Snape: Crime and Punishment

[unlikelyauthor]

No: HPFGUIDX 143826

> bboyminn said:
> 
> Oh this has gotten so difficult because this thread has gotten 
> so complex and deals with so many diverse facets. I'll try my 
> best to hold it all together.

snip

unlikely 2:

Quite. I've probably overdone the cutting but I don't think that 
Snape is that bad a teacher. The WW appears to be at least a half 
a century behind the times. I'm not that old but I have been 
struck (with a ruler) by a teacher for very minor misdemeanors. 

Potions are dangerous. Harry throws a firework into one. From a 
muggle perspective, any child doing such a thing would probably be 
facing a legal investigation. That doesn't happen. It is unfair to 
judge Snape by muggle standards.

By either muggle or magical standards, the Dursleys are abusive. 
Snape talks the talk but I think Binns does more real damage than 
Snape and, given the choice, I'd prefer Snape to Binns any day. 

As to killing Dumbledore: if Voldemort wins, everyone else loses. 
Snape is probably not all that much better off if Harry wins. 
In war it is sometimes necessary to make sacrifices. I think 
Dumbledore accepted, even demanded, that. Snape has had the 
courage to make a terrible decision and has, as a consequence, 
lost probably the only person who could have saved him from 
Azkaban. He's in a lose lose situation. Talk of punishment is 
redundant.


unlikely2