Snape: Crime and Punishment

[allies426]

No: HPFGUIDX 143802

((DUNE spoilers below - has anybody else out there read that 
series?))

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboyminn at y...> wrote:

> Let's see if I can add one more short note about Snape. I have 
already
> said the even under the most ideal circumstances, the wizard world
> will never forgive or forget that Snape killed Dumbledore. They may
> come to understand, they may even understand to the point where the
> courts will grant leniency to Snape, but they will never forgive 
his
> actions.

SNIP

> This is vital; don't get me wrong, just because Snape helps Harry
> doesn't mean he will be elevated to the rank of hero. I've already
> said that Snape has commited an unforgivable act in killing
> Dumbledore. I have futher said that Snape understood he was 
commiting
> an unforgivable act for which he would surely suffer, either in 
prison
> or by death, a great punishment. That is the foundation of Snape
> objection to Harry calling him a coward. Snape has done both an
> immensely brave and simultaniously cowardly thing in killing
> Dumbledore. He has made a sacrific in the extreme by his action, a
> sacrifice that may indeed cost him his life. A sacrifice that will
> doom him for all time even under the very best of circumstances.
> 
SNIP

> But I think in the end, Snape will in some way
> redeem himself, but that act of redemption, while it will mitigate 
his
> prior actions, will never erase them.
> 
> You heard it here first...again.
> 
> Steve/bboyminn
>

Allie now:

In the prequels of the Dune series, we find out the reason a family 
was branded as cowards and traitors for generations upon 
generations.  Thousands of years ago, the patriarch of that family 
flew a plane carrying a "great" religious leader into a sun because 
he found out that the man was manipulating the empire and was 
anything but holy.  One other man knew the truth, but he would never 
be believed.  He tried to make his voice heard but finally gave up.  

I think Snape will suffer a similar fate.  Somewhere along the 
journey, Harry will find out that Snape was DDM! all along.  Snape 
will die (killed either by the Aurors or by the Death Eaters) and go 
down in history as the man who murdered The Great Albus Dumbledore.  
Harry, and maybe a few others, will know the truth, but a) nobody 
will believe them, and b) there will be no point in telling the 
truth after the fact.  So Snape goes down as the worst villain ever, 
and Harry suddenly finds that he can't hate Snape anymore, because 
what worse punishment could there be than being dead and all of the 
WW thinking you are worse than Voldemort?  Is that enough punishment 
for all of the Snape-haters?  (Not that I really like him either!)  
I don't think this would take the focus off Harry, either, because 
Harry would really have to grow and mature to forgive (even dead) 
Snape for all that he's done.