The Spying Game

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 39770


> 
> Debbie writes:
> Pip wrote:
> > >It's Hermione who takes action here: she suggests that 
Snape 
> > >listens to their side of the story. And Snape tells her to shut  
> > >up in no uncertain terms. I'll discuss his very interesting       
> > > terminology later on.
> 
> Debbie writes:
> > My take: Hermione distracts him from his mission, so he 
shuts her  up in his usual fashion. 
> 
> Pip replies:
> Uh - I'm not actually willing to go through all four books right 
now  [grin] but can anyone remember any other scene APART 
from the Shack and the Hospital where Snape *screams* at 
Hermoine in quite this way? 
> He does NOT shut her up in his usual fashion. Also it's some 
of the words he uses to shut her up which are fascinating.<<<

The words are fascinating because Rita Skeeter uses  the exact 
same phrase: "Sit down you silly little girl, and don't talk about 
things you don't understand." GoF 24, when Hermione starts 
criticizing her about Ludo Bagman. 

  Is it possible that one argument the purebloods use to justify 
their prejudice is that Muggleborns, with their talk of civil rights 
and such, don't understand what measures are necessary 
against  dark wizards? Not that they're right, but that does seem 
to be what goes on.

Snape resorts to screaming because  he doesn't have the 
authority over her that he has in class, where he can silence her 
by taking points (much more effective when backed up by peer 
pressure) or simply refusing to recognize her.  Snape can't afford 
much more delay if he's to get Lupin back to the castle before he 
transforms. 

Snape can't  assume he'll be able to deal with transformed 
Lupin and Sirius at the same time. He has, as we know, no 
intention of turning either of them over to the Dementors, but he 
wants them to think otherwise.  Threats are Snape's usual 
means of keeping a situation under control. Unfortunately he 
miscalculates, not realizing that Sirius has convinced the Trio 
that he might be innocent. Remember, Harry was quite willing to 
see Sirius kissed when he thought Sirius was guilty, and there's 
no reason to think he made a secret of this. Snape was not 
expecting resistance from Harry or his friends.

Snape has to resolve the situation quickly. Lupin will drop his 
wand when he transforms and if Sirius grabs it, Snape is going 
to be in, dare I say it, serious trouble, facing a wizard who can kill 
thirteen with a single curse.  Then not only does Harry refuse to 
understand how much danger he is in, this thirteen year old 
muggleborn girl has the gall to act as   as if she knows more 
than him, Severus Snape, ex-Death Eater, about how to deal with 
dark wizards. 

  I think Snape  losing his temper is quite understandable. It's not 
as if he hasn't been building up to it. He comes close to losing  it 
on an earlier occasion: in his office when  he's questioning 
Harry. He doesn't get all the way to capital letters, but he does 
snarl, spit, turn pale and speak in italics. <g> 

 Speaking of this scene,  if it is so absolutely vital that Harry not 
learn about Scabbers until the time is ripe, for what purpose 
does Snape risk questioning Lupin in front of Harry? Particularly 
if he knows that Wormtail is the name Voldemort used for his 
spy.

I'm also not clear on the Dumbledore connection. Would 
Dumbledore really have risked letting a werewolf wander loose  
in the village? or let three children practice the incredibly difficult 
and dangerous animagus spell on their own? Voldemort was 
still at large in those days.   Why would Dumbledore have taken 
such an incredibly foolish risk, which would surely have cost him 
his job and discredited him as the leader of the anti-Voldemort 
forces if it had become known? Considering the way he reacted 
to the flying car incident, it seems way out of character.


> Pip replies:
> !!!!What the heck kind of spell is Pettigrew using that they never 
> noticed a rat had lived that long!!!! [Presumably with a latin 
word 
> meaning 'Don't think too much about me' :-)]<<<

Isn't it simpler to assume that  the  Weasleys just don't have the 
expertise to tell a magical rat from a common one at sight? 
Charlie might, but he's been in Romania for years. The elder 
Weasleys probably assumed that Scabbers was the ratty 
equivalent of a squib, long-lived but powerless. 


Pip says:
> It depends on whether you think Lucius Malfoy's handing the 
diary to  Ginny in CoS was Lucius acting under orders from 
Voldemort or Lucius  acting on his own. , I would argue he was 
acting under orders.<<

Why orders from Voldemort? Why not orders from the diary 
itself? 

Pippin