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

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 140645

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "houyhnhnm102" <celizwh at i...> 
wrote:
> 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.

Jen: I was thinking their power balance started to shift as early as 
the end of OOTP, when Snape happened upon Harry and Draco holding 
their wands on each other, and Harry said he was deciding which 
curse to use on Draco. In that moment, Harry didn't care about 
points taken, detentions, snide comments or any of Snape's past 
power over him. 

houyhnhnm:
> 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.

Jen: I wonder if Snape's shift was actually a change in Harry's POV? 
Snape had his own problems to worry about and didn't seem to have 
Harry on the top of his list anymore. Harry would naturally see a 
change from previous years, even though it's doubtful he'd actually 
*analyze* it or even conciously think about it. So we didn't find 
out much, and then the eavesdropper reveal happened. We'll never 
know what might have happened if Harry found out Snape was the HBP 
before he found out he was the eavsdropper!
 
houyhnhnm:
> 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. 

Jen: Harry really related to the HBP. If there's any way he's going 
to connect with Snape again, maybe the book will play a role. The 
HBP was someone Harry's age, who made up some clever spells and was 
interested in improving potions. Everyday sorts of activities. The 
Sectumsempra was a hint of Snape turning to dark magic, but I'd love 
to see what was in the rest of the book--did it get darker or were 
there other things that may be of interest to Harry at a later date? 

houyhnhnm:
> 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.

Jen: Oh, good. It was hard to divorce what Draco was doing from 
*how* he was doing it, and how the process changed him. The instinct 
is to leap immediately to what the outcome of his work was (not a 
bad thing to analyze, but I wanted to look at a different aspect).

Jen