Snape ignoring HP blood (was: CHAPDISC: HBP8)

[cubfanbudwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 146563

Pippin provided this thought:
>>>I'm sure Draco couldn't wait to tell his buds what he'd done to 
famous Harry Potter, and Snape had already heardl about it by the 
time he met Harry at the gate. But I wonder if anyone else believed 
Draco at first. Leaving blood on Harry's face for all to see would 
certainly lend credibility to Draco's story, and Snape would 
certainly think Harry deserved some embarrassment, to say the least, 
for having been so foolish.<<<
 
SSSusan:
> > Now, I think that's a fascinating take.  STILL doesn't mean Snape 
> > wasn't just being sadistic, of course, but at least it goes a 
> > little further towards explaining what he might have been 
> > *thinking.*
 
Alla:
> Right, I was supposed sign off fifteen minutes ago and I am still 
> here and this is all your fault :-)
> 
> I am not sure I follow ( and I realise you agree with Snape as 
> sadist line of thought too, or at least you find it possible, 
> right?), so I guess I don't follow Pippin.
> 
> So, suppose Draco TOLD his buds what he did to Harry. Which I am 
> not convinced in the first place, since that would mean a 
> punishment for Draco, IMO. In any event that would mean that Harry 
> is lying there with broken nose and with blood possibly going down 
> his throat. Unless Snape knows that Harry is HEALED, whether Draco 
> told his buds what he did or not, is IMO irrelevant. What am I 
> missing?
> 
> How knowing about Harry's predicament from Draco makes Snape less 
> sadistic or not sadistic?


SSSusan:
Hee.  Far be it from ME to make anyone linger on the computer, Alla!;-
)  So I shall dash off a response as quickly as possible.

In short, I *do* think Snape's behavior is nasty here, but I think 
Pippin's proposed scenario explains the behavior in a way that makes 
more SENSE than the way I read the scene myself, originally.

I think the key to what Pippin wrote is "and Snape had already heard 
about it by the time he met Harry at the gate."  The way I read this 
was that Draco bragged to his buddies and that Snape heard (or heard 
about) the conversation.  I think Draco *assumes* he won't be 
punished by Snape for such things (or else didn't care or didn't 
realize Snape heard).  

THEN, Snape being the loving, altruistic, magnanimous kind of guy 
that he is (snort!), he decided that it would be FUNNY or, well, 
maybe not that, but APPROPRIATE somehow if he ignored Harry's 
injury/blood and let him be embarrassed in front of his schoolmates.

So, yes, I'm still saying that Snape didn't act very nicely at all -- 
that he did something some of us might qualify as sadistic (or at 
least mean) -- but at least, for me, this scenario made it less 
*confusing* why he'd not have looked surprised or mentioned the 
blood.  In Pippin's scenario, Snape already *knew* about the blood 
before he got to Harry and had made up his mind to ignore it if Harry 
didn't bring it up.

If Snape had no inkling of what had happened in advance of meeting 
Harry at the gate, then his behavior in ignoring the blood is more 
confusing to me.  If he did already know what happened, then he could 
keep a straight face and wouldn't have had reason to show surprise at 
the presence of so much blood.

Either way, he's a git here. IMHO, of course; YMMV. ;-)

Siriusly Snapey Susan