DD and Snape /Broken potionvial

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 163208

 
> Alla:
> 
> Okay, thanks - well in that case I do place higher confidence ( in 
> the negative sense here of course) than you do in Snape's ability to 
> know what is good for him.

Pippin:
In that case we should never see Snape's rages working against him,
but we do.

In PoA  for example, he lost control of himself and the situation
in the Shrieking Shack and again when he was trying to convince 
Fudge to listen to him about Harry helping Sirius to escape. 
It certainly can't have helped him to throw Harry out of the occlumency
lessons whether he was doing them to help Dumbledore  or 
Voldemort. (I think it's significant that both Lupin and Sirius
object.)

In GoF he starts out dealing very cooly with Fake!Moody, but
soon a vein starts jumping in his forehead. How can I make this
clear -- It's not that he doesn't know what's good for him. 
He's not stupid, he's just not capable of controlling his feelings 
to that extent. He can't, even with occlumency, bury his rage 
against James or his anger when students take foolish chances 
with the future which Snape is risking everything to make 
sure they have. It's too close to the surface.


Alla:
 I believe ( again, story line 
> arguments aside) that Dumbledore owed it to Harry and Neville to try.
> 


Pippin:

He did try. With the occlumency lessons.
He says he thought Snape would be able to overcome his feelings
about Harry's father (not Harry himself, you'll note) but he was
wrong. I suppose he thought that if Snape saw that Harry wasn't
the pampered prince he imagined, then Snape would find it
easier to separate his reactions to Harry from his feelings about
James. But it didn't work.

Snape lost control of himself and his student, but
if Dumbledore had kicked him out, where are these other people
who would have stepped in to do what Snape could not? 

Obviously Slughorn comes no where near to filling Snape's shoes,
and yet Dumbledore practically has to beg him to take the job.

Sometimes the best man for the job is a bastard. It's Voldemort who
thinks he can dispose of everyone who isn't worthy to share the world
with him. OTOH, Dumbledore tries to see the worth in everyone.

What's the worth in Snape if he can't control his hate?
Well, even Voldemort's hatred gets in the way of his 
efficiency as a killer. Killing in the Potterverse isn't about hate, IMO.
It's about power. The real bad guys aren't the haters, per se, they're 
the ones who think power is worth killing for.

Pippin