Who is Snape really?

[Sandra Mollon]

No: HPFGUIDX 135733

I am new to this group--so I beg your consideration if some of these ideas have been discussed previously.  I think that HBP really brings more information on Snape that makes that character very interesting...esp given the ending.
 
Here are my thoughts:
 
Snape is a loner, most likely, who never really fit into any group.  He is a Slytherin, a house whose members seem to value pure-blood lines (and frequently use the term mudblood to negatively denote half-blood or muggle born wizards), and yet his notation on the potions book naming himself "Half-blood Prince" (with Prince being his mother's maiden name), seems to indicate some pride (?) in that status.  It makes me wonder--does he really feel like a part of the Slytherins?
 
Next, he seems to never get along with anyone in both Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix that well, and is distrusted except by Dumbledore, who probably saved him from Azkaban  by vouching for him after the fall of LV.  I also think that other DE distrust him as well, and HBP seems to show this in his conversation with Malfoy's mom.  My point here is that  he probably doesn't really feel a great attachment to the DE either.  
 
He seemed to have some regret over telling LV the part of the Prophesy that he overheard, when he realized that James and Lily were in danger (and later killed).  I suspect that he felt something for Lily, as she certainly seemed to have treated him respectfully in the Pensieve (Snapes worst memory) while James and the others were taunting him.  Maybe she was one of the few who did.  But this is countered with his relentlessly horrible treatment of Harry for the past 6 years.  Maybe the argument that he looks more like his dad than his mom, and therefore was more greatly despised by Snape could be made.
 
So, in the end of HBP (SPOILER ALERT) I see him act quickly, and ruthlessly to kill the weakened Dumbledore.  An action which he needed to do to preserve his own life due to the unbreakable vow--and yet...when he certainly was able to do so, he did not kill, torture, or kidnap Harry and take him back to LV.  
 
I just keep seeing a pattern of opposite behaviors.  One minute you are certain he is evil, and the next you are not so sure.  Even in Sorcercer's Stone--it was Snape protecting Harry at the Quidditch match when Quirrell was attempting to knock him off of his broom.
 
I have read some posts which seem to favor the idea of Snape AK ing Dumbledore as Dumbledore's idea.  I disagree with this for a couple of reasons.  First, although I think it is out of character for Dumbledore to plead for his life, Dumbledore knew that Harry would witness that action helplessly, and  he would want to protect Harry from that horrible third loss of a loved one (and Harry truly did love him, I have no doubt). Next, and most importantly, I believe that Snape would act without a moments hesitation to do whatever he felt necessary to achieve his ends.  He had a motive for killing Dumbledore--saving his own life.
 
JKR is really leaving us hanging on this character...really I think that it could easily go either way in Book 7 with Snape.
 
Sandym828
 
 




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