Too "Good" Harry / The resolution of Snape

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 118473


Siriusly Snapey Susan wrote:
> So essentially, then, this change would happen way *after* the fact 
> of Harry's needing to work alongside Snape, right?  I ask because 
> that's what I was getting at earlier in this thread:  if it's 
> required in the plot, HOW will Harry & Snape manage to work 
> together?  
> 
> I've suggested Harry might have to grit his teeth & just ignore 
> [Professor] Snape-the-Prick, whereas others have said this would be 
> the wrong thing for Harry [no, for JKR, really] to do--that they'd 
> prefer Snape either actually CHANGE somehow or that he die.  So, 
> while I understand what you're saying as a possible way of seeing 
> Snape change in the end...I'm still curious about what could cause a 
> change in Snape earlier than that--early enough to impact how he & 
> Harry work together on Order business/VoldyWar preparations.

Carol responds:
I've suggested a very gradual change for Book 6, working back toward
the relationship that was starting to develop (on Snape's side) before
Harry looked into the Pensieve. It would start with minor details like
Snape calling Harry "Mr. Potter" and Harry calling Snape "Professor
Snape" or "Sir." The prerequisite, of course, would be Harry's
recognition that Snape isn't responsible for Sirius Black's death, and
a lessening of the venomous anger Harry felt and showed in OoP--the
influence of Voldy tampering with his mind without actually possessing
him?

That's what I'm hoping for, I almost said "expecting," in HBP, but I'm
afraid JKR will disappoint me.

If you're looking for something more drastic, what about this
possibility? Draco, blaming Harry and Dumbledore and everyone
associated with them--including Snape, whose role as an Order member
he has, erm, ferreted out--joins the DEs. Snape no longer has any
reason to conceal his loyalties from the Slytherins since he's been
"outed," so he starts treating Harry fairly, with only an occasional
sarcastic remark when his old dislike surfaces or Harry does something
stupid. Harry simultaneously learns what Snape is doing for the Order
and realizes that he really can trust Snape, so he starts trying to
cooperate and treating him with respect.

I don't think it will happen that way--for one thing, it's too early
for them to form an open alliance if they're ever going to do so--but
you wanted something that would cause an abrupt and obvious change in
Snape and that's all I can think of, barring Snape saving Harry's
life. Harry saving his life would make matters worse, not better. And
again, the big events will happen in Book 7, not Book 6. The war is
just getting started, and the deaths will involve expendable Weasleys
(Bill or Charlie) or other minor characters.

At any rate, I don't think Snape will "snuff it" early in Book 7, as
Magda predicted, or even in the middle. He's such a key character, not
to mention such an interesting one, and there are so many enigmas
about him that JKR has yet to resolve, that I don't see how she could
kill him off any earlier than the penultimate chapter, when he would
bravely save Harry and die fully redeemed in the eyes of all but the
most determined Snape haters. Or better yet, IMO, not die at all, and
change only enough to show Harry that his loyalties do indeed lie with
Dumbledore, the Order, and Harry himself.

Carol, who thought Magda was a Snapefan but must have been mistaken :-(