[HPforGrownups] Re: Snape and DADA

[Magda Grantwich]

No: HPFGUIDX 112066

--- eloise_herisson <eloiseherisson at aol.com> wrote:
> If the worst of Snape is his inability to empathise with or 
> understand others, a tendency to assume the worst of others, why 
> could JKR not say so? What could that possibly give away about the 
> next two books? 

Magda replies:
These qusetions are, at the moment, unanswerable because we don't
know what's ahead in the series in any detail.  But I don't think not
having the answers prevents us from speculating.

One of the things I think will happen in the next two books is that
Harry will have the choice of whether he wants to walk away from what
seems to be his destiny (ie, kill or be killed by Voldemort).  If the
power of love is going to be Harry's biggest asset, then he's got to
voluntarily assume his role as WW-saviour, otherwise the whole effort
will be meaningless.  How can love help Harry if he's coerced or
forced to take up arms against Voldemort?  It's our choices that show
us what we are, and Harry must make this choice.

And Snape won't understand it.  The future of the WW (tens of
thousands of innocent people) depends on Harry snapping into it and
practicing heavy-duty spellcasting so he can win the Big One that's
coming up.  All this talk about love and choices will strike Snape as
just so much wussery about emotions that can only make a wizard weak,
not strong.  Harry should try to conquer those emotions, not channel
them.  

But Dumbledore - and hopefully Harry by that time - knows that the
willingness to voluntary sacrifice himself for love is the greatest
strength Harry can have.

> Eloise:
> Even if it the fact that Dumbledore thought it would 
> give him too much opportunity to dominate or control, I don't
> really see that that isn't something that we couldn't have worked 
> out relatively easily.

Magda replies:
I don't think it's a control thing; I think it's more of a focus
thing.  He'd expect the children to focus to the exclusion of
everything else on the great goal of defeating evil.  And so there
would be a lot of cranky, neurotic, paranoid kids taking DADA lessons
with a handful of Barty Crouch Sr. fanatics leading the pack and
getting really good marks.

> Eloise: 
> What JKR's statement suggest to me is that we are going to find out
> something about Snape which is going to be of great 
> significance. 

Magda replies:
I wish that were true but frankly I doubt it.  For some reason JKR
finds the Trio fascinating but personally I think the MWPP generation
is much more interesting.  And JKR is pretty miserly at doling out
information about them.

Lately though I've been wondering about something: wouldn't it be a
total kick if Harry has to time-turner 25 years into the past because
it's actually Harry and not James who pulls Snape out of the tunnel
and saves him from a werewolf?  Because Snape is needed in the future
for some potions work or something?

> Eloise:
> I'll throw another of his personality traits into the mix: a
> tendency 
> to go it alone, which combined with a certain secrecy and
> assumption 
> that he knows best, better even than Dumbledore on occasion, could 
> lead him to be a bit of a loose cannon. Would his specialising in 
> DADA encourage this?

Magda replies:
That's not a description of Snape at all but it's definitely a good
description of Harry!  Snape is the ultimate suck-it-up-for-the-team
man; he won't go against Dumbledore even when he thinks the old guy
is wrong.  The closest he came was assigning a werewolf essay in POA
and even then he was aiming at Hermione, knowing she'd do it and
hoping she'd tell Harry who'd been private with Lupin earlier.  (And
I loved Ron's detention assignment in the hospital wing so that he'd
see that Lupin wasn't there.)

Magda


		
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