Snape's worst memory, WAS Snape, Hagrid and Animals

[Miles]

No: HPFGUIDX 144057

> Sherry now:
> First of all, *anyone* adult or child, would be humiliated about having
> themselves turned upside down and their underwear showing in front of a
> crowd of their peers. Can you imagine not feeling upset about such a
> terrible thing? It doesn't need to be any more sinister than that.

lagattalucianese wrote:
> Upset, yes, but not to the point that it obsesses you for life. As it
> clearly does with Snape. I think what we are seeing in the Pensieve
> is just the tip of the iceberg, one of many similar assaults on young
> Severus' physical and emotional space. As I see it, this harrassment
> has gone on for years, to the point that it is making Snape
> physically sick (see the description of him in the O.W.L.S. test).

I'd like to bring in an idea from mugglenet, more precisely from the
Northern Tower.
The basic thought is, that Snape's memory Harry saw in the Pensieve is *not*
Snape's worst memory, but that Snape put this memory into the pensieve for
Harry to find and see it.
This theory answers some questions very well:
- why should Snape put a memory he wants to hide in a Pensieve and let Harry
see this?
- why should Snape let Harry stay in his office without locking up the
Pensieve, knowing that Harry is very curious and does not respect privacy
too much?
- why should the situation we saw in the Pensieve be Snape's worst memory?
It was mortifying for him when he was 16, we can be sure about that. But
now?

Just put it the other way round - this memory is Snape's worst memory *for
Harry*. It deeply impressed (and somehow depressed) Harry, didn't it? In the
first occlumency lesson(s) Snape could see Harry's memories, being bullied
by Dudley and his friends. So Snape knew, that Harry is in a more or less
similar situation when he is in the muggle world, as Snape was as a student
in Hogwarts.

Maline (the author of Northern Tower) compares the situation after Snape's
return to his office pulling Harry out of the Pensieve with Snape losing
emotional control - and points out, that Snape may be furious in the office,
but he doesn't lose control then. I don't want to repeat her evidences, if
you are interested:
http://www.mugglenet.com/editorials/thenorthtower/nt36.shtml

Miles