[HPforGrownups] Re: Emphasis on proper address was: Snape as father figure

[Amanda Geist]

No: HPFGUIDX 131236

Phoenixgod:

> I agree that everyone else corrects Harry as a form of good manners,
> but I think Snape himself has a far more petty reason for insisting on
> the sirs. Like every other petty person who has ever gotten an ounce
> of authority, Snape likes to remind people of his position in order to
> make himself feel important. To reassure himself that he isn't the
> fifteen year old being picked on by the mean boys anymore. I've seen
> it before in other teachers who get caught up in exerting their
> authority for no other reason other than they can.

And I maintain that Snape is making these corrections deliberately, to
control the conversation, for reasons that have nothing to do with Harry
personally and everything to do with the fact that Voldemort has a window
into Harry's mind. I posted on this at the beginning of this thread, and
reiterate here (because individual emails don't show post numbers and I
can't put in a link):

I note that Snape derails Harry's inquiries right when it seems Harry might
learn something concrete about what "our side" knows or believes. I doubt
this is by accident. Snape is using a mechanism that is already
well-established between the two of them, to control the information flow to
Harry.

Why? Because I believe Snape is very, very aware that there may be a third
party to the conversation. Voldemort, as Snape tells Harry, is now aware of
the connection, and it may not be certain how "clear" the channel is or how
much Voldemort is tapping it. In addition, depending on what Snape's
connection with Voldemort is now, there could be two possible avenues for
Voldemort to "hear": he could access Harry's knowledge and memories (the
channel we know), or he may be able to extract this information from Snape.

To explain the latter: as I've postulated before, I believe Snape has been
very careful over the years to keep his memories and emotional associations
as "sortable" as possible. For example, I believe the reason Snape never
eats at Grimmauld Place is because he does not want to have to keep track of
stray memories of being there when he's practicing Occlumency with hostile
parties. I believe one reason Snape is consistently horrible to Harry is
that this behavior creates consistent memories and associations that Snape
has established ways of handling during Occlumency.

So--Snape redirects the conversations with Harry at key points, using an old
familiar mechanism, to (a) keep Harry from becoming excited about an answer,
as the excitement may attract Voldemort's attention "inside" Harry, and
therefore basically telling Voldemort much about what we know of his
movements and motives; and (b) to keep the conversation with Harry on a
familiar, standard, level of interaction to avoid difficulties with Snape's
own Occlumency later.

~Amanda