Harry, Draco and bathroom/ A couple of theories - Snape

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 162345

Alla:
> 
> I do understand what you are saying about Draco's twisted ways and 
> why he would think that he is acting defending himself. In short I 
> get and accept that this is what Draco may be thinking.
> 
> But let's talk about what we had seen happened in this scene. Draco 
> may think that 
> he is defending himself, but the one who truly does it is Harry. 
> Harry does not throw curse at Draco first. It is the opposite. I am 
> just puzzled as to how scene of Harry defending himself suddenly 
> gets transformed in **Draco** defending himself.
> 
> Harry not only does not do anything wrong, he defends himself 
> against Unforgivable. Blinks.
> 

Carol responds:
Granted, Draco started it. Having been caught crying by his worst
student enemy, and still being full of fear and self-doubt over what
will happen if he fails to fix the cabinet, he is not thinking
clearly, and perhaps pulling your wand on an enemy who catches you
off-guard is an instinctive reaction. I think Harry would have done
the same in a similar situation. He views Draco as dangerous and the
opposite is probably true. At any rate, once the fighting began, both
boys would have seen their own actions as self-defense. I'm not
defending Draco's incomplete Crucio, which he's clearly using to
punish Harry (not exactly righteous wrath), but Harry later does the
same with Snape (and is foiled by Snape's Legilimency). 

You're right that Harry is defending himself against an Unforgiveable
Curse, but a known spell that hit Draco at the right time would have
had the same deterrent effect. ("Stupefy" would have been both
effective and fully warranted. Instead, Harry apparently felt, rather
than thought, that the time had come to test the curse labeled "for
enemies." After all, Draco was his enemy and was threatening him with
an illegal curse. I don't think that Harry's decision was justified;
it was wholly irrational (as was Draco's), but it's understandable.
Both boys were playing with fire, one with a curse he knew to be
illegal (but he was desperate), the other with an unknown curse he had
to suspect was dangerous (but he, too, was desperate).

Alla:
> He [Draco] started [the Crucio] though - we don't know for sure if
wand does not register the attempt - it may or it may not IMO.
> 
> I mentioned Snape not pressing charges because it is often mentioned 
> as something awfully noble on Snape's part and the best I can come 
> up with is Snape protecting little ferret against Azkaban, not 
> protecting Harry against being expelled.

Carol responds:
Draco didn't finish saying the spell. Consequently, no light shot out
of his wand and Harry felt nothing. I'd say it's a safe bet that the
spell didn't register. Nor did Snape know about it because Harry
didn't say, "But, sir, he was trying to Crucio me." He merely said
that he didn't know what Sectumsempra did, which was true (but not a
good excuse for using it).

As for Snape not pressing charges against Harry, I don't think the
possibility was even raised. Sectumsempra is Snape's invented spell;
the MoM may not even know that it exists, or, if it did register, what
it does. (I'm beginning to think that no spells register at Hogwarts,
anyway, because so many are being cast all the time in the classes.
How could the MoM keep track?)

That aside, it's McGonagall who raises the possibility that Harry
could have been expelled (not charged with a crime). Although she's
his Head of House and responsible for expelling him, she might well
have gone along with Snape if he had suggested it. The fact of the
matter is that he didn't. He just told the staff what happened and
arranged detentions for the rest of the semester, oddly basing them on
Harry's lying about the source of the spell (and cheating in Potions
using his book) rather than on his use of an illegal spell.

Now granted, there may be an element of self-protection here. At this
point, Snape wouldn't want anyone else to know that Sectumsempra is
his spell, which is no doubt why he wanted to confiscate the Potions
book. And yet he told the staff "precisely what happened," so he was
probably able to mention Sectumsempra as a Dark spell whose existence
he was aware of (and which he knew how to cure) without anyone's
suspecting he was the author of the spell. And, of course, he was
protecting Draco, who would be in grave danger from Voldemort and his
DEs if he were expelled. But Harry would have faced exactly the same
danger if *he* were expelled, and Snape chooses not to expel him, and
to place him under his own eye on Saturday mornings, at least. He
can't watch either boy all the time, but he can at least keep them
apart for as much of the weekend as is feasible.
 
Alla:
> 
> Um, I agree that it can go either way of course, but no my feelings 
> of Snape being evil are based on some canon facts - one of them is 
> Snape killing Dumbledore. Which can be interpreted as DD!M Snape, 
> but it is so not the first thought that comes to my mind.
> 
> As to why Snape may save Harry at the end if he is evil, well that 
> would be his redemption then - as in he sees Harry's eyes, Lily in 
> them, blah, blah. :)

Carol:
But you can't judge Snape's earlier actions based on an action he
hasn't committed yet. At the time we're considering, Dumbledore is
alive (but perhaps dying from the ring Horcrux and in more danger than
either he or Snape is aware of from Draco's plot succeeding). Snape is
acting on Dumbledore's orders, as well as his own inclinations and his
vow to Narcissa, to protect Draco. But he is protecting Harry, too,
making sure he stays in school and as far as possible from budding
DE!Draco.

I doubt that Snape's redemption will have anything to do with Lily's
eyes. He's looked into Harry's eyes dozens if not hundreds of times by
now. If he hasn't seen Lily there by now, he won't see her at all. No,
I think Snape and Harry are already on the same side, much as Snape
hates that fact, and Harry will come to see it, either because Snape
helps him with the Horcruxes or because Snape saves him or one of his
friends. I don't know what it will take to convince Harry--something
huge, I'm sure--but it won't be Snape gazing into his eyes and being
sorry for what he did to Lily. He's already suffering remorse from the
eavesdropping. That's what DDM!Snape is all about. And now he has
remorse from what he had to do to Dumbledore to contend with, too.

Carol, noting that Harry, Ron, and Draco would all be dead if it
weren't for Snape