The Powerful Slytherin (Re: Snape/Harry coincidence?)

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 140619

Jen Reese:

>  He was completely right Draco was up to no good, but he didn't 
> realize part of his obsession was watching Draco move on without 
> him. Draco gave up his boyhood pursuits--Quidditch, harassing Harry, 
> being Snape's favorite--to take on a man's job. 
[...]

> What does Harry need to learn from Snape? For it seems inevitable to 
> me this will be the final area of growth for Harry in defeating 
> Voldemort. 
[...]
> I think the one Slytherin trait Harry is lacking at the moment is 
> coming to terms with the idea of power. 

houyhnhnm:

I'm not sure in how it points the way to a resolution of the conflict
between Harry and Snape; it doesn't seem to lead to anything in book
6, but the exhange between the two of them in DADA struck me as very
significant.
---------------------------------------
"Yes," said Harry stiffly.
"Yes, *sir*."
"There's no need to call me 'sir', Professor."
The words had escaped him before he knew what he was saying.  Several
people gasped, including Hermione....
"Detention, Saturday night, my office," said Snape.  "I do not take
cheek from anyone, Potter ... not even *'the Chosen One'*."
---------------------------------------
I was one of the ones who gasped.  It's smart aleck and funny--the
funniest line in book (next to "Oh, well, that's better than a whack
on the nose with a rusty poker.")-- but it's also the first time I can
think of that Harry responds to Snape in an adult way.

Harry's freshness with adults is a defense mechanism he has learned in
dealing with dumb Uncle Vernon.  He's a child protecting himself
against hostile adults who wish him harm.  Up to the exchange in the
DADA class, all of Harry's interactions with Snape partake of this
kind of defensiveness, IMO.  The "There's no need to call me 'sir',
Professor." has a different ring to it.  It's much more grown-up.

Snape's reaction is very mild.  "said Snape"  Snape doesn't usually
'say'. He 'sneers'; he 'smirks'; he 'spits'.  He is treating Harry
more like an adult in this exchange, it seems to me. I have the inward
conviction that he was repressing a smile.

Like I said this doesn't change the trajectory of their relationship
in book 6.  It doesn't seem to retard the escalation of their mutual
hatred.  Maybe it helps to lay the groundwork for a more adult
relationship between them in book 7. I can't imagine how it will work
out plotwise, though. 

This doesn't really help, I know, but it seems somehow to be connected
to your theme of Harry's coming to terms with the use of power.

The analysis of what Harry learned from Draco was very interesting,
BTW.  It wasn't anything I'd thought of before, but it rang true.