Snape's ghastly behavior was broken potion

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 117344


> Dan:
> Well, there are many times in the books where Snape delivers 
ghastly throwaway lines, like the infamous "I see no difference." 
Now, aside  from the implication in this that Rowling is, well, 
perhaps  compromising us, when we chuckle, cringe or 
whatever at that line, in  preparation for some projected so-called 
"moral" judgement she may  hand down, sometime (though I 
personally doubt she will let us off  that easy, reducing the books 
to some little package), the line has  no other possible point 
than, well, getting back at the Know-It-All. <

Pippin:
I'm not so sure they're random throw-away lines. Once per book, 
Snape does (or appears to do) something so ghastly that 
RL teachers post to say  "I'd get fired for that."

SS/PS : the broomstick hex
CoS: coaching Draco to produce the snake
PoA: outing Lupin
GoF: the tooth remark
OOP: the potion smash

Not only has there been no comeuppance as yet for any of these, 
our perspective keeps being shifted to make them look, if not 
okay, then at least not entirely gratuitous.

PS/SS:  wholly bogus. Snape was trying to save Harry, not kill 
him.

CoS:  Dumbledore and Snape couldn't really be sure Harry 
wasn't being possessed by the Heir, could they? In which case 
alerting the students to the possibility wasn't a bad idea. They 
manage it without making Harry think the teachers suspect him. 
Not bad.

PoA: Fudge already knew that Lupin had been loose on the 
grounds when Snape made his "accidental" revelation. Now that 
we know about Umbridge, does anyone really think she would 
have let Lupin keep his job? She'd have  made a public scandal, 
and it would have hurt all werewolves, not just Remus. 

GoF: "I see no difference" sounds different once we find out  that 
ignoring hex damage is standard operating procedure, unless 
you catch the culprit wand-handed.  Harry and Ron were 
punished, but  for shouting at Snape, not for hexing Goyle.

OOP: the evidence isn't all in yet, but I'm betting things will look 
different later

The other thing all this outrageousness does is disguise the fact 
that slowly but surely, Snape *has* been adjusting his attitude 
toward Harry. IIRC, it's been quite a while since we heard the 
world "expelled." He actually manages to dredge up a word of 
encouragement or two during the occlumency lessons. There 
are no more insults about Harry's father after the pensieve 
incident, not even during the charade in Umbridge's office. I 
wonder if , despite what Dumbledore said, Snape finally has that 
off his chest?

Pippin