Snape's Attitudes

[darrin_burnett]

No: HPFGUIDX 57771

> > 
> Mycropht:
> I'm with Darrin on this for a lot of it, but come GoF I'm also leaning
> toward the thought that 
> just maybe some of Snape's cruelty to Harry is a "doth protest too much"
> posture to keep
> his standing in the DE community and further his skill as a double agent.  
> 
> Mycropht


Oh yeah, this makes tons of sense. We know that three of the current Slyths 
are sons of DEs -- Crabbe, Goyle and Draco -- and there is every possibility 
other Slyths are also related to DEs or other V-Mort sympathizers.

If Snape were to be anything but cruel to Harry, the Boy Who Took Out V-Mort; 
Hermione, the Mudblood Who Knows Everything;  Ron, the son of the 
Muggle-Loving Arthur Weasley and even, to a lesser extent, Neville, the son 
of some of the best Aurors there ever were, then these kids would really start 
getting suspicious.

This also answers the question we've long had. Why does Dumbledore allow 
Snape to be so outrageously mean to the students? Simple. He knows Snape 
needs to maintain his "street cred" with the Slyths.

Now... there is the possibility that Snape's cruelty and his cover are not 
mutually exclusive.  He could really be enjoying his cover and it could be 
coming very naturally to him. 

Where I fall down on this Snape Spymaster theory is the idea that he's always 
in the know and always playing a part. I refuse to believe his flying off the 
handle at the end of PoA is just him playing a role. I really think he was going 
bezerk at Sirius escaping.

I think Snape learned all the facts of life at the end of GoF. He learned, 
essentially, that Harry was a serious force to deal with. He also learned that 
while Dumbledore gave him a second chance, he also gave Sirius a second 
chance. Matters are not, or should not be, as clear to Snape as they have 
always been.

It'll be interesting to see how he deals with it. 

Darrin
-- Still not ruling out Snape betraying Dumbledore at the end, either.