Choices (wasThe Unloved Son (was Could I be wrong about Snape being evil?))

[Mike]

No: HPFGUIDX 156739

> > Mike earlier:

> > Snape *choses* to fight for the side of 'Light' and becomes 
> > a DE with the clear intention of infiltrating and undermining 
> > LV's organization. Harry, when all is said and done, got *chosen*, 
> > became the *chosen one* without making a choice himself.
> > So DD <snip> relegates Snape to fellow LV opposer and even 
> > enlists him to take part in the training Harry plan. This is 
> > another reason for Snape's jealousy, he made an active *choice*
> > to be on DD's side and is being supplanted by this brat that 
> > had celebrity handed to him.

> phoenixgod2000 responded:

> I hate this idea more than words can say. I have reconciled myself
> that I will probably never see Snape get the punishment I think he
> deserves (and deserved long before the lightning struck tower
<snip>
> For Snape to have chosen to be a hero when he was a teenager not 
> only is a boring story choice, but takes away from Harry, the guy
> who is supposed to be the hero of the story.
<snip>
> I still hope to see bad things happen to him and for someone to
> call him on all his crap from the first five books but like I said,
> I'm not holding my breath.

Mike now:

I think you've got me wrong, I too love to hate Snape. I would love
to see Harry hit Snape with every curse/hex from the *Prince's*  
potion book all at once. I'd include sectumsempra, waved around at 
Snape's left knee to give him a scar resembling the London 
Underground. Then for good measure, I want Neville to use a permanent 
sticking charm to dress Snape in Augusta's clothes, including that 
vulture topped hat.<Bg>

But, I'm just reading the tea leaves here. You know and I know that 
JKR isn't going there. I see Snape as the *only* character in this 
entire series to be redeemed, much as there are hordes of others that 
need it (OK, maybe Draco will be too, but his isn't as significant).

Since DD's pronouncement about *choices* in CoS we've seen woefully 
few people being rewarded for the *right* choices and even less being 
punished for their *wrong* or easy choices. Who's left? Harry didn't 
chose to be LV's vanquisher, it was thrust upon him. I'm not saying 
Harry has made any *wrong* significant choices, and Harry is still 
obviously the *Hero*.

Isn't it obvious that Snape was acting on DD's orders when he AKed him 
on the tower? He was told to do it to save Draco from becoming a 
killer as well as from being killed by the other DE's (why else were 
they there? Witnesses? Please!). Then, by taking charge, he hustles 
the DE's out of the school to minimize the damage to everybody else.
Remember, Snape was in his office when this whole escapade started. 
Obviously, he wasn't privy to what Draco's/LV's overall plan entailed. 
An ESE!Snape, in on the plan, doesn't wait in his office just so he 
can stun an unsuspecting Flitwick and chance missing everything.

Now, you say he was saving his own neck because of the UV he made with 
Narcissa, and you are right. But, for how long and at what cost? He is 
now the second most wanted wizard in the WW and he doesn't have the 
support network LV has. He may even have pissed LV off by intervening 
in Draco's behalf. I don't think LV wanted things to go off the way 
they did, LV had a different outcome in mind.

Did Snape make a bad *choice* in making the UV with Narcissa? IMO, yes 
he painted himself into a corner. But I also think there is another 
shoe to drop regarding the whole Snape-Malfoy connection. Remember the 
scene in GoF when Snape flinches at Harry naming Lucius as a DE? IMO, 
JKR put that in there because this connection has undertones that we 
have not been told about, yet. (How about Snape_loves_Narcissa for all 
you shippers <g>, I don't even have a rowboat).

It all comes down to: Who else fits the mold of making the *right* 
choice (assuming DDM!Snape) that you could see being redeemed in the 
end? Even if you loathe Snape, and who doesn't, he has to be JKR's 
prime candidate.