Harry learning from Snape (was: stopper death)

[dzeytoun]

No: HPFGUIDX 114586


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Renee" <R.Vink2 at c...> wrote:
> 
> Renee:
> On the one hand, I'd love to see such a Cold War, to see Harry 
> taunting Snape by being politely snarky. On the other hand, there's 
> a catch to this. In the initial stages of such a conflict, Snape's 
> reaction will probably be to punish Harry and unfortunately one of 
> the punishments he has at his disposal isn't just personal: he can 
> dock house points. And he will. Which means Harry will be fighting 
> Snape at the cost of all the other Gryffindors. 
> 
> True, this has hardly stopped him before, but one of the aspects of 
> growing up is getting less self-centered and taking other people's 
> well-being into account. Engaging in a cold war with Snape while 
> disregarding the consequences to his fellow housemates may run 
> counter to Harry's maturing process. So I think he can only fight 
> Snape effectively if he manages to convince the other Gryffindors 
> that they, too, will ultimately benefit from it - which will only 
be 
> the case if Harry can make Snape change his nasty ways.
> 
> If he can do this, he'll also show his capacity for leadership. If 
> he doesn't dwell on how his behaviour will affect his housemates, 
> this strategy may only lead to the next spectacular failure. As 
> other people have pointed out, there's more at stake than just a 
> student's conflict with an abusive teacher.   
> 
> Renee

Well, we are kind of back to SHOULDS again.  You bring up some good 
points.  My answers:

YOU CAN'T DISMISS ABUSE.  I'm sorry, it doesn't matter what's at 
stake.  And I mean that quite literally.

As for the House Point issue, don't know how I would answer that in 
the should realm.  In the realm of what we'll see in the books - 
well, as you say, it hasn't made a difference up to this point and I 
rather think that things like House Cups aren't going to weigh very 
heavily on Harry's mind in the last two books.  I doubt anybody else 
is going to worry all THAT much about them, either.

Dzeytoun