Life debts

[darrin_burnett]

No: HPFGUIDX 56242

Maria:
> 
> And also, I don't believe that a person can ever be entitled to 
take 
> another person's life, no matter what the circumstances. I don't 
like 
> this kind of revenge. I can *understand* it, if, for example, Harry 
> kills Pettigrew, but I can't see it as justified. I was cursing at 
> Harry when he was about to kill Sirius, and again when Remus and 
> Sirius were about to murder Peter. Ick. I don't want Harry to 
murder 
> Voldemort either.


Me:

Lost in all this is that I'm not sure Snape owes a magically-binding 
debt to James, the same way Pettigrew now does to Harry.

It is entirely possible that Snape, who knew more curses than anyone 
else, could have escaped from Lupin. It is also possible that James 
snatching the back of Snape's robes and saying, "Look, man, you can't 
go there" isn't enough to kick in the magic debt.

Publicly, Snape refuses to acknowledge anything James did. He 
dismisses it in front of Harry, which contradicts what Dumbledore 
says about Snape feeling like he needed to save Harry to be at peace 
with his hatred of James.

Couple of ideas how Snape could be thinking: 

1) Snape just refuses to give Harry the satisfaction of thanking his 
father. He'll never admit the debt to Harry.

2) Snape isn't admitting it to himself. When he tells Harry that he 
doesn't owe James squat, he means it. He might be telling himself 
that he just did what any teacher should do when he saved Harry at 
the Quidditch match. Dumbledore, who knows what goes on in that 
greasy head, has made a good guess as to the real reason. 

Frankly, I think Snape is more interesting if there isn't some 
magical life-debt going on here and this is driven by some twisted 
logical code of honor. As the books progress and we get more 
theories, I find I want motivations of the major characters to be 
less driven by magic and more driven by their characters.

Darrin
-- Murder Ick would be a great name for a band. Send your royalties 
to Maria.