Anima(l/gus) Portal /"Snape Victorious"

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 152007

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)"
<catlady at ...> wrote:
>
Pippin: 
> << Lupin says that no Hogwarts students ever found out more about
the grounds or the village than the Marauders did. (snip) Maybe they
found a long lost pet door? >>
> 
Catlady:
>  Not lost to the pets. As Betsy Hp wrote in
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/151686>, 
> << there are any number of beasties within the castle that like to 
> get out for a bit of romp on their own. Crookshanks is one familiar 
> we know of, but other cat familiars probably like to get out for a
> night-time hunt as well. >> <snip>
> 

Carol responds:
IIRC, Scabbers/Wormtail only goes outside once (when Wormtail is
faking his death at the hands, erm, teeth of Crookshanks), and he's so
small he can sneak out when a student opens the front door. Granted,
Crookshanks does get outside, but he's a cat. He could just jump out
an open window (I doubt that Hogwarts windows have screens) and follow
a student back inside when the door opens. Where is the evidence that
pet doors actually exist at Hogwarts--and if they do exist, they'd be
made for cats, not dogs the size of Padfoot, right?

Carol earlier:
> << As for other chapter titles that might be similarly misleading, 
how about "Snape Victorious," in which Snape seems to be achieving a
long-cherished ambition but is in fact being publicly acknowledged as
the latest appointee to a jinxed, or perhaps cursed, position that
ultimately leads to disaster for him and for Hogwarts? >>
> 
Catlady:
> I thought the title 'Snape Victorious' referred to Snape getting to
enjoy a few minutes of verbally beating up on Harry without
interference. Thus he was victorious over 'Tonks' who wanted to
protect Harry.

Carol again:
That's what I thought at first, but Snape has many opportunities to be
alone with Harry (and to perform Legilimency on him, as I think he's
doing here). But during the chapter discussion for "Snape Victorious,"
other posters pointed out that Snape received the (supposedly)
long-desired DADA position. Of course, he actually was appointed to
the position earlier, possibly even before "Spinner's End" despite his
words to Bellatrix implying otherwise, but the information isn't
revealed to Harry and the reader until this chapter. Harry definitely
thinks that Snape wants the DADA position (Percy told him that Snape
wanted Quirrell's job in SS/PS), and in HBP, the narrator,
paraphrasing Harry's thoughts, asks rhetorically, "How could Snape be
given the Defense Against the Dark Arts position after all this time?
Hadn't it been widely known for years that Dumbledore did not trust
him to do it?" (HBP Am. ed. 166-67). As Snape waves to the Slytherins,
Harry thinks he sees Snape gloating: "Harry was sure he could detect a
look of triumph on the features he loathed so much" (167). So from
Harry's POV, the appointment looks like a victory for Snape, but a
victory that may well prove disastrous considering the fate of
previous DADA teachers. (Harry hopes that the "jinx" will result in
Snape's death, 167.)

Considering that Snape is surely at least as aware as Harry of the
so-called jinx on the DADA post, I'm guessing that any "triumph" on
his fate is either a delusion of Harry's or an act of Snape's. And
Harry is certainly wrong about Dumbledore's reasons for not giving
snape the post earlier. So I would say that the title reflects Harry's
PoV rather than fact and that it's ironic considering the consequences
of Snape's "victory" to himself (and, if he's DDM!, the consequences
to Dumbledore). IOW, it's an example of a misleading title that's
something more than a cute bit of wordplay like "Will and Won't." Or
so it seems to me.

Carol