In Defense of Snape (long)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 122665


Alla wrote:
<snip>
> I expect Snape to teach Harry Occlumency, the task in which he 
> failed magnificently, IMO only.
> 
> Sticking in Dumbledore's business? Snape is either Dumbledore 
> trusted leutenant and then he is ALREADY quite deep in Dumbledore's 
> business, or he is not which raises some other evil possibilities, 
> but that is not the point now,
> 
> And may I disagree about Snape ... respecting Dumbledore? He was 
> given a task, he gave in to his emotions, old wounds, whatever and 
> did not do such task.
> 
> I called it unsubordination at best.
> 
> 
> 
> Betsy:
> I don't see how Snape's behavior has weakened Harry.  I don't even 
> see how it's weakened Neville.  Both boys did quite well in the MoM 
> battle.  I'm not sure what it is you feel Snape should do for them.
> 
> 
> Alla:
> 
> I'd like to speculate for a second. It is a possibility that if 
> Snape performed better as a teacher, there would be NO battle at 
> MOM, don't you think?
> 
> Too bad we'll never know. :o)
> 
> JMO,
> 
> Alla

Carol responds:
I don't think even a teacher Harry likes and respects could have kept
him from having that dream *because Harry wanted to have it.* And
consequently, he would have had the vision and jumped to the same
conclusions. If that teacher (Dumbledore or McGonagall, if she knew
Occlumency, which she evidently doesn't) were present at the school
when he had the vision and he had gone to them for help, he *might*
have been prevented from going to the MoM. But McGonagall couldn't
stop him from going after the Philosopher's Stone, and I doubt if she
could have stopped him from "rescuing" Sirius. Only if he had gone to
Dumbledore and DD had fully explained the reason that LV was trying to
lure Harry to the MoM and *proven* that Sirius was safe could Harry
have been stopped. It is not entirely Snape's fault (IMO) that the
Occlumency lessons failed. It's also Harry's because he didn't empty
his mind or practice and Dumbledore's because he didn't explain why
they were needed. I hope that all parties involved learn from the
experience.

Oh, and Snape kept his emotions under remarkable control most of the
time, as I've illustrated in previous posts. It's only in the Pensieve
scene that he lost it--and that, too, is mostly Harry's fault, as you
have conceded in other posts. And as I've said elsewhere, if Harry
hadn't made any progress after three months of lessons, cancelling
them at that point, when he was already on the verge of completing the
dream, would have made no difference whatever. Harry was determined to
have the dream, and no one was going to stop him.

Carol