OOP: A terrible thought - SS HP

[backstagemystic]

No: HPFGUIDX 64206

>><medeacallous at y...> wrote:
>>> After re-reading the scene at the end of OOP with Harry, Draco, 
Snape and McGonagall (where Harry says he will never forgive 
Snape ... never), I am stuck with a terrible fear that Harry might 
try to get revenge on Snape by betraying him to Voldemort.<<<
 
Lee replied 
>> Well, Harry seems to be a very understanding person so far.<<

For the most part, yes.  Harry's willingness to look honestly at the 
events he witnessed in the pensieve, and his willingness to confront 
and question Sirius and Remus over it were impressive...still, I'm a 
bit wary of Harry's strong hatred toward Snape right now (wonder if 
V. is still in his head?).

>>He's very upset about Snape baiting Sirius, doing all the teasing 
(and maybe getting revenge on Harry for the thing with the pensive?) 
that lead to Sirius death. <<

Harry is scapegoating and lashing-out because he is bereaved and 
guilt-ridden over Sirius' death.

Harry put himself and his friends in jeopardy in the first place, 
because he fell victim to Voldemort's deception.  

Harry chose to continue to encourage the visons, rather than 
practicing the skills (aka Occlumency) of calming his mind and 
protecting it from intrusion by Voldemort.  The result (just as Harry 
had been warned) was that Harry became easy prey for the Dark Lord, 
and was lured into his trap.  

Harry *knows* this, and he's in agony over it and he's trying to ease 
that agony anyway he can, including trying to share blame where it 
doesn't belong.

This is why he's closed-off to the truth that Snape had indeed acted-
upon Harry's cryptic message about Sirius as soon as he was out of 
the sight of Prof. Umbridge (and he found Sirius to be safe and 
sound)...so now Harry is trying to convince himself that Snape's 
baiting is to blame.

But Snape's baiting (equally matched by Sirius' baiting), absolutely 
did *not* lead to Sirius' fate.  

Harry being in *peril* pulled his godfather away from the safety of 
the Grimmauld Place...just as any parent figure would risk life and 
limb to save their child.

Can you imagine the agony Sirius would have experienced had something 
happened to Harry and he hadn't been there to try and stop it?  He 
would have never forgiven himself (just as Harry is finding it hard 
to forgive himself now).

Snape and Sirius were well-matched in the verbal sparring ring 
(though Snape seemed to have a bit tougher skin).

Sirius did more than his fair-share of taunting Snape, including 
starting the tiff at the beginning of the Occlumency chapter.

The two had a long, ugly history and they'd played their game many 
times before - like two feuding siblings who could never get along 
(and I keep wondering if Snape's name, or a scorch-mark that was 
Snape's name, exists on the Black family tree tapestry).

But Snape's taunts rankled Sirius no less than Molly Weasley's 
admonishments (boy do they get into it), or Dumbledore's instructions 
to stay-put.

If anything, I think it was made apparent that Sirius was having 
difficulty coming to terms with the fact that Harry is not as much 
like James as he'd hoped.  As much as Sirius was playing the role of 
godfather to Harry, it seems he was equally hoping Harry would be a 
sort of surrogate James (and this is not lost on Remus, Dumbledore or 
Molly Weasley).  But Harry isn't James, and you can see Sirius' 
distress when Harry dares to confront Remus and James over what he 
witnessed in the pensieve...challenging the motives and actions of 
the Marauders (particularly James, his best friend) toward Snape.  

Sirius struck me as a man trapped in his past, trying to will James 
back to life in the form of Harry, and realizing over the course of 
the story that this would never be, and that hit him hard and played 
the key role in his overall restless melancholy and recklessness.

When Sirius was dueling Bellatrix Lestrange, laughing at her and 
taunting her ("Come on, you can do better than that"), it struck me 
as more than sheer rashness for which Sirius is infamous... I saw a 
man with someting on the level of a "death-wish."

Because the circumstances were strange, it's hard to tell if Sirius 
was actually killed (though the way JKR went-on about it, it sounds 
as if he had indeed passed-on...but who knows?).

I can only think that if Sirius did indeed "cross-over," then he is 
now reunited with his best chum, James (and gleefully wreaking havoc 
in the next dimension), and free of his earthly pain...and Luna gives 
the assurance that those who are left behind will one day be reunited 
with their departed loved ones again.

BM