seeds of betrayal

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 149605

Sherry:
> 
> He would have to be a saint to feel no anger or resentment toward DD for
> that seeming lack of support.

Pippin:
Unless he realized, when he calmed down, that Dumbledore had prevented
him from repeating the mistake (Dumbledore's word) that led to James's
death. If we believe Dumbledore, Snape never wanted his hatred of James
to cause James's death. I can see that as being a sort of point of honor with
Snape -- Sirius, that pureblood paragon of nobility, had tried to kill him, but
Snape was not going to sink that low.

 Whatever James was, Snape didn't want him killed by Voldemort because of 
a prophecy. Whatever Sirius was, he didn't deserve to have his soul sucked 
out if he wasn't the person who betrayed the Potters. Snape seems to have 
accepted, reluctantly, that Sirius was innocent or he would have brought it 
up in their quarrel at GP. 

I think, as a DDM!Snaper, that one of the reasons Snape stuck so close to
Dumbledore was that he knew his own moral compass was faulty, and
he trusted Dumbledore to keep him from going astray again. Dumbledore
made himself vulnerable to Snape in return, so no cause for resentment there.

I think that JKR does feel that killing in self-defense is justifiable. We are
told that Mad-eye killed Rozier and others, but that he never killed anyone 
who gave themselves up. Sirius and Dumbledore both trusted him, and I 
don't think they would  if they considered him an unrepentant murderer. 

IMO, because JKR believes this, it's important to her to teach that
not everyone who hates would kill if they could. I think she wants to
show us that hatred has rational causes, that it doesn't lead inexorably
to murder, that it can be understood, controlled, even cured in some 
cases -- but not if we label every hater as a potential killer 
and think only of how to defend ourselves, trampling the rights of
others in the process.

Of course Voldemort *would* kill everyone that he hates if he could. 
Some of his allies are just as paranoid and vicious as he is. But
Quirrell makes a point of telling Harry that Snape is not like that --

"But Snape always seemed to hate me so much."
"Oh, he does," said Quirrell casually, "heavens, yes. He was at Hogwarts
with your father, didn't you know? They loathed each other. But he
never wanted you _dead_."

Pippin