I don't want to do it *ANYMORE* (was Re: Snape's punishment a "moral" issue? )

[lealess]

No: HPFGUIDX 144131

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "lupinlore" <bob.oliver at c...> 
wrote:
>
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "nrenka" <nrenka at y...> wrote:
> >
> 
> <SNIP>
> Snape is doing something and Dumbledore takes for granted that he 
> will keep doing it, while Snape wishes to make clear that he 
> doesn't want to do it anymore.
> 
> <SNIP>
> Given, however, DD's response "you said you would do 
> it and you will do it," the activity seems like some sort of 
> condition or duty laid on Snape, rather than something he is doing 
> spontaneously.  Or at least it is an activity that Snape has come
> to see as a duty or a condition laid on him.
> 
> What duty or process is Snape performing that might be 
> extraordinary?  
> There are three that come to mind: spying on the DEs, teaching
> DADA, and (perhaps) keeping an eye on Harry.
> 
> <SNIP>

I thought he merely wanted to stop having to obey Dumbledore's 
commands to the letter, "doing" whatever Dumbledore asked of him, 
especially if it came down to killing him.  What Dumbledore was 
taking for granted was that Snape had the will or the strength to do 
Dumbledore's bidding, no matter what.

I see a parallel with Harry in the cave, here, a promise made to 
follow Dumbledore's orders even if it seemed likely to injure 
Dumbledore, or worse.

> Could he want out of DADA to escape the curse?  First of all, it
> has never been definitively established that there IS in fact a  
> curse. Secondly, it just doesn't seem in character for Snape to 
> want out of it.
> 

I agree -- this is probably not it.

> Could he want out of spying on the DEs?  Very possibly.  Maybe he 
> thinks that things have gotten too dangerous, and that he needs out 
> from under.  An OFH!Snape or Grey!Snape scenario fits well, here.  
> 

Or maybe the Death Eaters are asking him to do things he cannot live 
with anymore, yet he has to comply in order to keep their 
confidence.  Maybe he is doing things he cannot stomach, and this is 
what he wants out of.

> Could he want out of watching over Harry?  Well, that presumes, of 
> course, that such a command has been laid on him.  But let us 
> assume it has.  Perhaps, at this point, DD is not yet clear that he 
> is the target (and Snape may not be clear about that, either).  
> Perhaps he and DD think that Harry might be the target, and DD has 
> charged Snape to be especially vigilant.  How might Snape react, 
> given the events of OOTP?  Probably not with great grace.  The task 
> of watching over Harry 
> would be especially onerous to Snape, but it would be one that DD 
> would be very, even grimly, insistent that Snape pursue no matter 
> what the Potion Master's feelings.  

I doubt this.  Snape has always seemed to take his duties towards 
students seriously, at least, and Harry with all his "in your face" 
disrespect is still a student to whom he reacts with relative calm in 
the sixth book, up to the end.  And what does it really cost Snape to 
protect Harry?  The only physical exertion was in the Shrieking Shack 
and running around in the Forbidden Forest.  He's generally just had 
to keep an eye on Harry and check in with the Order.

I think he just got caught in the UV, and realized he may have been 
losing his touch as a spy, so if anything, continuing to spying gets 
my vote.  Maybe what Dumbledore took for granted was his ability to 
continue to lie.

There are other possibilities for what he could be "doing" that he 
might find reprehensible: doing whatever he was doing to keep 
Dumbledore alive or spying on Draco (short-term doing), withholding 
important information from Harry on Dumbledore's orders or continuing 
to work at Hogwarts (long-term doing)... and in the realm of the 
absurd, having to watch Harry in detentions night after night, or 
polyjuicing himself to look like Tonks so he could spy on Harry... 
who knows?

Sorry if this is sketchy -- too much happening around me.

lealess