Snape and Dumbledores trust

[Devika]

No: HPFGUIDX 54712

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Patricia Bullington-McGuire 
<patricia at o...> wrote:

> 
> Other people have pointed out that there are no reliable sources 
saying
> Snape wants the job, only Percy.  Since Percy has no special 
knowledge of
> Snape's professional ambitions, I'm not incline to take his word 
for it.  
> This may be evidence of Percy's willingness to believe anything 
he's told,
> rather than evidence that Snape wants the job.
> 


Just thought I'd add my two knuts... :)

I agree with all of you who say that Snape probably doesn't want the 
DADA job.  To me, it seems clear that he both enjoys and is very 
talented at potions.  For evidence of that I need to look no further 
than the speech he gives to Harry's class at the beginning of the 
year in PS/SS.  Snape obviously has an appreciation for his subject.  
Also, the fact that he can make the Wolfsbane potion shows his 
considerable skill, since Lupin says that not many wizards are 
capable of brewing such a complicated potion.  

I think that Snape's supposed desire for the DADA job serves as a 
distraction to the reader.  If Snape dislikes the DADA teachers, it 
seems as though this is due to envy of their job rather than any 
other reason (although we, as obsessed fans, know better <g>).  In 
every book so far, Snape has disliked the DADA teacher for a reason 
that the reader (and Harry) is not meant to find out until the end:

PS/SS:  Quirrell:  Snape doesn't trust him.  We don't find out why 
until the end, and then we realize that Snape's feelings toward him 
were justified and had nothing to do with the DADA job.

CoS:  Lockhart:  Snape doesn't like him.  Sure, neither do many 
people, but although we suspect that he is incompetent, we don't 
actually find out that he's been stealing his stories from other 
wizards until the end of the book.

PoA:  Lupin:  Snape doesn't like him either.  In fact, he hates him.  
We don't find out that Lupin is a werewolf or that he was involved in 
the infamous Prank until the end of the book.  Again, Snape's dislike 
for him has nothing to do with the DADA job itself.

GoF:  Moody:  Snape doesn't like him, and Harry suspects that Snape 
is also afraid of Moody.  Again, it is mentioned that Snape wants the 
DADA job, IIRC, and again it turns out that his supposed desire for 
the job has nothing to do with his dislike for the DADA teacher.  In 
this case, Snape's fear of Moody comes not from a secret about Moody, 
but about Snape himself.  As much as Harry doesn't like Snape, he 
doesn't know for sure that Snape was a DE until the end of this 
book.  Although Snape's dislike for Moody has nothing to do with 
Moody's secret, it still has nothing to do with the DADA job itself, 
and it still leads to a surprising discovery at the end of the book.

What am I getting at?  Just that Snape's supposed desire for the DADA 
job serves to distract Harry and the reader from the true reasons for 
Snape's feelings about the DADA teachers.  One way to show once and 
for all that Snape is satisfied with being the potions master is to 
have him actually like/respect/get along with the (female!) DADA 
teacher in OoP.  However, if he doesn't like her, at least we'll know 
that there is something more about her, or about Snape, that will be 
revealed at the end of the book.

--Devika, who is now even more anxiously awaiting June 21st :)