[HPforGrownups] Re: DD trust in Snape again. WAS: Evil Hermione

[rebecca]

No: HPFGUIDX 154858

> Pippin:
> Okay. Your argument is that if Harry had fallen from his broom and
> died, it would have been regarded as a suspicious death and
> there would have been an investigation which Snape could not afford.
> Correct?
>
<snip>

> If Dumbledore had shared that suspicion at all, he'd never have
> let Snape be referee.  But apparently there was no
> such suspicion even among the rest of the staff, who can't have known
> that Snape saved Harry from the hex, and  must have known
> how Snape felt about Harry (and according to you, may have
> been aware of Snape's criminal past.)  Quirrell says
> they all thought  Snape was trying to keep Gryffindor from
> winning.
>

Rebecca:

Pippin brings up an interesting point.  Isn't it intriguing for how bad 
Harry thinks Snape is  (and he should, Snape is a bully with students, 
especially Harry and Neville which is intriguing for obvious reasons) that 
the one and only time in the books we've ever seen him do Dark Magic is the 
AK in HBP? Snape's never been in Azkaban for any crimes we know about and up 
to that point,  the one "crime"  he did do (which was ethical, rather than 
criminal in nature)  was give Voldemort information about the prophecy that 
resulted in Voldemort targeting the Potters. That one devastating HBP 
Unforgivable Curse has vindicated, in Harry's eyes, his view of Snape over 6 
books even though Dumbledore is particularly vocal with everybody about his 
trust in Snape and Snape has never performed any Dark Magic that we or Harry 
has seen up to that point.

I might also mention that Professor McGonagall seems to have respect and 
even a pleasant liking for Snape, as he does her when welcoming her back to 
Hogwarts after being in St Mungo's in OoP.  That said, all but Harry are 
shocked when they find Snape killed Dumbledore on the Tower, however none of 
them appears to know what Snape and Dumbledore have been doing behind the 
scenes prior, anymore than anyone knows what Dumbledore and Harry were doing 
(sans Ron and Hermoine) in HBP. Yet afterward, Harry has a reflective 
moment:

"He broke off, looking out of the window. He could not stop himself dwelling 
upon Dumbledore's inexcusable trust in Snape ... but as Hermione had just 
inadvertently reminded him, he, Harry, had been taken in just the same ... 
in spite of the increasing nastiness of those scribbled spells, he had 
refused to believe ill of the boy who had been so clever, who had helped him 
so much ..."



I might add that even one calling oneself "Half Blood" in a moniker could be 
telling, since to purebloods who believe as Voldemort, half bloods are just 
a step away from Muggleborns. Given this if true, then Hermione's statement 
immediately afterwards is thought-provoking:



"I don't think he wanted to associate himself with that book,' said 
Hermione. 'I don't think Dumbledore would have liked it very much if he'd 
known. And even if Snape pretended it hadn't been his, Slughorn would have 
recognised his writing at once. Anyway, the book was left in Snape's old 
classroom, and I'll bet Dumbledore knew his mother was called "Prince"."



Dumbledore might not have liked it, *or JKR (for whom Dumbledore speaks, by 
her own admission) might not have liked it for plot reasons?* :) Hmmm....



Rebecca