OFH SNAPE was: Script from JKR's reading/ About Snape and Dumbledore

[Renee]

No: HPFGUIDX 156946

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "horridporrid03"
<horridporrid03 at ...> wrote:
>
> 
> > > >>Renee:
> > <snip>
> > What if Lupin merely wants to avoid suggesting that Harry's rescue 
> > of Sirius has played an indirect role in his resignation? Harry's 
> > despondent enough at the time, thinking he has accomplished       
> > nothing. Also, Lupin knows he deserves to leave anyway, whatever   
> > Snape's motivation is. So he comes up with the - admittedly lame - 
> > Order of Merlin explanation. Note that he doesn't present it as
> > a fact, but as an opinion.
>  If Lupin is lying here, it's a white lie.
> 
> Betsy Hp:
> Yeeaahh... I tend to agree with you. Only...  It does make Snape out 
> to be petty and childish doesn't it?  "Meh, he made me lose my 
> precious reward so I'll snitch on him and make him lose his job. 
> Nyah."  I see a bit of the classic passive-aggressive stuff Lupin is 
> so very, very good at going on here.  

Renee:
Sure, he's cultivating the idea that Snape is petty and childish, but
I happen to agree with him: Snape can be very petty and childish at
times. Of course, Lupin could have told Harry Snape had merely done
the responsible thing by flushing out the werewolf, but I don't think
Lupin believes this is Snape's only or even his main motivation. He's
 only too aware of Snape's hatred towards the Marauders. As he's not
going to let Snape get away with his revenge by merely calling it an
act of responsibility, he has no qualms attributing a petty motivation
to him. It's his way to get back at Snape. (I, for one, don't believe
Lupin when he says he neither likes nor dislikes Snape, Carol! He's
just trying to be `politically correct', and because he doesn't mean
it, he's not succeeding very well - his words have no discernible
effect on Harry.)
 
Betsy
> I think Lupin lacks the sort of initiative required to 
> become ESE. And I also believe his pleasant passivity hides a wealth 
> of pain. Snape referred to him as weak, and he is. (As he'd admit to 
> you, himself.) But he doesn't have to be. We've seen Lupin take 
> action and he's good at it, a natural leader. He is a good man. Now 
> if only he'd *do* something."

Renee:
This lack of initiative is one of the three main reasons I don't
believe in ESE!Lupin either, the other two being JKR's statements that
she loves him, and the token-good-werewolf thing. He's the prisoner of
his own desire to be harmless and pleasant towards the people he likes
and wants to be liked by. He isn't weak per se (or he could never be a
natural leader); a weak man would have given in to his baser instincts
long before Harry went to Hogwarts. But he tends to, well, emasculate
himself.   

Betsy:
> But yeah, that Lupin is the *only* character to suggest Snape was 
> really *that* interested in an Order of Merlin is enough to help me 
> conclude the exact opposite is probably true.  (I also seriously 
> doubt Snape gave a rat's ass about James's quidditch skills. <g>)
> 

Renee:
It is possible that the initial suggestion was made by Fudge; my
impression is that at some point there was a meeting between DD, Fudge
and Lupin in which DD convinced Fudge of Lupin's good intentions. It
is during this meeting that the Order of Merlin must have come up, or
Lupin wouldn't have known about it. Fudge was the one to witness
Snape's tantrum, and he may have drawn the wrong conclusion from it,
after which Lupin used Fudge's misinterpretation as an explanation to
provide Harry with. 

But I agree with you that Snape doesn't seem interested in the OoM.
The story about Snape envying James for his quidditch skills doesn't
strike me as very plausible either. I bet Lupin brought it up to avoid
discussing the real reasons for Snape's hatred: James's treatment of
Snape (though I don't blame Lupin for not wanting to speak ill of the
dead), and possibly the fact that James got the girl Snape wanted...

Renee