Snape's anger and redemption (was: agent in SS)

[kiricat2001 <Zarleycat@aol.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 52284

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Melody <Malady579 at h...>" 
<Malady579 at h...> wrote:
 
> I have no problem with Snape truly having hatred for Black.  I do 
not
> think that is acted at all in fact.  Mostly because, in the hospital
> room, Snape's anger flared on a dime when Black transfigured.  But, 
I
> do have a problem with the idea that Snape, given the chance or
> moment, killing Black out right.  Why do I have that problem?  
Because
> Snape *did* have that chance.  Many times.  The biggest when he
> regained consciousness and stretchered the lot up to the castle.  He
> could have let his anger boil again and killed Black, but he did 
not.
> 
> Seems kind of odd, don't you think?  Snape being so ready to kill 
ten
> minutes before, and now a little head wound makes him calm and
> methodical.  

Yes, the feeling between Sirius and Severus is not feigned, IMHO.  It 
still striked me as too instantaneous and visceral between the two to 
be an acting job.  And it immediately reaches these heights as soon 
as the two lay eyes on each other.  They don't even have to warm up 
to it.  

As to your second point, I don't think it at all odd that Snape 
didn't kill Sirius outright when Black was unconscious after the 
swarming of the Dementors. Many people read this as Snape being nice, 
conjuring the stretchers, etc.

I think you can also read this as Snape thinking that he can now 
deliver the mass-murder back into the hands of the Ministry.  Snape 
can allow the government to destroy his enemy.  He doesn't have to 
get his hands dirty doing it himself. And, if his past as a Death 
Eater included killing or torturing, or brewing potions to use for 
nefarious purposes, this incident can be held up as further proof to 
Dumbledore that he really is a reformed man - he had the opportunity 
to kill Black and didn't do it. 

Plus, if I was to look at Snape in the darkest light possible, what 
pleasure would he have derived out of killing an unconcious enemy?  
Surely it would be so much more satisfying to kill Sirius when he was 
fully aware of what was happening, that his last sights and thoughts 
would be filled with the realization that he was dying at Severus' 
hands, losing the ultimate battle between them. 

> I agree though.  There has to be more to this than just the prank.
> Something even Black and Lupin are missing, since they assumed 
Snape's
> anger was about the prank.  They did not say, "hey, you loved Lily,
> and you are angry with us because she is dead."  Maybe they did not
> know though.  Hmmm.

Or, maybe whatever it is was something that neither Remus nor Sirius 
wanted to open up for discussion in front of the children, so they, 
or in particular Lupin, focused on the prank. 

  
>And as much
> as people want to sugar coat Snape and keep him away from all the
> "bad" things the DE's do, frankly you are cheapening his redemption.
> For what is redemption anyway, if you have never done anything 
wrong?

Well said. I'm sure, as the series goes on, we will continue to see 
the adult characters fleshed out with more nuances. My prediction is 
that Harry will discover things about his parents, Sirius, 
Dumbledore, etc., things that, at the very least, put them in a bad 
light. He will have to reconcile in his own mind that the people he 
admires may very well have made horrible mistakes. And that good 
people sometimes deliberatley do bad things.  On the flip side, Harry 
may come to understand, perhaps with Snape as the example, that 
people can come to regret what they have done, to see it as wrong, 
and to work very hard to atone for their past sins.
 
Marianne