Getting people to work together (was Why does Snape...)--Long

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 148830

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "lupinlore" <rdoliver30 at ...> wrote:
>
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "quick_silver71" 
> <quick_silver71@> wrote:
> <SNIP>
> 
> > The whole concept of forcing people that hate one another to
> > work together doesn't seem to hold after OotP...Dumbledore's 
> > attempts with Sirius and Snape and Snape and Harry both seem
> > to fall flat. ....
> > 

> Lupinlore:
> 
> ....edited....
> 
> DD just can't imagine, emotionally speaking, that anyone who 
> really gets to know Harry would dislike him.  So he is serenely 
> confidant that as Snape gradually and reluctantly gets to know 
> Harry, Snape's dislike and hurt feelings will fade.  When that 
> doesn't happen, DD sees an opportunity with occlumency. I think
> DD was being very honest with Harry about the chief reason he 
> had Snape do the occlumency lessons.  But I think he also 
> probably thought that surely once Snape got inside Harry's head 
> (literally) and saw how mistaken he had been, that Snape would 
> get over his hard feelings.
> 
> The problem with all this is that it didn't work.  To go back to 
> common experience, when your friend or loved one pulls out the "You 
> don't know them," argument, your response, whether spoken or not, is 
> almost always, "Oh yes I do."  ...edited..
> 
> 
> Lupinlore
>

bboyminn:

Excellent essay, Lupinlore, very insightful, and for the most part,
right on target. I guess this is one of those rare times, especially
when regarding Snape, that we agree.

I am only going to add one small extension to what you have already
said. Dumbledore's plan ALMOST worked, and I have to wonder, if on a
very distant subconsious level that 'almost worked' didn't work better
than we think.

First a side-side comment, in difficult circumstances, it is usually
ideal to set your 'best man' to the task at hand. However, a wise man
would realize that sometimes circumstances dictate that most effective
choice is to send your 'second best man' to do the job. If the primary
 job here was Harry learning Occumency, then I think the second best
would have been more effective. 

However, Dumbledore very likely does have a secondary purpose in
putting Harry and Snape together, and that is some small degree of the
mending of fences and getting his two greatest hopes of success
working together. Well, that mostly failed miserably, but I still say
it almost worked, and still has some microscopic chance of working.

Notice, that when Snape sees the nature of Harry's earlier life, he
doesn't take any malicious or vindictive glee in the visions he sees.
His response is quiet and reflective. Harry is certain that upon
seeing Harry's misery, Snape will rub it in and use it against him.
Instead, Snape's response is almost profound, as if Snape never
considered how thoroughly miserable Harry's life has been. Something
that I am sure never really occurred to Snape. In Snape's own
Snape-ish way, there is almost a seed of respect planted.

Further, when Harry is able to turn the spell around on Snape and view
his memories, he is not met with a life he had every given any thought
to. He sees that Snape's life too has been miserable. 

Snape is still a hard task-master when it comes to learing Occlumency,
he cuts Harry no slack. Yet, we see the usual snipping and snarky
comments between them have stopped. It's just the business at hand.
Snape almost treats Harry in a civil fashion.

Then oddly Harry commits the one unforgivable breach of faith that
sets Snape against him. Yet, the one unforgivable act that brings to
Harry a true and deep understanding of and sympathy for Snape. He
looks into Snape's pensieve, and worse, gets caugth at it. Even after
this, as Harry talks with Sirius about what he saw in the Pensieve, he
admits, that even after Snape's brutal dismissal, Harry still feels
sorry for him.

I have to think that in the next book Harry and Snape are going to
have to come to an understanding on their own because they are going
to have to work together, and I believe that what they saw in the
Occulmency lessons will help them in that process. Snape and Harry
know things about each other that not even their closest friends and
confidants know about them. I think that gives them an insight that in
some small way will help bridge the gap between them. They can't
really, at heart ,dismiss each other as annoying prats; there is a
shared humanity between them, and that is bound to make a difference.

Just a thought.
Steve/bboyminn