MAGIC DISHWASHER explanation (was: Re: Assassin!Snape's Next Victim)and Granny W

[melclaros]

No: HPFGUIDX 46975

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "abigailnus" <abigailnus at y...> wrote:
but in life sometimes you have to do terrible 
things. There's a beautiful passage in Terry Pratchett's book Carpe 
Jugulum that I think illustrates this. Granny Weatherwax, the witch 
and 
midwife, has been called to the bedside of a woman in a difficult 
labor, 
and has to choose whether to save the mother or the baby. It becomes 
clear throughout the book that she believes she is no longer a good 
person because she dared to make that choice, but that she also 
recognizes that the choice had to be made, and she was the only 
person 
strong enough to make it. (Unfortunately I don't have my copy of CJ 
in 
front of me - Pratchett explains things so much better than I ever 
could.)

Amazing! Absolutely Amazing. I re-read Carpe Jugulem recently and do 
you know when I read this passage who I thought of? Severus Snape. 
There are several "meditations" in this book on what Pratchett calls 
Edge Witchery. Change that to Edge Wizardry and what do you have? 
Severus Snape again. He walks a tightrope between the dark and light 
sides an no one (not even, I strongly suspect at this point, JKR) 
knows on which side he will eventually fall. And therin lies the 
fascination with the character. JKR calls him "a deeply horribly 
person" yet she has done nothing but work her fingers to the bone 
showing us otherwise. Will he redeem himself? Does he need 
redemption? Is he fooling us all? Is he fooling himself? 
The only thing that's for sure is that he's on a tightrope, working 
his Edge Wizardry and Love him or Hate him, we are all hypnotised.

Melpomene