Snape the Iconoclast

[abigailnus]

No: HPFGUIDX 78521

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "melclaros" <melclaros at y...> wrote:

Snip great stuff about McGonagal's reaction to Harry and George 
attacking Malfoy two against one, versus the obvious non-reaction to 
James and Sirius' attack on Snape.  I completely agree, and I'd like to 
add that we see how un-Gryffindor it is to gang up on someone later in 
the book, when the four Aurors attack McGonagal at once, and Hagrid 
is enraged and calls them cowards.

> The 2nd slap comes from Snape himself during the Occulmency lesson.
> In what appears to be a hypocritical tirade about sulking and holding 
> grudges, on closer reading becomes a WARNING to Harry.
> 

<snip quote from book>

> 
> A warning indeed. Severus has just given Harry a list of the 
> weaknesses V. "looks for". One of them was his. He sees Harry sliding 
> down that very same slippery slope.

It's interesting that you should mention the slippery slope, Mel, because 
I've been wondering about another Occlumency lesson.

Chapter 26, Seen and Unforseen, p. 521 UK Hardcover.  Snape has just 
seen Harry's dream of Rookwood, and has concluded that Harry hasn't 
been practicing his Occlumency:

------------

'"Perhaps," said Snape, his dark, cold eyes narrowing slightly, "perhaps 
you actually enjoy having those visions and dreams, Potter.  Maybe they 
make you feel special - important?"

"No, they don't," said Harry, his jaw set and his fingers clenched tightly 
around the handle of his wand.

"That is just as well, Potter," said Snape coldly, "because you are neither 
special nor important, and it is not up to you to find out what the Dark 
Lord is saying to his Death Eaters."'

------------

With his first observation, Snape hits the nail on the head.  Harry may not 
exactly enjoy his dreams, but he does want to continue having them.  By 
the end of the book he is as eager as Voldemort to see what is at the other 
side of the door to the Department of Mysteries.  Snape's second 
observation, however, seems to come out of left field.  It isn't so unusual 
for Snape to reinforce his opinion that Harry is nothing special - that's 
been his song and dance since Harry's very first Potions lesson - but this 
particular leap seems extreme even for him.  It is an especially odd thing 
to say when one wonders whether or not Snape knows about the prophecy.

Here are the opportunities Snape has had to find out about the prophecy - 
either its existence, the truncated version originally reported to Voldemort, 
or the full version as Dumbledore saw it:

1. Snape could have been the eavesdropper who heard Trelawney make the 
prophecy and reported it to Voldemort.
2. Snape was a member of Voldemort's inner circle after LV learned about 
the prophecy, and might very well have learned the reason that LV was 
suddenly so hell-bent on killing Harry and Neville.
3. If it was Snape who revealed to Dumbledore that the Potters were being 
targeted, it becomes even more likely that he learned the reason for it.
4. Following Voldemort's fall, Dumbledore had 14 years, up to and including 
Voldemort's rebirthing, to fill Snape in.  For that matter, if members of the 
Order know about the prophecy or at least about its existence, then Snape 
might also have been told.
5. We're told that Voldemort has spent the year since his rebirthing obsessed 
with discovering the full text of the prophecy.  If Snape has indeed gone back 
to spy on LV, it is quite likely that he heard of the prophecy from him.

It is possible that Snape knows nothing about Harry's importance to 
Voldemort, but it is highly unlikely, and becomes even more so when we 
examine Harry's first Occlumency lesson.

Chapter 24, Occlumency, p. 469 UK Hardcover:

----------

'Harry's heart was pumping fast again.  None of this added up.  "But why 
does Professor Dumbledore want to stop it?" he asked abruptly.  "I don't like 
it much, but it's been useful, hasn't it?  I mean ... I saw that snake attack Mr 
Weasley and if I hadn't, Professor Dumbledore wouldn't have been able to 
save him, would he? Sir?"

Snape stared at Harry for a few moments, still tracing his mouth with his 
finger.  When he spoke again, it was slowly and deliberately, as though he 
weighed every word.'

----------

Snape then proceeds to give Harry the Dumbledore-approved truth - 
having seen through the eye of the snake at Christmas, Harry has made 
himself visible to Voldemort, who will try to break into Harry's mind.  His 
carefully measured response, however, speaks volumes.  While appearing 
to answer Harry's question he has left out the most important component 
- why would Voldemort choose to invade Harry's brain?  Harry 
immediately assumes that Voldemort's purpose would be to posses him 
and force him to do things, and Snape does not disabuse him of this 
belief, even though it is patently absurd - what could Harry possibly 
accomplish that would be worth this effort?  Later in that same lesson, 
Harry realizes that the corridor in his dream leads to the Department of 
Mysteries, and asks Snape about it:

'"What did you say?" Snape asked quietly and Harry saw, with deep 
satisfaction, that Snape was unnerved.'

Why would Snape be unnerved unless he knows that Harry is specifically 
*not* supposed to know about the DoM and the things it contains?  Why 
would he so carefully evade the crux of Harry's question unless he had 
been carefully instructed not to allow him to learn of the existence of the 
prophecy?  And how could he be so instructed unless he himself knew 
about it?

Even if we were to accept, however, that Snape knows nothing about the 
prophecy, there is simply no way that he truly believes that Harry is 
neither special nor important.  At the very least, Snape has to concede 
that Harry is important to Voldemort, and that makes him very important 
indeed.  I think this is yet another warning.  Perhaps Snape sees more 
clearly then we give him credit for - he recognizes himself in Harry, and 
doesn't like what he sees.  Snape as a boy felt that he was special and 
important, and look where it got him.  Perhaps Snape feels that the way to 
discourage Harry from following the same path is to disabuse him of this 
belief.  

Abigail

Who has been corrected about the origin of the theory named George - 
apparently it was Marina who named it, not Elkins.  My apologies to 
both of them.