Evil Fudge, Complex Snape, Loads o' Weasleys, "halfblood," early magic

[talondg]

No: HPFGUIDX 36129

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Amy Z" <aiz24 at h...> wrote:

> Snape's complexity doesn't come only from the current mysteries 
> about him.  
> We knew he was complex from book 1, when he went to considerable 
> trouble to save a student he obviously despises.  This tension has 
> become more and more polarized as with each book Snape hates Harry 
> more and takes ever-increasing risks on his behalf (I'd have to 
> stretch things to make CS fit into this pattern, but PA and GF 
> definitely do).

Hey gang, first post. :)

At the risk of being rendered completely incorrect by a plot
development in a future book, I believe I might be able to shed a
little light on ol' Snape.

I went to a Military College, and the similarities between my alma
mater and Hogwarts are (despite a noticable lack of magic) similar
enough in certain aspects to give me flashbacks.

I had a Severus Snape, except that he wasn't a professor, he was my
Section Commander the first year I was there (senior students are
given command of junior ones, similar to "prefects" and "head boy" but
with much more authority)

He and I butted heads from day one, and continued to do so on an
almost daily basis right up until the day he graduated. From my point
of view, he went out of his way to make my life a living hell at every
possible opportunity.

But with 10+ years of hindsight, I've come to understand that what he
was trying to do was _help_ me, but just in a manner that completely
undid his intentions and made things worse. His anger and frustration
came from my (to his view) refusal to learn the lessons he was trying
to teach. He meant well, but his delivery and personality completely
blocked the real message, and the harder he tried, the worse it got -
to his perspective, the harder he tried, the more I fought him. Of
course, to my perspective, I was just being bullied more and more
blatantly, and so I fought back even harder, and around and around we
went.

He was an idiot, but a well-intentioned one. ;)

I'll give a quick example: when I first arrived at the College, I was
sent three days early for some silly reason. The College not being
ready for me, I was basically locked in my room for three days and
told to study the CADWINS (the big book of rules that goverened
College life) I read quickly, and I retain what I read, so after three
days I pretty well had that book committed to memory.

A couple of weeks later, we finished a drill period early, and had
half an hour or so to kill before lunch. We had a test on the CADWINS
coming up, so we were ordered to go to our rooms and study. But I
already had it memorized, right? Earlier that morning, I had been
blasted at inspection for having poorly polished boots, so I took the
opportunity to instead head to the boot polishing room and try and
bring them up to snuff.

I _could_ have just stayed at my desk and caught a little nap (lord
knows I needed one) but I thought I was showing initiative. Task A was
complete, so I was going on to Task B which needed doing.

Well, of course M. X caught me there, and I got blasted for not
following orders. And when I made the mistake of trying to explain
("see, look, I'm showing initiative and correcting a problem you
highlighted before!") what he HEARD was arguing with authority/refusal
to admit responsibility for my faults.

This is so totally a typical Snape/Potter interaction. Snape is always
catching Potter doing something forbidden by the rules (talking in
class, wandering the halls at night, etc etc) and comes down on him,
HARD, in an attempt to get him to take the rules more seriously. Snape
is not interested in WHY the rules are being broken; all he cares
about is Potter's continuous flouting of the rules themselves. To
Snape, Potter has no respect for legitimate authority, and is always
getting away with it because of his celebrity status. Snape does not
care that Potter is a celebrity, and so has taken it upon himself to
try and install SOME sense of discipline and respect for authority
into Harry - because it seems nobody else will.

I can see Snape in the staffroom: "That Potter kid! He shows no
respect for authority, he breaks rules all the time, and nothing I do
to him can get him to straighten up and fly right - and the other
teachers all tolerate his antics! No wonder he's so undisciplined!"

The problem is is that the message is arriving all crossed-up; Harry
doesn't see legitimate punishment for legitimate transgressions, he
sees bullying. And from his point of view (and mine :) he's right.

The message is getting lost in the delivery, and it makes Snape look
more evil than he really is.

At least, that's my take on it.

DG