he seems
at least competent enough with a wand), but hey, one can't be great at
everything.  I betcha Sirius is a crappy ballet dancer. <G>

Marina
rusalka at ix.netcom.com