Snape as a kid; Snape's dimensions; the legacy of Sirius

[M.Clifford]

No: HPFGUIDX 68892

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "darrin_burnett" 
<bard7696 at a...> wrote: 
> I've found the "Snape is complicated" to be extremely overrated.
> His treatment of Harry and his friends has rarely varied for the 
entire series. 
> Whether his voice is soft and silky or loony raging, the malice 
behind it has rarely wavered. 
> Harry's sympathy for Snape in OoP is a major turning point for his 
character. I also see his "I blame Snape" as pure denial, which will 
cave in soon enough.
> But I STILL do not see where Snape's attitude toward Harry has 
changed much. His motivations may have changed, and I agree he is a 
mysterious character, but I don't see Snape as growing in the 
slightest. We can speculate all we want on his comments on Aunt 
Marge's dog, but it is still not clear whether he was sympathetic or 
gleeful about what he saw.
> I keep coming back to him being unable to teach, unable to 
function in his JOB, because of his hate for this kid's father. 
> To sum up, Snape's hate is getting really old.
> I do agree that there could be times when he's going to need to 
maintain a cover for Draco, but if this is true, I want that 
acknowledged. I specifically want him to apologize to Hermione for 
the tooth-enlarging incident. If that was a cover for the Slyths, 
fine, then let him damn well say so.
> I am hampered by not having the book with me, but, as I recall, in 
the broom scene in Snape's head, there was a girl laughing at a 
scrawny boy who was having difficulties mounting the broom. 
> If we assume the kid cowering in the corner is Snape, then it's 
likely the kid on the broom was Snape.  So, how in the world did 
that get interpreted as Snape doing a tricky counter-curse jinx???
> 
> Which, by the way, wasn't all that successful in SS/PS, so I don't 
see how we can say he was a master at it.
> 
> And I'm amused by all the rush of "No, he wasn't using AK to kill 
the flies!" 
> Sheesh, is it so hard to believe this guy was neck-deep in the 
Dark Arts? He was a card-carrying DE. At some point, this guy was 
aligned with evil, likely committing evil and wallowing in evil and 
to his credit, he got out of it 
> (allegedly.) 


>  Now, for what Harry will inherit from Sirius. I can't believe I 
haven't seen this yet.
> 
> How about that motorbike?
> 
> Darrin


Valky:
Ok all I really want to say is I hope Harry gets the motorbike. The 
house is a dud, vacuuos without Sirius, dump. I expect Sirius 
wouldn't even *want* to leave it to Harry. Unless of course it was 
necessary for the Order to keep it in Order hands.