Snape getting off scott free/ Ending for Snape

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 162929

Antonia wrote:
> 
> Why does Severus have to suffer horribly? Why do I get the feeling
that people hate him even more than they hate Voldemort or any other
evil character? Is it because we are not sure to whom he is loyal? I
really don't consider his actions being so despicable in the books so
that everyone should hate him. Yes, he tends to treat his students
badly, especially Harry & comp but we must also take in account that
Harry seems to hate him instinctively no matter what Severus does. I
don't know what you think about this but I feel that Harry is being
unjust to Severus from the very beginning. I mean if a person is not
that nice to us, do we have to hate him? Maybe this is just his style
his personality, his way of handling things.

Carol responds:

If you look at the Snape threads that have appeared just since you
joined this group, you'll see that he's among the most-discussed
characters on this list and has many defenders. Many if not most of us
believe that he's DDM! (Dumbledore's man), and the hope that he
"suffers horribly" is by no means universal on this list. In fact, I
think it's limited to a couple of dozen people, only a few of whom
post regularly. (See the Snape poll at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/surveys?id=1916317 for the
varying attitudes toward Snape--the poll is still open, BTW, if you
want to vote in it.)

Many of us have been arguing (persistently) that Harry will have to
learn to trust and forgive Snape before he can defeat Voldemort using
Love. We have also argued (persistently) that Snape's killing
Dumbledore was a necessary evil and that his dying with Dumbledore
would have been much, much worse--not only for Draco but for Harry
and, consequently, for the WW as a whole). IMO, it's important to
JKR's own value system as established in the HP books that
Dumbledore's judgment regarding Snape be proven correct and Harry's
simply wrong. Harry must learn not to fall into the trap that Snape
fell into, allowing the desire for revenge to motivate him, but he
must also actively and specifically forgive Snape, whose story has
been established for that exact purpose. The one-sided rapport he
established with the HBP is the first step in understanding, and
ultimately forgiving, Severus Snape. (I disagree with bboyminn that
Snape will be understood but not forgiven; JKR is a Christian, and
"forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against
us" is a central tenet of the Christian religion--which can be
extended to the all-too-human Snape but perhaps not to Voldemort, who
must be destroyed.)

Admittedly, a few people on this list still see Snape as purely evil,
others as a bad man on the good side, but many of us believe that
Snape's unpleasant personality does not rule out genuine loyalty,
courage, and devotion to duty on his part. I, for one, see what Snape
did on the tower as a sacrifice and that he's *already* suffering
horribly (witness the anguish he was suffering when the narrator
compared him to the dog in the burning house). And far from wanting
him to die nobly, Boromir-style, or go to a dementorless Azkaban for a
year or two (as has been recently proposed as necessary for the letter
of the law to be upheld), I would like to see him do community service
as a Healer at St. Mungo's followed by free rein to research spells
and potions and write improved textbooks for both Potions and DADA. If
he wants to teach, let him teach. No one knows more about DADA than he
does. Maybe Hogwarts could even add Healing spells to its curriculum
and he could teach that course. But I think he'd rather do research
and finally receive the recognition for his many talents and brilliant
mind that he's been denied for so long.

I suggest that you go back to the posts that came out right after HBP
was published, starting at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/132907
to see how many posters immediately leaped to Snape's defense despite
the seeming revelation that he was a "murderin' traitor." You'll see a
variety of explanations for his behavior and a variety of attitudes
toward him, with surprisingly few attacking him and saying "I told you
he was evil all along."

Carol, who would suggest a search for DDM!Snape except that it would
probably yield some 10,000 or more results