Snape and Lupin's Character Arcs (was: Lupin's Char Arc)

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 119339


> > Pippin:
That is your opinion, Alla. Mine is that Harry's problems with 
Snape started when  Harry started thinking that evil is a 
Slytherin  trait instead of a human one. If you want to blame 
somebody for that, you could blame Hagrid. McGonagall wouldn't be 
any nicer to a student she caught  talking back or making faces at 
her.  
> 
>Alla:
Of course it is my opinion. I did say "in my book" didn't I? And no, 
I don't think McGonagall would undeservingly single out a student.
nd sorry, but I will continue blaming Snape for setting tone to 
their relationship in that first class.
 
> Pippin: 
> > It is also my opinion that Snape is teaching properly, as 
properly is defined in the wizarding world, and therefore he has no 
evil intent. What he is doing is wrong and oppressive by our  
standards, but so was Sirius's treatment of Kreacher. Did Sirius 
need to be redeemed for that? I don't think so. It would have 
been wise if Sirius had taken Dumbledore's advice, but he was 
not obliged to do so. It would be nice if Snape's teaching style 
were more like Lupin's but  the customs of the wizarding world 
do not oblige him to make it so.
If Harry is willing to excuse Sirius for the way he treated 
Kreacher because Sirius was otherwise a valiant warrior for good, he 
should, *as a grown up*  be able to make the same allowance 
for Snape. That is where I expect Snape's character arc to go. He 
will stay in the same place, and Harry will grow to perceive him 
differently.
> 
> 
> Alla:
> 
> What Sirius did to Kreacher was undoubtedly wrong, but as we 
> discussed  earlier the only place in WW (as far as we know at 
least) where house elves are treated differently is Hogwarts.
But Sirius and Kreacher are not teacher and student. So, I again 
don't see the comparison.
 I doubt that Dumbledore not interfering with Snape's teaching can 
be equaled with "WW allowes him to do that" Dumbledore can have VERY 
specific reasons for keeping Snape at school, something which may 
have nothing to do with his value as a teacher.
But I'll tell you even more - I would not have that much problem 
with Snape's teaching if he treated EVERYONE equally unfairly, or 
even all Gryffidors equally unfairly.
 As of now, he singles out two Gryffs and one of them is James 
Potter' son. I see nothing proper with THAT.
I sincerely hope that Snape will be able to perceive Harry 
> differently too. Otherwise I hope JKR will let Snape be in Harry's 
debt now.

 Pippin:
Excuse me? Snape was in the right about Harry's father, and has 
never said anything to him about Harry's mother at all. And it is 
only Harry's opinion that Snape was trying to keep him from 
seeing Dumbledore, and highly unfair, since it was Snape who 
called Harry back and kept him there until Dumbledore arrived.
> 
> Alla:
I don't really care whether Snape was right or not. As far as I am 
concerned, he had no right to say it to Harry, absolutely none. This 
interaction was not in private setting, so Snape should have keep 
his opinions to himself, IMO.
The Barty Sr. scene may had the result you are talking about, but 
again that was Snape as sadist at his best, IMO. Harry was not in 
his classroom, he did not do anything to Snape. Snape saw how upset 
Harry was and still decided to demonstrate his "conversation skills".