Rampant Ingratitude, was Re:Lusting After Snape

[amiabledorsai]

No: HPFGUIDX 129406

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "pippin_999" <foxmoth at q...> wrote:


> Pippin:
> This always puzzles me. Harry failed to report to Snape that the
> dreams were becoming more frequent, lied about it when asked,
> and reported that he'd been practicing when he hadn't. How was 
> Snape supposed to form an accurate idea of Harry's progress?

Well, he was personally testing Harry every lesson, some people might
have gleaned a clue or two from that...

More importantly, Snape spent 4-1/2 years convincing Harry that he was
his enemy, going so far as to come up with an excuse for their
meetings--"Remedial Potions"--calculated to cause Harry maximum
humiliation.  If Harry didn't trust him, Snape has only himself to blame.
> 
> Amiable Dorsai: 
> <snip>
> 
> >  Snape threatened to illegally dose Harry with Veritaserum for no
> purpose other than to expose schoolboy misdemeanors--providing a
> poor example of acceptable behavior to a student in his charge.
> 
> Pippin:
> Snape warned Harry that veritaserum would be used if he had any
> further reason to believe that Harry was breaking into his office--
> and in fact Dumbledore ordered it used  on the person who was
> found with polyjuice potion in his possession. A fair warning I'd
> say.

Let's see, on the one hand we have a student who may have indulged in
petty pilfering, on the other we have a man who has committed multiple
kidnaps, jailbreak, attempted murder, accessory to attempted murder,
actual murder, torture, impersonation, unlawful imprisonment,
conspiracy to return a murderous psychopath back to his body, and, oh
yes, petty pilfering. Yeah, I'd say the two cases were comparable. 

Sure they are.

So we add to the list of Snape's flaws: a total lack of any sense of
proportion.

> Amiable Dorsai:
>  Snape failed to render aid to Hermione when she was accidentally
> hexed, choosing to insult her appearance rather than send her to the
> hospital wing.  I note that he did send a Pureblood student to see
> Madam Pomphrey after the same incident, so I suppose a lesson of
> some sort was taught.
 
> Pippin:
> As you say, your examples  don't have much to do 
> with teaching potions. 

The examples were chosen to show that Snape causes collateral damage,
regardless of his claimed (by Amandageist, I don't believe it)
effectiveness as a teacher. 

 > Snape's insult does have the effect of getting Hermione to pull
> herself together and get to the Hospital wing, and the next time
> she's in a real fight, she, for the first time in canon, manages to
> keep her head. "Any means to achieve their ends" --whatever
> you want to say about Snape's methods, they work.

The major effect of Snape's insult was to change the issue from
dueling and using magic in the halls to Harry's and Ron's protests of
Snape's behavior, enabling him to punish Harry and Ron while allowing
the instigator--Draco--to go without sanction.  

See my first point about why Snape may have failed to get Harry's
trust during his Occlumency lessons.

Amiable Dorsai