Harry's story , NOT Snape's (was Re: "An old man's mistakes")

[Merry Kinsella]

No: HPFGUIDX 138977

lady.indigo at gmail.com wrote:
<<snip>> I think a lot of Snape's continuing problems have to do 
with Harry being an utter idiot towards and about him. The instant 
he discovered that his father was a lot of things that Snape had 
always claimed he was, Lupin's "well, we were very young then" 
nonsense or no, the *first thing* Harry should have done was gone 
to Snape and both apologized about poking into his very private 
things and said "What my father did was unforgiveable but I am 
not my father." It's a lot of his own failings and pride that has 
allowed this relationship to fester into something even worse than 
what he began it to be. (Though Snape has a huge part in this too, 
certainly, and I don't excuse his bitterness or cruelty towards 
all of his students in the least.)<<<


Yes, I very much agree Harry has created a lot of the problem with Snape.  This becomes clearer as the "real" enemies of good become more heinous in the later books, so that Snape's crimes (pre-Dumbledore AK) seem to pale in comparison to, say, the Umbridges, Bellatrix's and Crouch Jr.'s of the wizard world, yet Harry's 
hatred for Snape, starting in OoTP, almost increases in kind of 
inverse proportion to Snape's actual, um, badness.

I think Harry's story has room room for many heroes - Dumbledore 
is one, Snape may be another, Lupin, Hermione, Lily, etc.  I also 
think growing up well is a kind of heroism - Sirius really didn't. 
 Harry is more mature in many ways than his dad seemed to be at 
fifteen.  Overcoming his prejudice may be a kind of heroism for 
Harry; becoming a better person, not just a successful action hero.

Meantime, JKR consistently shows us that in Harry, a little 
knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Harry running off wrong ways 
with the right information is a leitmotif of the book - he had 
vicious thoughts of Sirius at one point - when they first meet - certain Sirius was about to act in a certain way. The Sirius 
misapprehension was resolved quickly while Snape's is prolonged, 
but it's kind of the same.  Harry's been certain about things in 
the past - and dead wrong.  He recovers from these things well, 
IMO.

I don't know about Harry apologizing to Snape after the pensieve incident. He seemed to try to stammer out an apology after he was caught, and he was absolutely wrong to have poked his head in 
there, and afterwards he never told anyone how he learned certain 
things about Snape - he respected what Snape told him (never tell anyone).

The pensieve stuff doesn't bother me as much as Harry's stubborn anger at critical Snape/Harry interactions. There are occlumency moments where Snape is nearly nice. When he tells Harry "that was certainly an improvement" after Harry repelled Snape's legilmans. 
At that time, Snape didn't seem upset Harry had seen some of 
Snape's memories - Harry assumed he'd be punished for having 
glimpsed them, but that's Harry. Snape WANTED Harry to get better 
at occlumency and Harry just had. He asks Harry if Harry had 
intended to use a certain jinx on him - Harry says no - Snape believes him. Snape answers a couple of Harry's questions - such 
as why Harry needs occlumency since Hogwarts is protected from 
external intrusions. These lessons could be civilized if Harry 
only respected them. Instead, Harry has an anger buzz on the 
entire time and can barely force out his "sirs".  

Another thing that rankles is the Umbridge factor.
Umbridge is a piece of work, it's clear Snape feels nothing but distaste for Umbridge - perhaps that should clue Harry in?  Umbridge's detentions are so horrific Snape's routine
detentions and points deducting almost take on the character of a comforting, predictable consistency. They did for me, as a reader.

I don't get why Harry is so full of fury at Snape throughout Order 
of the Phoenix when the Snape in Order of the Phoenix is less gratuitously evil toward Harry than he'd been in Books 1, 2 and 3. 
Is it loyalty to Sirius?  Perhaps Sirius has led Harry astray.  Hermione is dubious about his influence throughout the book.

Even when Snape gives Harry no marks in the Umbridge-monitored potions class, Harry's fury is out of proportion.
Harry had spent the entire class dumping the wrong ingredients 
into his cauldron because he was focusing on the Umbridge/Snape exchanges - remember Hermione begging him to pay attention?  Harry 
ends up with glop, Snape gives him zero, and Harry is immediately 
full of incredible rage? I get how rage at Snape is necessary for 
Harry after Sirius is dead. I don't follow it totally in OoTP - 
why it's there. 

Finally, Harry pays close attention to Umbridge/Snape in Snape's potions class but doesn't seem to learn anything from it.
I think Sirius had to die in order to fuel Harry's hatred of Snape and his reaction to the events in Book 6, which of course, sets up the big pay-offs in Book 7. I get that. I don't get where Harry's ungodly rage toward Snape is coming from during the early and mid
going of OoTP. It's like Harry isn't paying attention to the Snape 
in front of him, but to the Snape in his mind. When did Harry 
become so DETERMINED to hate Snape so ferociously? It seems much 
more intense in OoTP than before, and very marked because the Snape 
in front of him is far more nuanced than Harry is perceiving.

"merylanna"