Ever so evil ? was Dumbledore's role in Sirius' death

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 99062

> Ava:  Which is, of course, why Snape is so essential to Harry's 
> development.  In his less-than-ideal way, he serves as an anchor
> to reality.  

Jen: Yes, I totally agree Snape has taught Harry an enormous amount, 
even if his methods are questionable. Basically, I accept JKR's 
answer from the B&N chat in 2000:

Q: Why does Professor Dumbledore allow Professor Snape to be so 
nasty to the students (especially to Harry, Hermione, and Neville)? 

A:Dumbledore believes there are all sorts of lessons in life; 
horrible teachers like Snape are one of them! 

Jen:
> > I thought that was the whole point of OOTP, that Harry saw 
> all 
> > the previous fairy-tale elements of the WW in a new light 
<snipped list>
> > Why does JKR have to go further to make the point that Harry no 
> >longer idealizes the WW?

Ava: 
>  Because he still has much further to go in accepting the flaws 
> he's discovered.  James and Sirius were bullies?  Sirius blows it 
> off & even Lupin makes light of it.  That confuses Harry a bit, to 
> his credit he finds that raises troubling questions - but he 
doesn't 
> make the next step, to try to find out the undoubtedly even-more-
> troubling answers.  As Snape had earlier pointed out in PoA, Harry 
> didn't want to know the truth, & Harry had to admit (to himself) 
> that Snape was right.  I see no sign that he's quite ready to face 
> the unpleasant truths yet, either, in OotP.  He may have seen 
> Snape's POV in the Pensieve, but clearly, he hasn't yet  
internalized it.  

Jen: I don't need for Harry to have resolution with Snape, or for 
him to fully accept Snape's POV to feel satisfied with the series 
and Harry's development. As you said, Harry admitted to himself 
Snape was right when he saw with his own eyes that James and Sirius 
had some serious flaws--that may be the extent of Harry's 
resolution. I fully expect some of Snape's truths will be given the 
hatchet job before the series ends, too. No one seems immune to 
having their weaknesses exposed.


> Ava:  Arrived where?  He's taken a step in the right direction, no 
> doubt.  But until he can accept Sirius' own responsibility for his 
> death, and even his OWN culpability, and can recognize that it 
> wasn't really UsualSuspect!Snape's fault, he's still in danger of 
> making serious mistakes - in his relationship with the world, in 
his 
> personal development, and in the battle against Voldemort.

Jen: This does seem to be Harry's Achilles heel, but to me his 
finger-pointing at Snape seemed like a lot of bluster to cover the 
very deep sadness and culpability he already *did* feel. Harry tends 
to feel guilty pretty often, like in the scene where he removed 
himself from everyone at Grimmauld Place, certain he was the weapon 
and would harm anyone who came near him. After Sirius' death, in 
Dumbledore's office, Harry thinks, "It was his fault Sirius had 
died; it was his fault. If he Harry had not been stupid enough to 
fall for Voldemort's trick...." (US, chap. 37, p. 820-821)
Personally, I think he's being really hard on himself when 
practically all the adults he counted on were making mistakes right 
& left during OOTP. 

Like you said, these things may be the first step for Harry and 
there's more resolution to come, or it could be Harry moves on, 
never totally resolving the conflict with Snape or even his feelings 
about his father. I tend to think the latter would be a more 
important resolution, finding a way to make peace with his dad's 
memory.