Snape's attack on Flitwick/Forgiveness

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 139642

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, juli17 at a... wrote:
>  
> 
> bboyminn:
> 
> ...
> 
> I think Snape took Flitwick out of the game, ..., because once he 
> discovered there were Death Eaters in the castle, he knew ... If he 
> intended to fight the DE's without seeming to do so, he had  to act 
> alone. He couldn't have Flitwick tagging along behind him. This was 
> a situation that require great stealth as well as great finesse. 
> 
> ...
>  

> Julie:
> Er, this is just what I said! But only a post or two before yours,
> so you probably missed it (especially if you read digest like me). 

bboyminn:

Sorry, didn't mean to steal your thunder. For now, let's just say I
agree then. It's true I glanced at the earlier posts, but didn't read
them in detail, and sort of jumped in at the point where this new
sub-thread seemed to be spawned.
 

> bboyminn:
> ... I think, in a manner of speaking, they conspired on the spot,  
> and Dumbledore make Snape aware that all was lost, and Snape took 
> the  opportunity to turn a bad situation to his advantage.
> 
> ... But I also think, that Snape will explain it away to the point  
> where he won't be charge with the cold-blooded murder that it 
> appears to be.
>  
> Julie says:
> Why would Snape have to explain it away? If he killed Dumbledore
> for justifiable reasons, i.e., for a greater good, and, effectively 
> speaking, with Dumbledore's permission, then it is what it is. 
> Not cold-blooded murder, but something else, maybe manslaughter
> or even justifiable homicide. 
>  
> ...
>  

bboyminn:

You've caught me in a bad turn of a phrase. Perhaps Snape won't have
to 'explain it away' but he will have to /explain it/. As far as the
world knows at this point, Snape killing of Dumbledore was
cold-blooded, ruthless, heartless murder. If my theory is true, Snape
will be able to explain that it was not that at all but a sacrifice
for the greater good.

None the less, it doesn't change the fact that he killed Dumbledore,
greater good or no greater good. Snape knows he can never fully be
forgive for that act. There will be some price to pay, but perhaps the
price will be low enough that he is still able to have some quality of
life after Azkaban. 

Although, of course, that assumes that Snape lives, though I have
always thought he would die heroicly helping Harry, but not before
Harry understood what really happened, and therefore, forgave Snape.


> bboyminn:
> I think that was the foundation behind Snape chastising Harry  for
> calling him a Coward. Snape did a very brave thing, at least in  his
> eyes, in killing Dumbledore. ... In a sense, Snape, and  by
> his eventual punishment, is a casualty of war.
> 
> ... while we can never forgive him stealing one  second of 
> Dumbledore's life, we can at least understand the sacrifice they  
> both made.
> 
> 
> Julie says:
> I doubt it matters to Snape if we forgive him ;-) What would matter 
> is that Dumbledore forgives him, which I believe DD does by his  own
> complicity. And also, though Snape doesn't recognize it yet, that 
> Harry forgive him, because it is Harry who was most damaged by
> Snape's betrayal of his parents (unintentional as it might have 
> been, and certainly a lesser sin than Peter's more direct betrayal
> and Voldemort's murdering them). 
>  
> ...edited...
>
> That is, and will be in the end, the defining difference between
> Harry and Snape, who is not the villain, but the anti-hero (or 
> failed hero) to Harry's hero. 
>  
>  
> IMO, 
>  
> Julie 

bboyminn:

Sorry to have cut so much of your post. It was very clever and
insightfull. I think you have clear and accurate hold on the nature of
 Snape. At least, I hope that your model is correct and that's how the
story plays out. While Snape will never be nice, and while I will
never like him as a person (not even a fictional one), I do admire him
as a character and think his finest hour is yet to come. When Snape
stands on death's door, it will not be the bullying of the father that
he thinks about, but the forgiven and mercy of the son.

Anyway, brilliant insight into Snape.

Steve/bboyminn