Trusting Snape to do the right thing.

[The Crashing Boar]

No: HPFGUIDX 71611

I find Snape one of the easiest characters to understand, even if he is fairly nasty.  He is shown to be intelligent, exacting of himself as well as others, and truly courageous (as in doing something for the greater good regardless of personal feelings and dangers, whilst fully understanding the fears and dangers he faces).  If he had an openess of spirit, a devil-may-care attitude, like Sirius's, or even just displayed a sadness at his fate, like Lupin, no one would have a problem trusting him or casting him as a 'hero'.  Instead, he betrays a bitterness born of a lifetime of suffering the scorn of others, the constant injustices (perceived or otherwise) as his injuries, achievments and actions are belittled, overlooked or mistrusted by those around him, and other, 'less worthy' characters gain accolades, comradship and trust (that he must have at least once desired) with little effort or sacrifice.

He makes no effort to pretend he likes people, but I see an awful lot of this as 'not suffering fools gladly' - he even displayed anger and disbelief at Dumbledore, how more so the likes of Sirius, for whom he has no reason to respect.  Harry actually seems to get little more scorn than any other student when he first arrives - Snape only really starts in on him when Harry starts doing things that not only endanger himself (a good enough reason in itself for a teacher to ride in on a student) but also the plans and safety of other people.  Snape turned his back on power, choosing not just to turn from the 'evil', but to risk what he could expect to be a fate worse than death to help the opposition rather than just run away and hide somewhere.  Not only is this sacrifice disregarded by most others, it is further devalued by the actions brought on by the curiosity and bravado of an adolescent boy.  I believe this overiding curiosity to be a possible reason why the Occlumency lessons failed - Harry wanted to see what was behind the door, even in the face of danger, just as he couldn't hold himself back from looking in the Pensieve when he could be discovered at any time.  Snape has done more than most to try and get Harry to curb this reckless curiosity.

Finally,   I think Snape can be trusted to do as much in his power to keep Harry alive /as long as is needed/.  However, I also strongly suspect that it has already been decided by Dumbledore that Harry may ultimately have to be sacrificed in order to set the world to rights, and when that time comes, he will find Snape to be more trustworthy than anyone else.

So, I may not trust Snape to protect Harry's life to the bitter end, but somehow I feel I can trust him to do the right thing in the end, no matter how distasteful or difficult it might be.

Dawn


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