Snape/Lily and respect, was Snape and Respect

pippin_999 <foxmoth@qnet.com> foxmoth at qnet.com
Sat Feb 1 18:22:38 UTC 2003


No: HPFGUIDX 51369

I said:

> As to all that goes on in Snape's head I couldn't begin to 
guess, 
> but I will submit a LOLLIPOPS apologia for Snape's behavior in 
> this scene. He has once again arrived just too late to prevent a 
> Muggle-born witch from taking a curse meant for Harry Potter. 

Shaun:
>>OK... if that is true, I *might*, just *might* be able to forgive 
him. If his reaction was one born of frustration at his falure to 
save someone who he thinks he should be saved, or born of 
guilt, or of memories of the past that welled up inside him, I 
could*maybe* have a little sympathy for the man in this case. Still 
unacceptable, but less than deliberate cruelty.

But I find that hard to credit - because of this:

"Snape looked coldly at Hermione, then said, 'I see no 
difference.'"

That pause. For me to grant him sympathy, I have to assume he 
had enoughself-control that none of his feelings were apparent 
in his face or manner at all - but not enough to stop himself 
making that comment<<

 Amanda, premier Snapologist, agreed with Shaun:

>>Ah, Pippin, you know my leanings, but I can't give you this one. 
Snape is cold and matter of fact. I don't get any vibes of this sort 
from this scene. I think he's just being, as someone pithily put it, 
a right bastard.<<<


Oh for goodness sake, you two! This is *Snape* we're talking 
about. Snape doesn't have to *think up* insults. They're like 
Kleenex -- they  pop out instantly from some reservoir of inner 
spleen.

I guess I will have to guess at what goes on in Snape's head 
after all--

 As usual, in this scene Snape knows both more and less than 
the reader. Things that Snape is aware of  and the reader isn't 
include, for this example, the whole Snape/Lily history, whatever 
it might be, exactly what Snape's responsibility for Harry is, and 
that Dark Wizard trick of using Imperio to force one innocent 
wizard to curse another. Like the reader, Snape's  been told 
there is a Dark Wizard who can use mind control trying to kill 
Harry.  What the reader knows and Snape doesn't is that what 
just happened in the corridor is nothing more than a school boy 
spat. 

Snape definitely has more responsibility for Harry than teaching 
him potions, BTW, for he attends the Champions Briefing after 
the Goblet gave Harry's name, which has nothing to do with 
potions or Slytherin House. His good cop, bad cop scenes with 
McGonagall are, IMO, some of the sliest humor in the series. But 
I digress.

So Snape comes on the scene, having heard a bellow from 
Goyle, who is hurt but unlike Hermione  is not "whimpering in 
panic,"panic-stricken," or "terrified."

Snape has also heard Hermione's "terrified cry", but doesn't 
know that it was her, because the first thing he asks is, "And 
what is all this noise about?"

Snape learns that Harry and Draco exchanged curses and 
calmly sends Goyle off to the Hospital Wing. Then Ron draws his 
attention: "Malfoy got Hermione!,"  with what, of course, Snape 
does not know.

Now *I* think it possible that something about the situation 
triggered an unconscious association with the Muggle-born 
witch who died taking a curse for Harry Potter. And it hit Snape 
like the Hogwarts Express. So Snape just locks up for a 
moment, as frozen as Hermione. Ron and Harry, of course, think 
he's not paying attention.

 So Ron yells, "*Look*!" and Snape, who has no idea why his 
mind just did this terrifying thing to him but who knows that there 
is a Dark Wizard who specializes in mind-control on the loose, 
calls on all the emotional control he has available, turns on the 
coldest vampire stare he can manage and forces himself to look 
at Hermione...who, godsbethanked, is only suffering from the not 
very dangerous Densaugeo curse, but seems to be on the verge 
of hysterics the silly witch, and why can't Weasley that overgrown 
lout take her to the Hospital Wing instead of staring at me? Oh, 
he expects me to do something, is that it? Doesn't feel like 
playing the hero today? Very well..."

He's not thinking, "what's the nastiest thing I can say to a 
helpless teenage girl", he's thinking, "how do I make this 
hysterical underage female  get herself under control without 
blowing my cover, and what the hell just happened to me?"

To borrow a phrase, that's my story. And I'm sticking to it.

Pippin





More information about the HPforGrownups archive