Snape, trying very hard not to smile? Or is he just allergic to cats?

[eloiseherisson at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 93813

Sue responds, book in hand, and adjusting herself on the Snapey fence upon 
which she sits:
 
> Here's what I think.  I don't think Snape really cares about getting 
> Harry into trouble (really...he has bigger fish to fry). 

Eloise:
Oh, yes. *Much* bigger. But I still think he *really* cares about getting 
Harry into trouble. It's one of his little weaknesses.  ;-) I've gone on enough 
about this in the past, but I truly think Snape has *big* psychological 
problems where Harry is concerned. He's jealous of him, he has a ridiculous juvenile 
rivalry going on with him inside his own greasy head and although I also think 
he sometimes displays caring, paternal behaviour towards him, he still can't 
stand him and can't help trying to get his own back.


Sue:
>But I do 
> think he has a feeling *why* Harry wound up in that corridor and it 
> doesn't have anything to do with opening the Chamber.  Many people 
> have suggested (Sorry, I don't have the post #'s, I'm just not up to 
> that much research.) that Snape used the Dueling Club to "out" Harry 
> as a Parselmouth.  If this is indeed the case, and I think it is, his 
> smile would be because he just had a very profound "Aha!" 
> moment. "Aha!  Potter *is* a Parselmouth and he heard the Basilisk!"  

Eloise:
This could certainly work. But I *do* have a problem with the idea that Snape 
knows about the Basilisk. I rather think the plot of the books presupposes 
that no-one knows it's a Basilisk at this stage. Except for conspiracy 
theorists, of course, but I'm not one of those.

Sue:
> And BTW, one little look in the eye and Snape would have had his 
> confirmation that this was the case.

Eloise:
Perhaps. But Snape tells us that Legilimency isn't mind reading. It would 
have confirmed exactly what he said, though, that Harry wasn't being entirely 
truthful.

Sue:
> Before you sputter again ;)

I'll try and control myself. ;-)

...DD knows what is in the Chamber.  He 
> was there before, he knew Hagrid didn't open the Chamber and it 
> doesn't take a genius (okay, maybe Hermione is a genius, but so is 
> DD) to figure it out.  Especially after living through seeing TM 
> become Voldie.  He certainly wasn't keeping his talent for conversing 
> with snakes a secret later in his life.  Everyone knows and one or 
> little two and two deductions along with what happened 50 years ago, 
> a little chat with a certain teenaged ghost in the girls' bathroom 
> and voila! Mystery solved.


Eloise:
Yeess.....
This *is* puzzling. Why the heck didn't Dumbledore do something about it if 
he had all the clues there? He knew Tom Riddle  opened the Chamber the first 
time. The students attacked the first time were also presumably petrified (how 
else were they injured?) He knew where Myrtle died and that he could interview 
her. He *should* know. He also knows that Harry is hiding information from 
him, or possibly more than that. He may actually know the nature of what Harry is 
hiding from him. Why on earth doesn't he share what he knows with Harry, find 
out about the voice he's hearing and tackle Tom and the Basilisk himself?

Other than the fact that CoS would be a rather short book. ;-)

I hate to be a wet blanket, but mystery and adventure book plots frequently 
hang on the necessity of people not asking the right questions (Harry, anyone?) 
or not putting two and two together until the right point. Dumbledore's near 
omniscience and superior intelligence are a bit of a handicap in this respect.

Sue:
> I realize I just contradicted my first post, but all of your comments 
> caused me to go back and rethink.  As far as the masked DE's you'll 
> have a hard time convincing me Snape wasn't there.  I don't think 
> playing with his old friends is below him 

Eloise:
I can't argue that point, other than to say that I just think he's a better 
person than that.
I'll be very disappointed in him if he's not. Well, disappointed in JKR. In 
fact if she suggests that he's not, then I'll just carry on in the belief that 
she's *wrong*. ;-)

Sue:
>and it would not surprise 
> *me* to find out Snape is holding the leash on Malfoy and not the 
> other way around.  

Eloise:
Which I think I said, too, though we may mean different things by it.

Sue:
It is MVHO that Snape is directly in contact with 
> Voldemort.  That is what makes him so valuable to the Order.

Eloise:
I fear that he is, also.

Sue:
> I'm going to throw one more thing in because no one responded before:
> 
> In OotP, what was happening in the room with Rockwood moments before 
> Harry went to sleep and melded with Voldemort?  What was happening 
> just moments after?  Was the reason Snape was so upset about that 
> because he almost saw something that would have created some real 
> problems? Perhaps Snape was in that room too? If this is the case 
> what would the problems be and for whom?  Snape lovers?  Snape 
> doubters?


Eloise:
Well, I don't think it was anything in particular about what was going on in 
that dream, so much as the fact that it happened at all: it indicated that 
there *were* some real problems. Harry was not practising. He was allowing 
himself to indulge in dreams where the connection between himself and Voldemort were 
being strengthened, not weakened. Seeing this experience in Harry's mind was 
proof positive of that fact which Snape already suspected. Snape knew the 
room, he knew the man and he knew that the only way Harry had seen them was 
because Voldemort had put those images (albeit unwittingly) into his mind. 

Harry is proving to be a hopeless case. He doesn't want to learn to repel 
these dreams and visions. Snape has hit the nail on the head there, yet there he 
is, giving up his time to try to teach him this crucial skill. He doesn't want 
to be with Harry, his time is being wasted, he knows how important it is for 
Harry to learn to repel Voldemort but Harry just doesn't get it. He thinks he 
knows best how to tackle Voldemort; after all, he's the one getting apparently 
useful visions, he's the one who's fought him off three or four times (just 
like Snape goes off and does his own thing when he thinks Dumbledore's wrong - 
the pair of them do have some similarities). How incredibly frustrating for 
Snape.

Snape's eventual refusal to continue to teach Harry Occlumency was very 
wrong. But boy, can I see how it happened.

I doubt that Harry would have seen anything that could have incriminated 
Snape in any way. Harry already knows he was a DE; anything he might have heard 
him say/seen him do could have been explained in terms of either his not having 
been converted to Dumbledore's cause at the time or acting as a double agent 
later.

~Eloise


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]