DD trust in Snape again. WAS: Evil Hermione

[wynnleaf]

No: HPFGUIDX 154666


> Carol said:
> 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), 

wynnleaf
It is interesting that Harry has not once acknowledged that his life 
has been saved by Snape, or that Snape's actions have saved anyone 
else's life that he cares about.  Not once.  

Carol:
 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." 

wynnleaf
JKR uses the narration to make particular note of this both in OOTP 
and HBP.  We the readers are supposed to note it.  Harry *wants* to 
hate Snape as much as possible, even long before DD's "death."

Carol
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.

wynnleaf
This is not surprising in SS/PS or other early years.  But by the 
time of OOTP, once would think a 15 year old would give at least a 
tiny bit of thought to what Snape did in saving the lives of Harry 
and his friends.  (Yes, I know, some people think he was terrible in 
not notifying the Order more quickly, but DD knew all about the 
timing and didn't seem to see anything wrong with it.)  Remember 
that Harry's way of blaming Snape for Sirius' death was to focus on 
two or three lines of traded insults from 5 *months* before as the 
reason for Sirius leaving 12 Grimmauld Place -- rather than Harry's 
own actions of that very night.  

It's interesting that after OOTP, JKR still wanted to increase 
Harry's level of hate toward Snape.  She seemed rather satisfied 
with the fact that Harry hates Snape even more at the end of HBP.  
Why does JKR want Harry to hate him even more?  I doubt that it's 
because she thinks hate is productive and Harry needs to have more 
hatred.  Far more likely it's because she has some plan for Harry to 
have to get over his hate and forgive, and making that hatred 
greater just makes Harry's process toward forgiveness all the more 
dramatic.

Carol
 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. 

wynnleaf
Yet another example of where Harry allows his hatred of Snape to 
blind him to other needs.  Similarly in OOTP when his hatred of 
Snape makes him unable to believe that Snape will deal with Harry's 
message about Sirius, or to trust what Snape said about Voldemort 
wanting to get in his mind and make him do things.

Certainly it is understandable that Snape's attitude toward Harry 
over the years as caused Harry to dislike him.  But Snape has done 
little to Harry other than sarcasm, insults, unfair detentions or 
lost points, etc.  Harry absolutely refuses to consider *anything* 
that Snape has ever done *for* him, even when Dumbledore is sitting 
right in front of him telling him about it.

In Harry's mind, it seems that schoolroom nastiness utterly and 
completely outweigh a person being instrumental in saving your life, 
or the lives of your friends.  Utterly.  

Carol 
> 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.)

wynnleaf,
I agree.  However, I don't necessarily think that JKR will take 
Harry step by step through each of those items.  Mainly, Harry has 
to realize what's really been going on and that general nastiness -- 
petty insults, detentions, etc. -- do not an Evil One make.  Real 
actions, like saving lives, putting one's own life on the line to 
serve the greater good, etc., count a great deal.


> 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

wynnleaf,
Exactly.