Magical Education was Admonishing Snape

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 129565

>>Lupinlore: 
>So, to bring us back on topic, the question is really a very narrow 
one: Do you think anyone has ever admonished Snape about the way he 
interacts with Harry?  I am not interested, per se, in what you 
think about Snape's teaching methods, what you think about education 
in the wizarding world, or -- least of all -- what your opinions are 
on child-centered education.< 

Betsy:
I shall endeavor to keep my opinons to myself, while answering your 
question with what, in the end, is my opinion. <g>  First of all, 
who amongst the Hogwarts staff is in a position to admonish Snape?  
I imagine that there's a fairly strict hierarchy at work here 
(based, I will admit, on British boarding school books of fiction 
that I've read, so please correct me if I'm wrong).  I think that 
professors rank above support staff.  So Filch, Madam Pomfrey 
(unless it's a health issue), Hagrid (at first), and quite possibly 
Madam Hooch cannot speak to Snape.  Of the professors, I think those 
who are heads of houses rank above those who are not so that leaves 
Professors McGonagall, Flitwick and Sprout.  I'm under the 
impression that it's a serious breach of conduct for one professor 
to speak to another professor about a child not of their house, so 
that throws out Professors Flitwick and Sprout.  Which leaves us 
with Professor McGonagall, and of course Dumbledore with his rank as 
Headmaster of the school.

The question then becomes, do either McGonagall or Dumbledore have 
any reason to admonish Snape?  Not that I've seen really.  Snape 
hasn't acted unfairly, that we've seen, in his grading of Harry.  
When Harry does get a D, he doesn't act like it's below what he 
deserves. (OotP scholastic p. 309)  And I don't recall any instance 
where Harry feels his exams have been unfairly graded.  (Yes, Snape 
does drop that one potion, and he does refuse to accept a less than 
perfect potion, but that was class work, which has no affect on 
Harry's final grade.)

Okay, Snape *is* hard on Harry in the classroom.  But again, not to 
an egregious extent.  It's enough to make Harry hate Snape, but not 
enough to affect his other classes, or even his self-esteem.  
There's no pattern of behavior for either Dumbledore or McGonagall 
to notice and take action on: no over-the-top detentions, no 
impossible to complete homework assignments, no night-time crying 
jags, nothing that would be noted as cruel or unusual behavior on 
Snape's part, nothing that would indicate a victim of teacher abuse 
on Harry's part.

There have been times that Snape has overstepped his bounds when he 
and Dumbledore and McGonagall have caught (or usually Snape does the 
catching and Dumbledore and McGonagall are brought in) Harry in some 
form of wrong doing.  These are the times that Snape plays "bad-cop" 
and suggests Harry be thrown off the quidditch team (wishful 
thinking of a rival head of house) or that Harry be expelled 
(something I doubt Snape ever seriously thought Dumbledore would 
do).  But McGonagall generally nips those suggestions in the bud, 
while Harry realizes just how badly he's behaved.  So in a sense, 
you could say that McGonagall admonishes Snape here.  But I would 
call it a very mild form of admonishment. (And probably not what 
you're looking for.)

Which brings us to the Occlumency lessons.  Since Dumbledore was the 
only staff member aware of the lessons, only Dumbledore is in a 
position to admonish Snape about stopping the lessons (the only 
action worthy of admonishment, IMO).  Did this happen?  Obviously 
Dumbledore would say nothing to Snape in front of Harry.  That would 
be an incredible break of hierarchy, I think.  There's an indication 
that Dumbledore has spoken with Snape, at least briefly anyway, in 
the talk he and Harry have at the end of OotP.  But we really have 
no idea what was said.  Dumbledore seems to ultimately blame himself 
for the Occlumency breakdown, but that doesn't preclude him 
admonishing Snape.  (Leaders will often examine what *they've* done 
wrong after disciplining wrongdoers. Parents do it all the time.) So 
this may be a place where Snape is admonished, though it happens off 
page and we may never know for sure if it has happened.

Betsy