Hermione and Snape

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 128322

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214"
<dumbledore11214 at y...> 
wrote:
> Could you or anybody else for that matter, please show me that
Snape  treats Hermione as capable student she is. That he 
encourages her to  study that he sees her efforts, etc. By that I
don't  mean that he is  NICE to her. It would be enough for me 
that he ... let's her talk in  his class.
> 

Pippin:
Oh, that's easy. He treats her as a capable student by *not* calling
on her in class. Snape's not interested in the students who know the 
answers, he's interested in the ones who don't. If she had a weak 
area in potions, he would doubtless point it out to her with the usual
smirk. 

Hermione hardly needs encouragement to study harder, in
fact it would do her good to get her nose out of her books and learn
from real life.

Alla (post 128318)

To me the definition of Snape-like teacher must ABSOLUTELY include
the fact that said teacher has a grudge against dead parent of one
of his/her student AND because of that goes out of his way to make
the said student life absolutely miserable.

Pippin:
I think this is an oversimplification of what Snape is like.
Snape's need to humiliate people stems from the way James treated
him, but Harry does things that make him an attractive target. 
Harry's seeming insolence and disregard of instructions are integral
to the way Snape treats him. Harry has never drawn Snape's
ire when he was following instructions and minding his own business, 
not even in that first class. He was making faces and looking 
around to see what Ron, Hermione, Draco and Seamus were up to, 
but he didn't notice that Neville needed help.

I don't see a straight line between the grudge and Harry. Can
you (or anyone) show me canon that Snape would be easier on any 
other Gryffindor who disregarded Snape's instructions or answered 
him insolently, or  intruded on his most sensitive
memories?

IIRC, he's just as rough on Ron on the rare occasions when Ron talks
back to him, and just as hard on Neville when Neville doesn't
do as he's told. It's true that Snape vanishes Harry's potion in the
first OOP class, and Harry feels he's being picked on. But Snape says
that those who have managed to follow the instructions should turn
their samples in for testing, meaning that the others are not going
to get credit just because they turned their sample in.


Pippin