Snape's Destiny/JKR quotes

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 105482

 
> Alla: 
> 
> I am sorry to be annoying, but I am still confused. To make a 
long  story short, I guess, my question will be:
> 
> Who is expecting Snape to act unfair, abusive,(whatever) to 
Harry?
> 
> If your answer is Voldemort, my next question will be Why?
> 
> To me, Voldemort's logical expectations of Snape will be to 
pretend  being Harry's friend (HAHAHA!) , get closer to him and 
then capture  him , kill him, etc.
> 
> 
> What am I missing?
> 
> Why Voldemort will expect Snape to be horrible to Harry?

I am guessing that the Snape who joined Voldemort was a lot 
more like the Snape that we see in the Pensieve scene than the 
Snape we know now--someone who was, as Snape put it in 
OOP, "easy prey for the Dark Lord!" someone who was one of 
those "Fools who wear their hearts proudly on their sleeves, who 
cannot control their emotions, who wallow in sad memories and 
allow themselves to be provoked so easily--weak people, in 
other words..." 

The Snape that Voldemort knew of old would have hated Harry 
for James's sake and would not have been capable  of  
concealing it. Snape is thus the last person Voldemort would 
think could be a spy--for *either* side

 Of course this interpretation requires that Voldemort not be 
aware of Dumbledore's testimony at Karkaroff's trial, but 
we can deduce that this was concealed because Sirius, who 
was very interested in Karkaroff, didn't know about it. (GoF 27) 


I suspect Voldemort knows little of how cunning Snape can 
be, values him solely for his potion-making skills, and thinks that 
Dumbledore does the same.  Thus, Voldemort would not have 
revealed himself as Quirrellmort in PS/SS because he wouldn't 
think Snape would be any use to him. 

Voldemort would take at face value Quirrell's estimation -- Snape 
hates Harry but doesn't want him dead -- as the reason Snape 
saved Harry from falling off the broom. What better revenge on 
James could there be than to put his son in the same position 
that James put Snape--having to live with the fact that he owes 
his life to someone he hates? 

Voldemort would take Snape's clumsy failure to avoid being 
mauled by Fluffy and his equally clumsy attempt to intimidate 
Quirrell as further evidence that Snape is useless except at 
potion making. He  would think, just as Harry did, that Snape 
wanted the Stone for himself.  In which case Snape could hardly 
be expected to  help Quirrell steal it!

Voldemort believed at the end of GoF that Snape had left him for 
ever, but Snape's return would of course prove that he hadn't. No
doubt Voldemort thinks, and JKR has hinted that Dumbledore is 
worried about this too, that the lure of the Dark Arts was simply 
too strong in the end for Snape to resist. 

Pippin