CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chapter 28, Snape's worst memory

[meriaugust]

No: HPFGUIDX 115140


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Magda Grantwich 
<mgrantwich at y...> wrote:
> >> 10. What do you make out of Snape's reaction after
> >> Pensieve fiasco? Will he ever want to see Harry in his
> >> office again?
> > 
> > Meri: I know I am one of the many who want to know Snape's 
> > motivations, but from what I think I understand about him, his 
> > reaction was almost out of character.
snipping my original post
 Which leads
> > me to the conclusion that Snape may have wanted Harry to see 
that 
> > memory, either to show Harry what a berk his dad could be, or to 
> > give Harry a glimpse at the difficulites he himself faced at
> > school...
> 
>
Magda adds:  
> Nope, Snape was in a towering rage because he'd started to trust
> Harry - he was realizing that he'd been hasty in assuming that 
Harry
> had a pampered upbringing and he had been feeling some empathy (NOT
> liking) for Harry.  For the first time he didn't assume the worst
> about Harry and Harry went right ahead and poked his head literally
> where it didn't belong.  

Really? You think he actually started to trust Harry? Because I 
can't really see that. IMHO, trust comes part and parcel with 
respect, and I don't see Snape at all respecting Harry, any more 
than Harry is respecting or trusting Snape. Just reread all those 
cracks and sarcastic and caustic remarks Snape made at Harry's 
expense. And you really think he was trusting the Potter boy, whom 
he's hated for the last five years? If you can show me canon to back 
that up, maybe I'll buy it. By all means, make a liar out of me. But 
the fact is we have no idea why he pulled a nutty. 

> And Snape blew a head pipe because his trust had been violated. 
> Which is why he gives Harry the silent treatment in future 
classes -
> honestly, doesn't that sound like what Ron did Hermione when he
> thought Crookshanks had eaten Scabbers and he thought Hermione was 
in
> the wrong?

Ron gave Hermione the silent treatmeant because he was pissed as 
hell at her. Yeah, he thought she was wrong, but it was more than 
that. He was boiling mad at her, too. Snape probably gave Harry the 
silent treatment for the same reason: an irrational anger. 
 
> He certainly didn't want Harry to see those memories because he
> thought Harry would find them funny and would take the same view as
> James and Sirius did.  After all, at Christmas time Sirius called 
him
> Snivellus in front of Harry and I'm sure Snape expected that Sirius
> would have told Harry all about how they'd harassed Snape at 
school. 
> The last thing he'd want is for Harry to actually SEE them.

But why then did he leave the Pensieve out in the open? Snape knows 
what a busybody Harry is, and surely (though I have no canon to back 
this up) DD would have mentioned that Harry knows how a Pensieve 
works and might be tempted to peek. For a guy who locks up his 
office with myriad spells and spends time prowling the halls, Snape 
seems peculilarly paraniod about his own personal security. So why 
on earth did he leave Harry alone in his office with a full 
Pensieve? It doesn't make sense from what we know of Snape, unless, 
again, there is some reason that either, a: Harry had to see that 
memory, or b: Snape could no longer teach him Occlumency, for what 
ever reason. But Snape actually trusting Harry? Not in a million 
years. 

Meri