Straightforward readings? (was Re: Truth vs. what meets Harry's eye )

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 140725

Alla wrote:
> > <snip> MY straightforward reading for Snape is that he DID 
something
> wrong. ( You know, helping Harry to become an oprphan, bullying  the
> children, killing Dumbldore to me count as wrong). That is why I 
would
> feel good when he is caught and punished. <snip>

Potioncat:
Snape overheard the prophesy while he was a DE and reported it to LV. 
At the time he heard the prophesy he would not have known who it 
referred to. And if he's as dense as me, he would not realize it was 
an unborn child. (OK, granted, Snape is smarter than me.)

Before LV took action upon "the one who approaches" Snape informed 
DD. Snape changed sides and began working against LV. DD apparantly 
does/did not think punishment was required or perhaps placed acts of 
reparations upon Snape. (Is that what I'm trying to say?)

So I think if we said to DD, "Don't you remember, Headmaster, Snape 
is responsible for James's and Lily's deaths?" DD would answer to 
us, "My memory is as good as ever." 




 
> Carol responds:
snip (good points, by the way)
> As for bullying children, Snape's sarcasm is mild compared with the
> physical harm that other characters have inflicted on Harry (the
> Dursleys locking him in his room with bars on the window and only 
cold
> soup to eat, Voldemort and Crouch!Moody Crucioing him and trying to
> kill him, Umbridge trying to Crucio him and making him write lines 
in
> his own blood).

Potioncat:
The biggest eye-opener for me is the incredible damage Harry does to 
Draco. I cannot get around the horrible injury he inflicted. I keep 
forgetting that Snape was able to cure Draco to the point that he 
could walk out. But more amazing is that the punishment was merely 
several Saturdays of detention.

The WW has a very different mind-set.

> 
> Carol, not quite resisting the temptation to state once more that
> there's more to Snape than meets the eye, as we will surely discover
> in Book 7

Potioncat:
Given that what does meet the eye is not much to look at, let's hope 
so.

But I will say, that my straigtforward read had Snape as the good-guy 
all the way through HBP. It was the AK on the Tower that shocked me. 
But my reading of everything, without doing gymnastics is still that 
Snape is DDM! 

OK, so no surprise there.