Why does Snape wants DADA job if it cursed? LONG

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 148884

lupinlore:

To put it another way, I disagree with Magpie that Snape and his
motivations may be the key to everything.  I think JKR has made it
very clear that HARRY and HIS motivations are the key to
everything.  The motivations and beliefs of other characters, even
of Dumbledore himself, just aren't very important when compared to
Harry's.  If Snape ends up being very important, the person whose
motivations and understandings undergo loving examination will be
Harry.  Even if Snape is the catalyst for that examination, his
importance will clearly lie in his interaction with Harry's story
arc.  In the end, I just don't think we're going to get the intense
emphasis on Snape's own story arc that many people want.  Snape just
isn't the hero.

Magpie:

Just to clarify, I don't think that Snape will be getting tons of 
focus either.  I agree Harry is the main character and it's his 
emotional arc we're following--Snape's importance, I agree, lies in 
how he interacts with Harry, not his own story.  When I called 
Snape's motivations 'the key to everything' I'm just referring to 
his being, imo, the central running question throughout the books.  
Even Voldemort at this point has been revealed to Harry through the 
Pensieve.  Snape is, imo, really the character who's always been the 
primary antagonist.  In each book we get more pieces of his story, 
tying him closer and closer to Harry himself.  So when I say I think 
it's important I mean I think it's an important reveal for Harry to 
understand just who he's dealing with with Snape.  Up until now it 
seems like JKR has had fun doing a sort of "blind men with the 
elephant" thing where we see Snape in a slightly different way 
(while he's still obviously the same person, hitting a small range 
of notes).  In the end all those things have to be tied together, 
imo, so Harry can get a handle on them.  So far it seems like that's 
the main mystery thread that runs through every book, so while I 
don't expect an intense examination of Severus Snape, the kind we'd 
get in fanfic, I do think it's probably going to be important for 
Harry to understand who Snape was, how he came to join the DEs, how 
he came to leave them, how he really felt about Dumbledore, and 
possibly how he feels about the Malfoys and some other DEs.  (And 
how exactly he felt about all the Marauders as well, perhaps.)

-m