Drill Sargeant (with a tiny bit of ontopic talk...)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 94691

> 
> Siriusly Snapey Susan:
> I snipped Neri's & Anne's comments [sorry] in the interest of 
> brevity, and please keep in mind I'm reacting to the whole 
thread, 
> not just this message.
> 
> I will make one last feeble attempt to bring out a difference that 
I  think is KEY.  HRH & their class of Hogwarts students begin w/ 
Snape  at age **11** and the war is **NOT** yet on.  They are 
boarding  school students, not military academy students or 
enlistees.  No one  has **told** them that their lives are in 
danger and they damn well  better listen & learn this stuff 
because their *lives* depend on it.  
> When a person goes into the military, he or she is 1) older and 
2)  *knows* his/her life depends upon listening & learning every 
detail.
> 
> Doesn't anybody else out there think this is an important 
difference  in the learning process?  That one must 
*understand* the mission in  order for the drill sergeant routine 
to be most effective?  <<

We don't know that Snape is as tough on everybody else as he is 
on Harry and Neville. In fact, Harry tells Hagrid that Snape has 
something against him personally and Hagrid gets evasive. We 
think, later, that it's the old grudge. But suppose it's more than 
that? At least some of the DE's know about the prophecy--and 
who does Snape single out for his drill sergeant routine? Harry 
and Neville, the Prophecy twins. Snape wouldn't know that 
Neville has been eliminated, because Dumbledore hasn't told 
anyone what the full prophecy says.

So, as Dumbledore's agent and  an ex-DE, Snape knows these 
things:
(1)  It's him or Voldemort --you don't retire from the DE's
(2) Voldemort will be vanquished by "the one" -- Harry Potter or 
Neville Longbottom
(3) Voldemort knows about (2)
(4) Dumbledore doesn't want Harry to know about (2)
(5) Dumbledore believes that Voldemort could return at any 
moment.

 Harry and Neville don't get to opt out of the war, because even if 
they don't want to fight Voldemort, he's going to  murder 
them.  Snape is doing his level best to prepare them for this 
war, because if they fail, he *dies.* And he can't explain all of
this, because Dumbledore won't let him.

That doesn't mean Snape'd be nice to Harry  otherwise. The 
grudge is real enough. But it's not the only reason for Snape's 
behavior.

Pippin