Snape's rationality (WAS: A theory regarding the "innocence" of Sirius )

[Tom Wall <thomasmwall@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 50946

Scott wrote:
Snape has shown himself to be incredibly irrational 
at times (*cough*shriekingshack*cough*), so it 
wouldn't suprise me if the situation were exactly 
(or close to) as described above. He would of course, 
hold it against Sirius, even though it was his own 
stupidity that got him into it.

I reply:
I would submit that Snape is actually eerily rational,
especially in the Shrieking Shack.

I think that what unnerves me most about Snape is the
fact that he seems almost always to be 100% accurate
in his assumptions, and they're nearly always shrewd
deduction. Snape does not seem to be the type that goes
on a hunch, at least not to me.

I'm in class now, and my teacher is talking (and looking 
at me suspiciously) so I can't check the canon, but a few
instances come to mind:

CoS:
-En route back from the Deathday Party, Harry hears the 
Basilisk and the trio dashes up the stairs to find 
another petrified victim. Snape immediately suspects 
that they aren't telling the whole truth concerning 
why they are there without dinner and when Ron lies 
and says that they weren't hungry, his stomach betrays 
his lie and rumbles. 

PoA:
-In the Shrieking Shack, Snape is not interested in 
the finer points of the story. Snape is interested 
in the cold, hard facts: Lupin is consorting with a 
KNOWN, convicted criminal in the presence of three 
students. Pettigrew, for Snape, is a non issue. As 
far as Severus is concerned, Pettigrew is dead, 
and he just earned himself the Order of Merlin.  

In fact, along this line, Snape even seems compassionate
when he insists that the students must have been
under a charm. He could have targeted Harry et al
right then and there - but didn't.

-When Sirius vanishes mysteriously at the end of 
the book, Snape INSISTS that Harry had something 
to do with it, despite (lying) assurances from 
Dumbledore, and blind assurances from Fudge.

GoF:
-When Harry is caught in the missing step under 
the Invisibility Cloak, and Snape is forced to 
deal with Moody/Crouch, he suspects Harry of 
being around (which he is.)


There are more examples of this, but I can't think 
of them offhand.

You know, at first, I really didn't like Snape at 
all. I think that that is how she wanted it. But by 
now, I feel sympathy for him, and I really, really 
am starting to like him a lot. I think he's got it 
tough, and he seems like the kind of guy who was 
never much appreciated by anyone. In fact, that's my 
theory as to the reason that he became a Death Eater, 
although I don't know if he'll ever let his guard down 
long enough to say so. The Death Eaters gave him some 
sense of self-worth. But then his conscience got the 
better of him. Just my thoughts.

-Tom