The best reason for Dumbledore to trust Snape (Lily?)

[Deb]

No: HPFGUIDX 137869


 (Snip)
 
 Gatta:

(Snip)
 
  Now which the two, Voldemort and Harry, is Snape more like? I 
think I
 would have to come down on the side of Harry; Snape has known a
 mother's devoted love, just as Harry has, and while his years at
 Hogwarts are not without conflict and incident--unlike Harry's, of
 course ;)--we don't see him actually doing anything overtly evil
 (well, O.K., his educational methods leave a bit to be desired, but
 the kids seem to survive him without losing too much skin; we have 
to
 remember that the model for Hogwarts is the English "public" school
 system, which treats children a good deal less gently than the
 American school system does) until the moment when he kills 
Dumbledore. 
 
 Which leaves me wondering if that act is one of those apparent
 "mistakes" like Harry's (for example, killing Professor Quirrel,
 surely something a student would not normally get away with), for
 which there is after all an underlying explanation that we we don't
 know about, but Dumbledore (and JKR) do.
 
 Until I know better, I'm giving Severus Snape the benefit of the 
doubt.

Deb writes:
  As for Snape's strengths and faults as a teacher, isn't it 
interesting that in 6 books filled with scenes from Snape's 
classroom and accounts of his treatment of Slytherin vs Griffindore 
students, that we have *never* heard any comments from either 
Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff students about Snape? Given that Slughorn's 
NEWTs Potions class consists of 4 Slytherins, 3 Griffindores, 4 
Hufflepuffs (hard workers but not noted in Hogwarts history for high 
intelligence), and 1 Ravenclaw... Snape must have been doing 
something right as a teacher. I seriously doubt that, if Snape had 
taught NEWTs Potions and requiring O level OWLs, the only ones in 
the class would have been Slytherins.....  
And given Fred and George's abilities to *create* new and novel 
potions/sweets/love potions, I suspect they were taking NEWTs 
Potions prior to their premature departure from Hogwarts. The only 
comment I remember hearing from them about Snape was in Harry's 
first year when they say he tends to get nasty when taken on and Ron 
reports that he has heard that Snape tends to favor Slytherin 
students. And Bill, Percy, and Charlie of the 11 or 12 OWLs fame 
must have gotten at least As in Potions to have been awarded so many 
OWLs. Also I note that Snape is never reported to be specifically 
nasty to Dean Thomas or the other Griffindores... he rags on Seamus 
a bit and tells Parvati and Lavender off for doing other things in 
class... but he is not really nasty to them. Maybe DD knows that, 
despite appearances from HP, RW, and HG POVs to the contrary, Snape 
actually is a good teacher. 
 Deb - who barely squeaked by Chemistry 101 but is a whiz in the 
kitchen