The Case Against Snape

[Stephanie]

No: HPFGUIDX 133057

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "inkling108" <inkling108 at y...> 
wrote:
> Okay, all you guys who still think he's one of the good guys, 
> consider the following:

As a Snape believer through and through, I'll take a crack at it.


> In the muggle torture scene at the World Cup in GOF, *one* (and 
only 
> one) masked DE performs the curse that turns Mrs. Roberts upside 
> down and reveals her underwear.  No incantation is heard.  Silent 
> levicorpus, anyone?  And who would do that?  Mind you, this would 
be 
> years after he had supposedly reformed.

Here are two ideas:

1. Lupin tells Harry in HBP that the hex enjoyed great popularity 
when he was at school. Anyone at Hogwarts at that time could have 
picked it up.

2. Okay, suppose it *was* Snape (which I disagree with). If the Death 
Eaters all know each other, which we can assume they do (take for 
example Lucius Malfoy giving orders to his masked companions *by 
name* at the Department of Mysteries), then it stands to reason that 
they know Snape is among them at the World Cup festivities. He can't 
very well tag along doing nothing or he'd arouse suspicion. 
Levicorpus may be humiliating, but it doesn't cause any physical 
damage, and is therefore a relatively harmless choice of hex for the 
evening. He probably also knew that the Muggles would be obliviated 
when the Ministry arrived.

inkling:
> Snape has left his DE tendencies behind, you think?  He no longer 
> tortures the helpless just for fun?  Does the name Neville 
> Longbottom ring a bell?  What more inviting target could there be 
> for a pure sadistic bully?

Trelawney's prophecy named both Harry and Neville as potential 
adversaries for Voldemort, and only V's decision to attack the 
Potters made Harry the 'Chosen One.' If Snape believes that Harry 
needs some head deflation after years of public adoration following 
that decision, why shouldn't he also believe that Neville needs a 
backbone to support what he could have been (and could still be)? He 
may have thought that criticizing the boy would eventually lead him 
to snap back, work harder and gain some confidence in himself, even 
if it meant hating Snape in return. I will not make excuses for the 
methods Snape employs, and this theory is not the only possible 
alternate explanation for his behavior, but his harsh approach to 
Neville can be explained by much more than sheer sadism. 


> Still not convinced?  If magic is a science, then it should be 
> subject to scientific proof.  What is required to make an 
> Unforgivable Curse work?  We have the answer from Ms Unforgivable 
> herself, Bellatrix.  "You have to mean it...You have to really want 
> to cause pain -- to enjoy it."
>
> Snape, on the other hand, has no trouble casting the curse, and he 
> instantly succeeds.  Think of it as a lab test.  If the effect is 
> death, the cause must have been hatred.  
 

One quibble with your logic here. A witch or wizard obviously has to 
have real intent behind the casting of an Unforgiveable, but do we 
know that the motivation for all three curses has to be hatred? It 
makes sense that to cast a successful Crucio, you must want to cause 
pain. To cast Avada Kedavra, though, perhaps you must want to cause 
*death*. The two are very different. All Snape would have needed was 
a true desire to leave Dumbledore dead, no matter how much he 
despised the task. And that leaves us with many more motives than 
hatred of his victim.


> And just in case we miss this point JKR writes 
> that he had an expression of "revulsion and hatred" on his face as 
> he aimed the curse at Dumbledore.

Harry never wonders why Snape has that look on his face. It could 
very well be hatred of the task he's just had to perform against his 
will (see other posts today about plans he might have laid with 
Dumbledore before that night). Also, if Snape turns out to be the 
Romantic hero some of us hope he is, the revulsion might be self-
directed.

My two knuts, as they say.  Looking forward to everyone else's 
thoughts.

-Stephanie