How should Harry deal with Snape? (was: Why Snape doesn't have to be human)

[huntergreen_3]

No: HPFGUIDX 107631

Mel wrote:
> There was very little to like about the
> young man in book 5, which I appreciated just because it was a
> fairly accurate depiction of a pouty teenager, but that little
> tirade finished him for me. He'd better have a personality
> transplant over the next summer or Snape won't be his only problem.

Salit replied:
>> I really liked Harry in book 5. He finally managed to express his
feelings, shout, cry (at the end), etc. He managed to overcome the
united hostility of the world towards him and his own internal demons
to act in an honorable and selfless manner (for some example, see his
actions when Umbridge discovers the DA, and of course when he goes to
"save" Sirius). <<

HunterGreen:
I liked Harry a lot in book five too. I appreciated the fact that for 
the first time he appears to have *some* emotion about what he's been 
through. One of my big pet peeves is Harry's actions/emotional state 
in OotP being explained by him being a "teenager". For one thing he 
was a teenager in PoA and GoF too (and he was a pre-teen in the first 
few books, and pre-teens are often just as obnoixious as teenagers), 
so any HUGE difference in his behavior is not just due to his age. 

Most importantly though, Harry's emotional state is perfectly 
understandable in OotP considering what he's gone through. First he 
witnesses a friend of his murdered, then he's tied to a gravestone 
(by a person he saved the life of no less), watches as Voldemort is 
reborn, is tortured by him (and laughed at by a group of grown men), 
then is forced to duel with someone who has FAR more knowledge in 
that area, and barely wins. THEN, he is sent home where he's living 
with three people who don't care about him AT ALL (therefore can't 
possibly be of any comfort to him), where all of his friends send him 
letters with vague clues about things they can't tell him, and he's 
told he will 'eventually' get to leave, but no one mentions a date 
(and when he does leave, quite a bit of the summer is over already). 
How would you expect an 'adult' to react to this situation?  
Honestly, if he had been all cheery and happy when he got to 
Grimmauld Place, I would wonder if he was human, there's only so much 
a person can take.