Favorite Snape Scenes - He's such a lovely professor, no really.

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 122740


> > Pippin:   
> > > But though Snape threatened to MAKE Harry get out of the 
> way,  he ultimately did listen to him,  because he didn't give 
> Sirius to  the dementors when he had the chance.<<
> > 
> > Renee:
> > I bet he did that because he needed to prove HE was the one 
> who  caught Black.<
> 
> Pippin:
> Um, I'm confused. You're saying Snape sincerely meant to turn 
> Sirius and Lupin over to the dementors when he threatened to 
> do it in the Shack, but had second thoughts later and decided to 
> bring Sirius to the castle instead? May I borrow a leaf from Neri's 
> book and ask how we are to  know?
>

Neri himself:
I'm not sure what book are you referring to here, but I'll try to say
what we do know. There seem to be two basic possibilities here:

1. In the shack, Snape didn't actually mean to turn Black and Lupin
straight to the dementors. He was only playing a part when he said he
would.

2. He did mean to do it in the shack, and he changed his mind after
the dementor attack.


If you go with option 1, you have to explain:

1a: Why did he threaten them when he didn't actually mean to do it?

1b: Why did he act so "deranged" at the time?

Just to remind you, we're talking here full-capitals deranged mode
with sparks shooting out of his wand, "eyes gleaming fanatically",
"spitting", "hissing" and "shrieking", and again "there was a mad
glint in Snape's eyes that Harry had never seen before. He seemed
beyond reason."

You can explain 1a by saying that he enjoyed playing with them and
seeing their fear, but this doesn't explains 1b. So either you go for
Oscar-performer-with-a-secret-mission!Snape, which brings you to MAGIC
DISHWASHER with all its many complications and assumptions, or you
just assume that he really succumbed to his rage, which doesn't seem
that wild an assumption after OotP. 

This brings us to option 2 above, in which we need to explain why
Snape changed his mind later and did bring Black to the castle. But
this doesn't require any out-of-the-ordinary, big-conspiracy-theory
explanations. There are in fact several simple explanations that are
not mutually exclusive:

2a: He simply had time to cool his head a bit, especially since he was
unconscious.

2b: Black and the children weren't conscious and antagonizing him.

2c: He realized that the dementors had just broken into the grounds,
which DD's very forcibly forbade them to do, and what's more,

2d. they attacked and tried to kiss students of the school and

2e. they might try to do it again and

2f. they might attack him too if he takes Black to them and besides

2g. he is likely to get his wish anyway if he simply takes Black and
the children to the castle.

So of course we don't KNOW, but I find option 2 much more simple and
consistent. It saves me a huge headache. And if some members prefer
option 1 then I'd like to hear their full explanation of 1a and
especially 1b. The MDDT at least submitted a detailed theory, and as
Faith notes, the really difficult thing about these theories is not to
raise them, but to ensure that they are watertight.

Neri