How will Snape come back?

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 162703


> chrustoxos wrote:
> Why is it that raising a question gives nobody an asnwer, but 
instead rises a thousand 
> more questions? I just hate these books sometimes...Seems so cruel 
tht we're forced to 
> wait...

Potioncat:
I've followed this thread with interest, without much to contribute, 
but this might be the time for some general observations.

I've compared this series to raising kids. On the one hand I can't 
wait for them to grow up, on the other, I'm not looking forward to 
their moving away. (Can't wait for next book, but don't want it to 
end.)

I've read one other series like this (OK 2). The first was Mary 
Stewart's "Merlin" trilogy (ended up being 4 books). That was nothing 
like this, no groups to discuss it with, no great anticipation of the 
release date. (The second series is Unfortunate Events, which I enjoy 
very much but cannot wait to have it done! We're on book 12.)

I've had the pleasure of anticipating the "next" book on this site 
and of going back to read the anticipation of books. It's pretty cool 
to see what the list membership thinks "will have to happen" and then 
to see what JKR really had in store. One of the big ideas was that 
Snape and Black would have to get along and work together in OoP. 
Well, that didn't exactly pan out. Another was that Spinner's End 
would be about Big-Hairy-Spider's death---close but no cigar. (Can't 
remember his name, don't like spiders, can barely type this.)

So while I really enjoy reading and discussing what we think will 
happen between Snape and Harry, I also can't wait to see how JKR 
plays it out.

Back in the first post you asked about possible contacts for Snape.I 
don't think we should eliminate Moody. Moody isn't the same crusty 
character that Crouch!Moody was. Besides, as far as Harry goes, Moody 
is closer to Snape's opinion than to others. He's the one who 
says, "Yeah, well, there's something funny about the Potter kid, we 
all know that." (OoP chp 22) He may not think Harry struts, but he 
isn't about to adopt him any more than Snape is.

Also to his favor, he tried to bring Dark Wizards in alive. He would 
listen to Snape---might stun him pretty good first. 

>  chrustoxos
> Ok, THIS is the point we all should be debating (and probably have, 
except I missed it). JKR 
> said that Snape's Boggart and Snape's Patronus would be very very 
important, so maybe 
> this solves all our problems. 

Potioncat:
I could suggest his Boggart might have been himself killing 
Dumbledore. Or it might be LV triumphant. Many of us think his 
Patronus would reflect Dumbledore, but it would seem important to 
know what it had been if it will change. (Nothing says it will 
change.) But, based on the way I remember JKR's comment, I'm not sure 
we'll ever know what they are. She said it would give too much away 
to tell us, but she didn't say they would play a role in the story. 

Actually, Boggarts could be bad news for Snape. Imagine if there was 
one at DE-HQ? "Oh, Severus, could you take care of the Boggart for 
us? It's right over there...."


> 
> > Carol:
> > Exactly. It's odd that she's always been Dumbledore's Woman with
> > regard to Snape and came back around to something close to that
> > position, even researching the HBP nickname at a time when Harry 
felt
> > nothing but hatred for Snape and regret that he'd been attracted 
to
> > the HBP as a friend. But Hermione often sees other people more 
clearly
> > than she sees herself. 

Potioncat:
Hermione even seems a bit hesitant about Snape being a murderer--or 
at least that was the way I saw it---when she produced the picture of 
Eileen after DD's death. I doubt Snape would contact her, but she 
might play a role in getting Harry to listen.


chrustoxos (I thnk)
 After all 
> we've never seen Snape at Christmas (am I right here?) and JKR did 
point out that some of 
> the teachers had families of their own.
 
Potioncat:
We've seen Snape at Hogwarts several years, and a couple it isn't 
mentioned one way or another. But it isn't a "given" that he stays 
the entire break.


chrustoxos
 He doesn't 
> scare the hell out of his students to prepare them to future life; 
he doesn't secretly keep 
> Harry's pictures in his drawers, nor Lily's; and he most certainly 
won't be sorry if Harry 
> dies. He wants him to stay alive long enough to destroy LV, and 
he's angry at the boy for 
> not trying hard enough, but that's all. Snape protects Harry for 
self-preservation, as he 
> partly admits to Bellatrix and Narcissa.


Potioncat:
OK, I agree to the part about the photos, but I think he would be 
sorry if Harry died. He seemed pretty upset about Ginny and the 
Chamber. And I do think he wants and expects his students to learn. 
Who knows how he feels about Black's death, but I suspect he's angry 
that Black didn't listen to him and stay put. That's pretty much 
Snape's attitude, "the world would be a better place if more people 
would listen to me."

Potioncat, all I want for Christmas is a spellcheck on Yahoo.