Reasons to hate Snape

[jenny_ravenclaw]

No: HPFGUIDX 56858

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Ladi lyndi <ladilyndi at y...> 
wrote:
 
> People keep talking about Snape's motivational tools and that's 
exactly how I see this one.  We know he and other teachers are 
frustrated by Neville (e.g. McGonagal telling Neville not to mention 
to anyone from Durmstrang that he can't perform even a simple 
switching spell, GoF, p. 208 UK).  We really don't know what the 
teachers think the problem is, lack of ability, lack of concentration, 
lack of focus, not caring, lazy, etc.  This may be one way that Snape 
is trying to focus Neville.  Snape may think that by taking the focus 
off Neville himself and putting it on Trevor, Neville will work harder 
to learn.
> 
I know that if someone threatened to poison my cats I'd be working a 
whole lot harder to learn how to counter it than if someone was just 
threatening me.>

This is where I have to say survival techniques in the WW really are 
different from the world where we live.  If I knew someone was trying 
to poison my cat, I'd go after them with a vengeance.  If I was a 
witch, I'd be brewing counter potions like mad, and maybe practicing a 
hex or two to aim at the offending witch/wizard.  If Neville went 
running to his grandmother about Trevor, my guess is she'd be livid 
that he couldn't prevent Trevor from being poisoned.  People in the WW 
are more covert than we are, and need to know how to watch their backs 
in a way that we don't (Ginny and the diary, Dementors, invisibility 
cloaks, and the Imperius Curse are all examples of this).  

As much I hate to say this, in the parameters of the WW, Dumbledore is 
probably doing the right thing by allowing professors like Snape and 
Trelawney to run wild at Hogwarts.  They really do prepare young 
witches and wizards to magically arm themselves in the best way 
possible, whether it be by spotting a fake, brewing a counter poison, 
deflecting a curse, and so on.

--jenny from ravenclaw ************************