I'll Never forgive Him (was Re: Harry mastering his emotions in HPB)

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 118240



--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Jen Reese" <stevejjen at e...> 
wrote:
> 
> But I do think Snape and Harry, unlike Snape and Sirius, will find 
> some way to *work* together even if the nastiness continues on both 
> sides. And Harry is only getting older and more confident--Snape 
> better watch out.
> 

Well, they are going to have to go a long way to reach this point.  
Recall the "I will never forgive him," scene in OOTP. An author 
doesn't go to the trouble of setting up a scene like that, and at the 
end of a book no less, without it meaning something.

I think we may see a very icy cold war between these two.  It may be 
restrained for the sake of reaching a goal, but nevertheless a war.  
I would find that much more realistic and more satisfying than 
the "noble path" Harry, which I would view as a cop out on JKR's 
part.  I will go so far as to say that if this whole situation turns 
out to be just a set up for Harry to be noble and learn to control 
his emotions, I will give very serious thought to leaving the fandom.

I agree that Harry is getting older and more confidant, and may well 
try to needle Snape at every opportunity.  Remember JKR's comment 
about Snape that "you mustn't think he's too nice, he's worth keeping 
an eye on, definitely."  Although many people interpret this to refer 
to Snape's past, that phrasing indicates to me that he *will* do 
something damaging.  I think it possible that needling on Harry's 
part might eventually push all of Snape's buttons, leading him to 
lose control of his feelings and do something very bad.

I can unfortunately see it going the other way.  Snape could actually 
escalate his hostility toward Harry, resulting in Harry finally 
losing control and doing something very damaging -- perhaps to 
Snape.  Thus, Harry learns the hard way the necessity to control his 
emotions.  

At this point I think we've come down to personal preferences.  My 
own preference is to see a cold war scenario, as I would find 
the "turn the other cheek" Harry to be, dare I say it, poor writing.  
Now that's just me of course.  But nevertheless, I can't pretend I 
wouldn't make exclamations of disgust if JKR went in that direction.

Lupinlore