Lupin and "Severus" (Was: OFH SNAPE was: Script from JKR's reading)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 156965

Renee wrote:
<snip> (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.)
<snip>
> 
> 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. <snip>

Carol responds:
I agree with the second point. Young Snape's envy of James, if that's
what it was, would IMO have had more to do with the recognition he
received for his talents than the talents themselves (Severus had
plenty of talents of his own) and Lupin was either guessing at a
motivation or trying to conceal the real one. And we know from PoA
that the Order of Merlin isn't the reason for Snape's anger and
disappointment. Your explanation that Lupin heard about the OoM from
Fudge is as plausible as any.

However, I still think that Lupin is genuinely grateful to Snape for
preparing the Wolfsbane potion that saved him so much pain in the year
that he (Lupin) taught DADA, and he still has some leftover guilt for
the Pensieve incident, when he knows he should have performed his
Prefect duties instead of letting James and Sirius get away with their
bullying behavior, which he knows was unprovoked or he would have said
so to Harry. He knows that Snape's continuing hatred of James and
Sirius is partly his own fault. And he knows that he could indeed have
killed Teen!Snape or turned him into a werewolf if James hadn't
rescued Severus. 

In OOP, he tells Harry that "Snape" (not "severus") is a "superb
Occlumens" and that it's important for Harry to overcome his dislike
of Snape and learn to protect himself (OoP am. ed. 527). Contrast his
attitude with that of Black, who gives Harry the two-way mirror in
case Snape gives him a hard time--a most unhelpful gesture since Harry
 already distrusts Snape, which interferes with the lessons almost as
much as Harry's desire to finish his dream does.

I think that Lupin really is attempting to be fair and objective, and
certainly he doesn't hate Snape the way Sirius Black does--with a
prejudice deepened by the knowledge that Snape was once a Death Eater.
Lupin, in contrast, accepts Dumbledore's assurance that Snape is on
their side--until the events on the tower, as reported by Harry, cause
him to lose his equanimity. But if anyone is going to figure out that
Snape acted for the general good as opposed to the individual good of
a dying old man, it will, IMO, be Lupin--perhaps with Hermione's help.

One more point before I forget--Harry's reaction (or nonreaction) to
Lupin's has no bearing on whether they're true or not. He already
wants to believe the worst of Snape. (I do wonder, though, whether
Lupin knew that Teen!Snape had invented Levicorpus and, if so, why he
concealed that information from Harry.)

Carol, who still thinks that Lupin really does "neither like nor
dislike Severus," but wonders about the change from "Snape" in OoP to
"Severus" in HBP