Nice vs. Good, honesty, and Snape:

[leslie41]

No: HPFGUIDX 152894


> > Leslie41:
> > But of course that "invincible belief" is correct in this case, 
> > is it not?  Cite somewhere he has a hissy fit where he's NOT 
> > correct.
> 

> Nora:
> Excuse me?  
> 
> Hermione raises the objection that hey, maybe Sirius Black isn't 
> actually the murderer responsible for the Potters' deaths and all 
> of that, and that it might be worth listening to his story.  Snape 
> screams at her and refuses to listen.  When she brings up this 
> potential again in the Hospital Wing, he tells her to 'shut up, 
> you silly girl'.

Leslie41:
Oh, I'm not talking about what he thinks about Sirius Black, which 
is, I would point out, what nearly everyone else in the wizarding 
world thinks about Sirius Black as well.  Snape's not angry because 
he thinks Sirius is guilty.  That's only part of it.  Go back and 
look look at "Owl Post Again."

Snape is furious because he believes that Harry has helped Sirius 
escape.

DD suggests that perhaps Black disapparated.  That's when Snape 
starts screaming.  What he screams <with repetitive bits snipped and 
caps turned off> is:

"He didn't disapparate."  
"This has something to do with Potter."
"They helped him escape, I know it."
"You don't know Potter.  He did it.  I know he did it."

Where, in those statements, is Snape wrong?  He is perfectly, and 
clearly CORRECT in ALL of those assessments.

Yes, he was wrong about Black laying a confundus charm, but neither 
he nor any of the other adults, by Dumbledore's admission, would 
believe anything Hermione or any other 13-year-old would say about 
it, in light of the other evidence.

The evidence is all with Snape.  And he doesn't have a hissy fit, 
not then.  He talks to Fudge about it, calmly and rationally. 

> Nora:
> One of the things that makes the entire scene work, both in the 
> Shack and in the Hospital Wing, is that we (and Hermione) 
> *actually* know more than Snape does, and he's thus responsible 
> for making himself look like an ass (see comments to Fudge and 
> subsequent fit of spitting rage).

Leslie41:
I don't think he looks like an ass, personally. I feel a bit sorry 
for him, because he went to the Shrieking Shack, tried to capture an 
escaped criminal and protect a bunch of kids, and the kids he tried 
to save let the criminal out.      

Meanwhile, his mentor seems to be siding with the kids. I'd be upset 
as well.