DD trust in Snape again. WAS: Evil Hermione

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 154643

Pippin wrote:
> <SNIP>
> >  I think, as I said, that Dumbledore intended to tell Harry more>
of the story the night he died, but he was reluctant to do so because
a) He had promised Snape that he wouldn't b) He didn't think Harry was
going to be able to understand c) He thought Harry's misunderstanding
was going to make things worse.
> > 
> > There may be some spectacular unrevealed reason that Dumbledore
valued Snape's friendship, but it might well have happened before
Snape joined the DE's. (That would explain the "rejoined our side" in
GoF).  In that case it would do little to convince Harry of Snape's
worth, and yet by HBP Snape had already saved  Dumbledore at least
once and Harry at least twice. If that wasn't good enough for Harry as
a reason to value Snape, what would be? 
> 
Alla responded: 
<snip>
> Snape is guilty of too much towards Harry IMO and to expect Harry to 
> share Dumbledore's trust in Snape, whom friendship Dumbledore may 
> value, but who treated Harry like crap and who had a hand in making 
> Harry an orphan is well... naive at the most charitable reading.
> 
> That is why I think there IS a dramatic reason Dumbledore trusts 
> Snape and besides, would not Dumbledore need the reason to trust 
> former DE?
<snip>
> Alla, who also thinks that DD intended to say more because Harry as 
> an agrrieved party deserved to know.
>
Carol responds:
What we have here, IMO, is irony operating on a number of levels.
Snape has saved Harry twice (SS/PS, HBP) and tried to save him or
helped to save him at least three other times (POA, GOF, OoP), has
saved DD once, has contributed to saving Ron (making sure that Harry
knows about bezoars from day one), and so on, all because (IMO) he is
trying to undo the damage that was done at Godric's Hollow. However,
his attitude toward Harry (an arrogant little rule-breaker) and
Harry's toward him (a sarcastic, unfair teacher) makes it impossible
for them to come to an understanding, with or without Dumbledore, even
before HBP. And as of the end of OoP, Harry is not only refusing to
acknowledge his and his friends' debt to Snape for sending the Order
to the MoM but is (intentionally) blaming Snape for Sirius Black's
death because it "feels satisfying." He is letting the minor
irritation of a sarcastic teacher prevent him from seeing Snape as a
loyal Order member who has been trying to protect him, for whatever
personal reasons, since SS/PS.

Pippin said the other day that the DADA curse in HBP operates as it
always does, by revealing the DADA teacher's secret, in this case,
that he's the eavesdropper who revealed the Prophecy. I've been
thinking about this remark, which at first didn't make sense to me
because I've been thinking of the UV as the instrument of the DADA
curse to figure out how Harry's knowing Snape's secret could lead to
Snape's dismissal as DADA teacher. I've come up with the following
chain of events (no doubt already clear to Pippin ;-) ):

Harry encounters Trelawney, who has just been thrown out of the RoR.
She tells him about the "whoop" and he persuades her to go to
Dumbledore. She lets slip that Snape was eavesdropping on her job
interview. Harry realizes that Snape is *the* eavesdropper who
revealed the Prophecy to Voldemort and the curse strikes, changing the
course of events from that point forward. Harry rushes angrily to DD's
office, shunting Trelawney aside, so her story goes unheard. He tells
DD what he has overheard and he mentions the whoop, but he neglects to
mention that Draco threw Trelawney out of the RoR, a piece of
information which, as Pippin pointed out earlier, would have required
DD to take action or at least take what Harry had said seriously. With
the curse still operating, DD chooses not to tell Harry the truth
about Snape. They leave the school grounds as planned (with an
interlude for the Felix Felicis), leaving the way open for the DEs to
enter Hogwarts. They return with DD weakened, perhaps dying. Imperio'd
Rosmerta shows them the Dark Mark, changing DD's plan of sending Harry
for Snape, and they fly to the tower. Snape, shocked to learn that
Draco's plan has succeeded but unaware of DD's condition, races to the
tower and Doom falls. Snape has no choice but to kill Dumbledore, or
pretend to do so, in order to save Harry and Draco and get the DEs out
of Hogwarts. Harry sees his view of Snape as evil and treacherous
confirmed by the murder before his eyes of Dumbledore. It seems as if
the two can never be reconciled and Harry's hatred and anger never
changed to forgiveness and understanding, all because of Trelawney's
untimely and unwitting revelation of the eavesdropper's identity. (Is
that how you see it, Pippin?)

Irony piled upon irony. Secrets kept too long. Information that might
have saved the day almost revealed but then suppressed or the
revelation thwarted by something unforeseen. Actions that might have
saved the day prevented. And the end of it all (so far) is a dead
Dumbledore and a Harry who believes that Snape is his enemy.
Misunderstanding has reached its peak. The tide must turn.

I believe that Harry *must* come to understand that Snape, however
much he dislikes Harry personally, is his ally and protector, and that
he had no choice but to kill DD (or pretend to kill him, if Pippin is
right) against his will. IMO, Harry *must* realize that these things
outweigh Snape's long-regretted revelation of the Prophecy, a mistake
whose consequences he tried to prevent by spying for DD and, failing
that, to atone for by faithful service to Dumbledore for sixteen
years. Harry must also realize that he has unfairly blamed Snape for
Sirius Black's death and acknowledge his own role in that unfortunate
event (not that Harry is to blame for the murder, but that it would
not have happened if he had listened to Snape's warnings that LV was
trying to get inside his head). 

I believe that Harry must forgive Snape his trespasses and acknowledge
that neither he nor Ron nor perhaps Hermione (the stretchers in PoA)
would be alive if it weren't for Snape. Only then, when he has set
aside his hatred and anger and embraced forgiveness and mercy can
Harry fulfill his role as Chosen One, a burden that Snape unwittingly
helped place upon him. (Maybe *that's* what motivates Snape--not the
life debt to James or love of Lily but guilt for placing the burden of
saving the WW on the Boy Who Lived.)

Carol, thinking that, like Harry, the reader must get past the daily
interactions of Harry and Snape in Potions class (not so much DADA,
where Snape is teaching what the students need to learn) and look at
the bigger picture