Snape and Harry again.

[dungrollin]

No: HPFGUIDX 114191

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.

2. Snape must act the way he does towards Harry in order to protect 
his [Snape's] life... 
<snip>
No, it would be much easier if Snape pretended to hate Harry in 
order to protect his identity and his position. 
<snip>

3. On the whole threatening to poison the class issue... 
<snip> Snape would not let a student that he poisoned actually die, 
he would be testing their reactions to the attack, if you will. 
<snip>
Can you imagine how he might feel when word gets back to him that 
one of his former students died because of poison?

4. Snape really was in Slytherin House while he was at Hogwarts. 
<snip>
So, therefore, Snape is acting as he must in order to retain the 
faith with the other Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort without 
arousing suspicion. <snip>


Dungrollin rolls up her sleeves:

Firstly, the biggest problem with Snape is that his behaviour in 
cannon is compatible with a number of different hypothetical 
scenarios, which is why people like you (am I allowed to say
`us' yet? :-)) argue a lot about him.

As I see it, there are 4 possibilities: 
(I suspect that someone has already gone through this before and 
probably proposed their own names for the categories, and if so, I 
humbly apologise, beg forgiveness and - in fact, I'm so sure of it 
that I'll give the credit to everyone else before I start...)

1. ESE!Snape
Snape never really left You Know Who, and is still working for him, 
or he did really leave but has since returned to being a real DE, at 
any rate: he's not *really* on Dumbledore's side now.

2. MoralConversion!Snape
Snape did really leave the DEs and is genuinely working for 
Dumbledore, as a result of a moral decision he made, he's just very 
emotionally immature, unable to separate Harry from James in his 
mind, and after all the tough times he's gone through just can't 
help being a miserable b*****d.

3. ReluctantlyGood!Snape
Snape is genuinely working for Dumbledore, but he doesn't want to. 
He was forced to switch sides by something beyond his control, (was 
set up/found out/owed someone, and had turning spy extracted as
payment) knows that the DEs and You Know Who will never forgive him, 
and sees protecting Harry and making sure Dumbledore's plan triumphs 
over LV as the only way he'll ultimately survive; resenting it all 
the way.  

4. Oscar-winner!Snape
Snape is genuinely working for Dumbledore, did genuinely leave the 
DEs as the result of a moral decision, and is actually a terribly 
nice chap, but because he's spying for Dumbledore he can't blow his 
cover in front of anyone, and he's got to pretend to be a complete 
b*****d; to which end he performs admirably.

I think that 2 is the position I've seen most frequently on this 
list (please, someone, do correct me if I'm wrong), but 3 is my 
personal favrourite.

My suspicion is that he did really stop being a DE, although he 
didn't want to, agreed to work for Dumbledore as he had no other 
choice, and is hating every minute of it.

Cheers,
Dungrollin.

Okay, (scanning the above rubbish and wondering whether to cut all 
of it out) `simplifico detritus!' (or should that be
detriti?).  There we go!  (Trust me, it was much worse before...)