Two scenes for most everyone

[amiabledorsai]

No: HPFGUIDX 144261

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, juli17 at a... wrote:

Julie:
 Still, it is pretty clear in canon that McGonagall didn't strongly 
 disapprove of Snape. And I'm not going to cite a scene here. I'm
 just going to ask that we view the books in the most reasonable
 manner, rather than demanding a specific piece of canon where
 McGonagall says "I approve of/like/respect Professor Snape." 
 We don't get that kind of incontravertible canon on most issues
 (or, when we do, then we have no need to debate it, do we? ;-)

<Big Snips>

Amiable Dorsai:
So, if I read you correctly, you are citing an absence of evidence as
evidence of absence?  Fair enough, but I think you are reading a bit
much into negative evidence.

Julie:  
 McGonagall being shocked about Snape's murder of Dumbledore
 ("I don't believe it!"), and even saying, "I always wondered.." about
 Dumbledore's reasons for trusting Snape, fits in with her mutually
 cordial working relationship with him. Though she may have wondered
 just what made Dumbledore trust Snape, she never gave any 
 indication that she doubted Dumbledore's judgment, or that she 
 couldn't or didn't accept a reformed Snape or respect him as a 
 colleague. 

Amiable Dorsai:
Here I'm forced to disagree.  I read this as McGonagall finally
voicing doubts that she had long suppressed out of respect for
Dumbledore.  She, and the others in the room, certainly took Harry's
word for Snape's guilt very quickly.  No one suggested that Harry
might have been mistaken, or mentioned any of the plethora of ways
that a wizard might be framed.  No, they take Harry's unsupported word
for it.

This, to me, indicates that Snape had built no reservior of trust with
his colleagues.  That their suspicions were allayed only by
Dumbledore's word, not by respect for Snape himself.

I believe that McGonagall tolerated Snape because Dumbledore asked her
to, not because she respected him as a fellow professional.  That we
didn't see overt disdain from her (as we did for Umbridge, Trelawney,
and Lockhart) because Snape, unlike the other three, was slick enough
not to provoke it from her directly.

Amiable Dorsai