Snape-Harry Detente & Dumbledore

[Matt]

No: HPFGUIDX 81004

Just a little discrete piece here; I'll jump in 
on the rest of the thread in a separate post....

--- "Karen" asked (with reference to the Pensieved
Snape memory of the 5th-yr bullying incident):

> [W]hy was [Snape] so embarrassed by that? I 
> understand needing to remove the memory to help 
> him control his anger, but if the memory was 
> removed, why was Snape still angry about it? 
> If the memory is gone, wouldn't the emotions 
> connected with it also be gone? 

We don't know exactly what happens when Snape
(or DD in GF) needs to enter the Pensieve world
to pull Harry back out.  In GF, Dumbledore
seems (from Harry's POV) to show up next to him
in the memory scene.  

By analogy then, in order to pull Harry out in
OP, Snape may need to dive into the memory
himself.  If, in doing so, he re-experienced
the feelings he had during the original incident,
it would help explain his difficulty in 
controlling his anger.  (There is a counter-
argument that viewing the memory in the Pensieve
is supposed to give the viewer distance -- hence
DD's comment in GF about examining things from
a more objective perspective -- but the exper-
ience may differ when the viewer actually enters
the Pensieved memory.)

Going back to Snape's trouble controlling his
anger, it occurs to me that we see Snape lose
control rather often around Harry *for someone
who takes such evident pride in controlling his
emotions*.  Possibly, that is part of what so
infuriates him about Harry.  Snape is able to
keep his cool around LV, for goodness' sake, and
yet this little fledgling wizard is able to get 
Snape's goat every time.  

(OK, "every time" is rather a gross exaggeration,
but I'm thinking of the scene near the end of
PA when Snape is reduced to near-blithering, 
and if I went through in more detail, I feel sure
I'd find at least once per book where Snape is
goaded into doing something that he can't 
possibly be proud of.)