"revulsion and hatred etched in the harsh lines of his face"

[tbernhard2000]

No: HPFGUIDX 135381

dan wrote:
> I haven't read an entirely convincing, Snape-based explanation for
it, is all I'm saying. 

catalyna_99 wrote:
> ...the way I read it was the revulsion and hatred was because Snape
finally found out what Draco's mission was. It was for Draco, whom he
must protect because of the UV, and now Snape must finish the task.
This is what I think DD was conveying to Snape.

Leslie41:
> And ask yourself this...if you "had" to kill something you loved...a
beloved dog lying half-dead in the road, injured beyond recovery by
a passing car, what look, as you pulled the trigger, would be on
*your* face?
> Horror. Revulsion. Maybe even something that looked like hate.

dan:
Don't get me wrong, folks. I'm not shrugging off your suggestions. But
neither explanation has that convincing authentic ring - these are
very nearly, or almost explanations, just like the others I mentioned.
If I had been so silly as to make an unbreakable vow to help Draco in
his task without knowing what that task was, not only would I be an
abysmally stupid person, and I don't think Snape is abysmally stupid,
but I wouldn't, upon discoving the truth, feel hatred and revulsion,
but horror at what I would, I suddenly found out, have to do.

But really, would Snape just make a vow like that in complete
ignorance of what Draco's task was? What if it was to burn down
Hogwarts and kill all the students? It could have been anything...

If I had to put down an injured animal, I would feel pity. This too is
not hatred and revulsion. 

The discription is unmistable. What I am saying is that any
explanation of it needs to be bang on, not sort of, not almost.

The only one so far that makes any sense is precisely what Leslie says
is impossible. Leslie, how did you come up with this description? It's
almost as if your arguement against it is based on an actual reading
of it, possibly your immediate response, that you have subsequently
rejected. At any rate, I think the text absolutely DOES read this way.

leslie41:
> "Please what, old man? 'Please don't kill me'? I've been waiting for
this moment for years, you pathetic, crumbling excuse for a
wizard...Aveda Kedavra!"

I'm not saying it's the only explanation, but it's the only one so far
that doesn't have the sense of "almost" or "sort of" to it. I mean,
the description is so key, so central to our protagonists
consciousness, that, I repeat, the explanation needs to be *entirely*
convincing. Just like our expectations of any explanation of "the
gleam". These are key things. So when Rowling says "revulsion and
hatred etched in the harsh lines of his face", the reason for it needs
to be compelling.

dan