"the worse in" Snape, his alternate strategy - JKR don't hit me!

[mlle_bienvenu]

No: HPFGUIDX 71964

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Dan Feeney" <dark30 at v...> 
wrote:
> The worst in SS, AD fears, would be brought out if he were teaching 
> DADA.
> 
> My suggestion, in a post not taken very seriously, was that Snape 
> either uncharacteristically LIED to HP (this would be the first 
time 
> he's lied to HP, isn't it, that we know of, and in fact to anyone 
in 
> any situation other than in the line of duty for OOP?) in the "none 
> of which concern you" comment regarding the DoM, OR he was stating 
> what he really believed. Why did he chose these words? Why the 
finger 
> on the lips, explaining AD's interpretation? Why the so carefully 
> chosen words? Rowling goes to great measures to point this out to 
us.
> 
> Why? Because SS doesn't agree with AD. While it is obvious SS and 
AD 
> disagree about a number of things, this is not some minor school 
rule 
> or policy enforcement issue. It is the core of the whole reason 
there 
> is an OOP at all. What doesn't SS agree with, and why? It's almost 
as 
> if most of the people on the list know this, that Snape disagrees, 
> but WHY?
> 
> To be clear, here, the statement "none of which concern you" I 
take, 
> not as a lie, but as a statement of belief. Somehow, SS doesn't 
think 
> ~here it is~ the prophecy concerns HP, or the defeat of LV - either 
> or both, in some combination. He has a different idea.
> 
> This explains a lot of SS behaviour that some attribute to mere 
> childishness, or rather, to HP looking and acting like SS's 
> schoolyard nemesis, JP. This was never entirely adequate an 
> explanation for me. A high school grudge determining the actions of 
> players in a deadly war? Hmm... And think of AD's reason for not 
> appointing SS DADA. It is not his teaching method or his 
prejudices, 
> his favourtism, if you like, because those have pretty much free 
> reign wherever SS is appointed. And it's not a statement that 
> suggests only that these already apparent tendancies will be 
> exacerbated. It's a very clear - "bring out the worse."
> 
> That worst, what could it be? Do we seriously think SS would have 
> attempted to get HP expelled if he thought HP were "the boy?" That 
> never made sense to me. It was a demonstration for AD's benefit of 
> the dangers of AD's plan, in light of, in this instance, their aid 
to 
> Black, in PoA. SS has NEVER given any kind of 
> acknowledgement to the extraordinary circumstances of HP's 
existence. 
> All he has commented on are his "fame" (which is clearly not 
> everything!) and his arrogance, like his father's. SS explains with 
> very careful words the connection AD sees between LV and HP, that 
it 
> is a result of the attack and HP's surviving it. SS states this as 
> AD's opinion, but clearly, not necessarily his own.
> 
> SS left the DE and brought with him a plan for defeating LV, but he 
> could not enlist support. (Why was he a DE? Was becoming a DE part 
of 
> that plan?) AD asked him to try AD's plan for a while, to trust 
him, 
> and if it didn't work, or wasn't enough, or whatever, then AD and 
the 
> rest of OOP would surely follow SS's plan. "But you must give us 
> time, Severus, to follow our plan for now." The worst? SS's 
> intransigence in believeing that his way is the best way to defeat 
> LV. (When the time comes, will he hold his hand back and let the 
OOP 
> plan (if there is a big one) come to fuition, or will he grab the 
> moment, as it were, to act on his intransigent belief, and is this 
> Snape's demise? Maybe his alternate plan and the official OOP plan 
> somehow work together, at the end...)
> 
> This would explain SS's idea that HP is arrogant, for even if HP 
> isn't the prime defender of his own importance, he does these cool 
> things that sure make it look like HP thinks HP's the one. It also
> explains the finger on the lips. "I completely disagree with what 
the 
> words I'm telling you suggests, but I'm duty bound to say...."
> 
> And it explains why most of OOP (not Black) remind HP to call SS 
> professor. Why in all that choas at AD's office, does AD remind HP 
to 
> call SS "professor"? HP is busting his office up, and there's that 
> line. That means, it isn't just reminding HP of SS position as a 
> teacher, when HP has just been allowed to smash up an office. Other 
> places in the book, yes. Molly at HQ, yes. But immediately after a 
> raging tantrum? It is a reminder to HP that OOP owes SS this. "We 
> could have done, don't forget, what SS suggested was the thing to 
do, 
> he may even have been right,but he took our advice, and stuck with 
> us, even when our plan didn't work immediately..."  Did James and 
> Lily die before or after SS's compromise? Was JP the most adamant 
> defender of a plan that cost him his own life, his wife's? Or did 
it 
> happen later? etc. etc.
> 
> Lot's of Snape's strange behaviours, which could be seen as dangers 
> to the entire script of the book, make sense this way. Any takers 
on 
> my theory can run with this if they wish - Snape as something other 
> than a powerful wizard stuck at the mental age of 15. I'll do a few 
> later, at any rate.
> 
> The main question, though, if this is to take off, regards prophecy 
> in Rowling. What is it, how does it happen, and is the writing of 
> names of those concerned guarded against error (like kids getting 
> letters of acceptance to Hogwarts?). That is, is there any reason 
for 
> SS to oppose interpretation of the prophecy on grounds other than 
> what that interpretation is?
> 
> 
> dan

Mlle Bienvenu:

"I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death."

Your post makes me wonder if it is directly because of Snape that 
Harry is famous and still alive. This would go back to the `Harry as 
Decoy' theories. 

Here's the scenario: Dumbledore hears the prophecy. He knows which 
kid is supposed to be the One. It is Neville. But he knows that he 
can draw attention away from Neville by making Harry stand out, and 
Neville look like he can't possibly be the one (until the right 
time). He has Snape give Harry a potion (or more than one) that 
basically makes him famous and allows him to escape death (along with 
his mother's charm), while AD has Neville memory charmed, and 
possibly instructing his Grandmother go give him his father's wand 
(depending on whether you think this is a factor or not)

Now Snape doesn't agree with this plan at all for obvious reasons. 
It's extremely unfair and manipulative to Harry and Neville.  As you 
pointed out, he never acknowledges any of the great things Harry 
does, only that `Fame isn't everything'.  

Anyway... I don't have a full fledged theory, but it would sort of 
explain Snape's actions towards Harry.