Snape and Harry again.

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 114364

> Kethryn said:
> 
> 1. In the Sorcerer's Stone, all those "chats" Snape had with 
Quirrel  are bugging me. 
> <snip>
> If Snape knew that Voldemort was leeching on Quirrel, then I'm 
not  sure that he would have even talked to Quirrel, not if he 
wanted to  protect his identity as a double agent.<

Quirrell tells us that he knew it was Snape who had interfered 
with his jinx, and that Snape had threatened him, but he doesn't 
tell us what rationale Snape presented for doing it. We don't 
know what  Snape said between "You know perfectly well what I 
mean" and "--your little bit of hocus-pocus. I'm waiting."

It could have been "You're trying to steal the Stone, but you won't 
succeed. Not without my help. You want Potter out of the way? 
Cut me in on the deal and next time I won't interfere with--"

Since Quirrell did not tell Snape that he had Lord Voldemort on 
his side, Snape's loyalty to Voldemort was not in question. 

> 
> Dungrollin rolls up her sleeves:
> 

> As I see it, there are 4 possibilities: 
> (I suspect that someone has already gone through this before 
> 1. ESE!Snape

> 2. MoralConversion!Snape
> 
> 3. ReluctantlyGood!Snape
>
> 4. Oscar-winner!Snape


Pippin:

I see Snape as a combination of all four, with a measure of Ally's 
Vengeance-driven!Snape as well, though  I think Rowling is 
saving a true moral conversion for the end. 

 I see Snape as someone with a strong sense of justice (and 
injustice) but being a true Slytherin, he posits  no external set of 
values by which to judge. He measures everything against his 
internal sense of injury or benefit.

I think Voldemort taught him occlumency with the unintended 
consequence that  for the first time in his life Snape learned to 
control his anger. At that point, the rational side of Snape's 
character could assert itself. He began to see that  his service to 
the Death Eaters was pointless, and that Voldemort was not 
interested in obtaining justice for his followers but only in power 
for himself. 

Snape might have faked his death and disappeared, but he 
wanted revenge against Voldemort for manipulating him and 
there was still the debt to James. So Snape defected, but  
Voldemort got blown away and  James got killed before the 
debts could be cleared, leaving Snape in a pretty quandary. 

How can you  pay back a  debt to someone who (apparently) 
can't be killed?  I think Dumbledore assured Snape that 
Voldemort would be back and Harry would need Snape's help 
someday.  So Snape has remained in Dumbledore's service, 
because of his very self-interested subjective concept of justice. 

That brings us to OscarWinner!Snape. I think Snape is a hard, 
cruel bitter man, possibly not entirely human. But he doesn't hate 
Harry, or at least we've had some powerful hints that he does 
not. Twice, in OOP, Harry thinks he has seen hatred and is 
corrected. He's told that Lily didn't hate James and Sirius didn't 
hate Kreacher. 

 I don't believe Snape hates Harry, but he has a real problem 
with Harry's attitude, and his sense of injury is magnified by his 
frustration and his lingering resentment of James, whom he did 
hate and with good reason. As Snape punishes people 
commensurate with his sense of injury rather than their crimes, 
it's no wonder that he's too harsh with Harry and too soft on his 
Slytherins. 

It might be objected that Harry didn't have an attitude toward 
Snape to start with, but I would counter that before he entered the 
first potions class, Harry already believed that Snape didn't like 
him, that the pain in his scar had something to do with Snape, 
that  only Slytherins became dark wizards, that Snape was very 
interested in the dark arts, that Slytherins were a hard lot, and 
most of all that no decent wizard would want to be in Slytherin 
House. It would be amazing if Snape didn't pick up on any of that.
So while Snape is not acting when he is cruel to Harry, I don't 
think Harry is correctly interpreting his motives.

On the other hand, I think that Pensieve aside, Snape's capslock 
rages are not entirely genuine--the  feelings are real, but the 
sense he projects of being out of control is an act. The point is 
not to intimidate Harry, but to convince Voldemort, through his 
proxies, that Snape is still mastered by his rage and easy prey 
for the Dark Lord. 

Pippin