What is brave? (WAS Re: Snapers vs. Sirists; Snape knew about the passageway)

[marinafrants]

No: HPFGUIDX 35154

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "ck32976" <ck32976 at y...> wrote:
 I was trying to 
> say that snape was not acting out of bravery, he was acting out of 
> revenge and the need to prove himself.  

I'm sure thoughts of revenge and self-affirmation loomed large in
Snape's mind.  But I don't think it made his actions any less brave. 
The intrepid hero out to avenge a wrong is  a staple of adventure
fiction, and no one doubts that it's brave when Bruce or Ahnold do it
in a movie.  Of course, most such stories go to some effort to make us
root for the avenging hero.  He's painted as noble and sympathetic;
the wrong done to him is real and terrible; the villains he's after
are truly evil.  In PoA, the story goes to great lengths to achieve
the opposite effect.  Snape is nasty and unlikeable; Sirius is a good
guy who's been unjustly punished; Remus is an innocent victim of
prejudice.  We've just been given Sirius' side of the story in minute,
heart-rending detail.  All the cards are stacked to make us root for
our heroes against Snape -- and I did; it's not like I wanted Snape to
succeed in handing Sirius over to the Dementors or getting Lupin
fired.  But that doesn't change my view that, given Snape's sincere
assessment of the situation, his action were brave.


>I don't think that Snape has 
> never acted bravely, I just don't think that was the case in this 
> particular instance.  I also don't think that he needed to fear
Lupin 
> at that point, because he knew that the moon had not 
> been "revealed".  

Even if Snape didn't need to fear Lupin the wolf (and that would've
depended on how long it took Snape to track him down), he still
would've needed (in his view) to fear Lupin the unscrupulous and
powerful wizard in Cahoots with that evil maniac Sirius Black.  

I
>      Actually, now that I think about it.  Did Snape have the potion 
> with him, or did he leave it in Lupin's office? 

I think he must've left it in the office.  There was no mention of him
having it in the Shack, and I suspect that shlepping a full goblet
from Lupin's office all the way to the Shrieking Shack would've been
impractical, unless the goblet had a really well-fitted lid.

Marina
rusalka at ix.netcom.com