Abuse, etc., was Snape, Apologies, and and Redemption--Lupin vs. DD

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 152616

> Alla:
> 
> Um, my point is that Harry does not trust Snape because he was 
> abusive towards him, which in my book is perfectly understandable 
> whether or not Harry has a problem with abusive teachers in 
general.
> 

a_svirn:
It would have been if Snape *had* been abusive towards Harry. The 
thing is, he hadn't. Your description of abuse as "taking away 
students' self-esteem" is somewhat unorthodox to begin with, but 
even if we accept it for the sake of this argument, it wasn't 
*Harry* who suffered from Snape's "abuse". It was Neville's and 
Hermione's self-esteem that suffered from his humiliating remarks. 
Harry's self-esteem wasn't really affected. He has hated Snape from 
the very first lesson, because Snape made it abundantly clear that 
he hated Harry. Harry might not have known the cause of this hatred 
then, but he knew hatred when he encountered it. And reciprocated. 
Perfectly sensible, but nothing to do with abuse. 


Also Snape was by no means the only teacher who affected Neville 
this way. McGonagall used to be every bit as insulting and mean 
towards Neville in the first three books. What's more, she abused 
her position of power when she stripped Neville of all privileges he 
was entitled to as a third-year and a Gryffindor for something that 
wasn't his fault (and well she knew it!) Harry might have pitied 
Neville (but not much) but it didn't occur to him to suspect 
McGonagall in being in league with Voldemort, did it?