[HPforGrownups] Re: Snape as father figure, was Sirius as Father Figure

[Sherry Gomes]

No: HPFGUIDX 130937

Alla:

I mentioned it recently that prior to OOP I WAS hoping that whether 
Snape hated James or not, he did not really hated Harry, that he 
indeed can differentiate between two Potters, but does what he does 
to the boy for the reasons unknown to us yet - to help him prepare 
for Voldemort, or something like that...

snip

In the post-OOP world, I am truly puzzled, Amanda, when anybody ( 
not just you) starts arguing that Snape can have ANY kind of 
objectivity towards Harry.

I think Dumbledore pretty much spelled it out for us:

"But I forgot - another old man's mistake - that some wounds run too 
deep for healing. I thought Professor Snape could overcome  his 
feelings about your father - I was wrong" - OOP, paperback, p.833.

snip

If you don't argue that Dumbledore is wrong though, I think his 
words effectively foreclose ANY kind of objectivity that Snape can 
have towards Harry.

I honestly think that Snape is incapable of being objective towards 
Harry and when he looks at him all that he sees is the copy of James 
with Lily's eyes. 

I can be wrong of course and believe it or not, I would LOVE to be 
wrong on this one.

Sherry now:

Thanks, Alla, for that quote.  Without access to any of my books right now,
I couldn't find it.  What I'd like to see is that both Harry and Snape
realize the consequences of their actions and their feud.  And this in no
way means I think Harry has any blame for the death of Sirius.  In spite of
what happened and losing my favorite adult character, i for one, felt very
proud of Harry for being willing to risk so much to try to save Sirius.  

However, maybe both Harry and Snape can see that if they had learned to
trust each other, at least, it might have been prevented.  I don't mean a
warm fuzzy trust, male bonding and all that, but a simple fact that Harry
could trust Snape to do the right thing, when he appealed to him.  I lay
more blame on Snape for this because he is the so-called adult, even though
he acts more immaturely than Harry.  Harry and all the rest of us knew Snape
hated Sirius.  We also knew that Snape hated Harry.  How on earth could
Harry have believed Snape would help, when he had the vision?  Of course, we
know that Snape couldn't tell Harry he would take care of it with Umbridge
right there, but Harry has had five years to learn that he cannot trust
Snape, and of course, he can't risk the possibility that Snape might not
help.  If Snape had been truly objective toward Harry, there might have been
a chance to keep the whole ministry fiasco from happening.  And then of
course the ending of the book would have been entirely different.

So, if I had a wish for future Harry and Snape in the next two books, then
it is that they need not like each other, but that they can learn to work
with each other.  Far too much is at stake now.  Harry can tell Snape where
to stick it when the war is over, and I'd love to see that, but for now,
they *must* learn to work together.  I hope that the events leading up to
Sirius' death can show them both that they have to make some kind of change.
Unfortunately, though Snape is the adult, I think it will be up to Harry to
try to make the changes happen, because I don't know if even now Snape can
put his enmity toward James aside long enough to see Harry for Harry and to
realize how his treatment of the boy made Harry feel that he had absolutely
nowhere to turn, noone to trust when he was so desperate.

Sherry