What if other teachers behaved like Snape?

[Wanda Sherratt]

No: HPFGUIDX 101498

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" 
<dumbledore11214 at y...> wrote:
 
> But Snape intimidated, humiliated and abused them since they were 
> eleven. How exactly Harry supposed suddenly start trusting Snape?
> 
Well, but Snape trusts Harry.  Harry doesn't seem to realize it, but 
he's got Snape's life in his hands at every moment.  One little 
comment to Draco about seeing Snape in London, or one hint to a 
particularly chatty student like Colin Creevey about that mark on 
his arm, and Snape could be without a job or worse.  It's to Harry's 
credit that he never thinks in those terms, even when he had the 
example of Fred and George blackmailing Ludo Bagman before him.  
It's also a sign of Snape's courage that he doesn't try to protect 
himself by buying off the Trio with special treatment.  Most people 
with a lot of things to hide would be more careful about making 
enemies.  In OotP, I think the Pensieve scene is partly about 
betraying trust.  When Harry looks in, it's actually the SECOND time 
he's had a chance to do so.  The first time was when the Occlumency 
lesson was disrupted by the noise upstairs of Umbridge throwing out 
Trelawney.  Snape leave in a rush to take care of a crisis, and 
Harry is left alone with the Pensieve.  He's tempted, but he doesn't 
look, and follows Snape out.  I think that Snape noticed that Harry 
didn't snoop, and so he trusted him on the second occasion when he 
had to leave in mid-lesson.  He was furious to come back and find 
that he'd been mistaken in Harry.  Of course, he made it harder for 
himself; if he'd simply said after the first incident, "Oh, by the 
way, thanks for not peeking in the Pensieve," Harry would probably 
NEVER have looked the second time.  He's that sort, who would 
respond to positive reinforcement - he wouldn't want to descend to 
lower behaviour after he'd set a high benchmark.  But Snape of 
course would never thank Harry for anything, even for diplomatic 
reasons, so the opportunity was lost.

Wanda