[HPforGrownups] Re: Quesiton for Snapeophiles and -phobes RE Dumbledore, Snape, and Harry

[Amanda Geist]

No: HPFGUIDX 114799

> Dzeytoun writes:
>
 > Snape, meanwhile, has subjected Harry to five years of non-stop abuse.

 > Yes, in many ways, Snape is MUCH more evil than Voldemort.

> Granted, we keep being TOLD that Voldemort is a great and powerful
> evil.  But we really haven't see that.  On the other hand, we keep
> being TOLD that Snape is a good guy.  But his evil is readily
> apparent.
>
> On balance, if I had to choose which to send to the gallows on the
 > basis of what I've actually SEEN, I would definitely give Voldie the
 > pass and let Snape swing.

Oddest thing, I don't get Dzeytoun's messages, only people's responses to
them. Love that YahooMort.

I am amused by this thread, because people assume that Snape's feelings
toward Harry are as intense and focused as Harry's toward Snape. I don't
know that this is the case at all.

My husband mentioned, after reading the (at that time) three books, that
Snape is a grown man and Harry is a child; any "struggle" between them is
mostly in Harry's mind. Snape has higher priorities than making Harry's life
awful; bedeviling Harry doesn't dominate his thoughts and dreams. Snape is a
far larger factor in Harry's life than Harry is of Snape's.

It was the first movie that made me really understand my husband's point on
a visceral level. No, Snape doesn't like Harry. Yes, he's nasty and unfair
to him. But he's nasty and unfair in general; when Harry's in front of him,
then (due to the past) he's likely to get a more intense reaction, but I
believe that when Harry's not in front of him, Snape thinks as little as
possible about him.

I still believe that Snape's nastiness is his "autopilot" mode, the way he
operates when he's not really thinking about it. I think it's probably easy
for him because of his past, and that it fits well with his nature--but I
also still believe that it is deliberate, so that the memories he has of
places and people will be appropriate when facing the skilled Legilimens
Voldemort; so that the memories he must suppress are minimal and in a very
few, controlled, locations.

That, I think, is why Snape will not eat at Sirius' house; he cannot afford
to have memories of the place or the people. And that is likely a factor
(although probably not the only one) in his favoring Draco and being so
unfair to Harry.

I won't call Snape evil. I will call Lockhart evil. And I will call Umbridge
evil. Like Voldemort is evil. Because intent counts. Snape's intention is to
support the side of good. He is doing it with ill grace, for whatever
reason, but he is doing the right thing. I think there is fertile ground for
tragedy in the miscommunication between Harry and Snape, but I honestly
don't believe that Harry has been the focus of anything like a five-year
deliberate campaign on Snape's part intending to break Harry's spirit.
Honestly. If a man as proud as Snape ever thought he was considering a child
to be an *opponent,* he'd be appalled. Harry is simply an irritant and one
factor in the great equation Snape is involved with.

~Amanda, onetime premier Snapologist, but you guys are amazing