Nice vs. Good, honesty, and Snape:

[nrenka]

No: HPFGUIDX 152926

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "leslie41" <leslie41 at ...> wrote:

 
> 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.

<snip rest of argument>

That's a very nice dodge, but it absolutely does not deal with 
Snape's hissy fit *in the Shack proper*, which escalates into 
CAPSLOCK!Snape at one point--and *that* hissy fit is over Hermione's 
suggestion that Snape doesn't know everything that's going on here 
and he should maybe possibly do Sirius and Lupin the courtesy of 
listening to their story.  That suggestion is what precipitates the 
explosion.  He's angry in large part because those damned stupid kid
(s) won't listen to him, the man who Actually Knows Better.

So sorry, not buying your argument here as exculpatory from the 
charge given, even though it is *also* true that there's a lot of 
delightful irony in Snape's accurate (post facto, naturally) 
apperception of the situation.

> 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.

It's not only that he's wrong--it's that in both the Shack and later, 
he refuses to, even when he clearly has the upper hand on the 
situation, even listen.  Now, listies have come up with all sorts of 
baroque explanations for why this is smart of him, but at least in 
this situation, I'm not buying it.

I think there's a parallel situation in the way that Snape is often 
convinced that he understands Harry Potter when no one else does.  
Look at how he's convinced he understands Harry's reaction to seeing 
the events in the Pensieve, when he couldn't be further from the 
truth.  Or the reaction after the TWT candidates selection.  Looks 
thematic to me.

I'm not saying Snape is *always* wrong, far from it--even Harry knows 
he's often right.  I think there's an interesting thematic thread to 
the ways in which Snape *is* wrong, though.

> Leslie41:
>
> Meanwhile, his mentor seems to be siding with the kids. I'd be 
> upset as well.

I find it also an ironic scene in retrospect, when we find out that 
hey! Severus Snape is the person in the Shack who was actually a 
Death Eater, yet he can't handle the idea of someone else getting a 
second chance.  Funny, that.

YMMV, but I've always read Dumbledore's "Let me talk to the kids 
alone" and his other language as "Severus, please, let me deal with 
this, I'll tell you about it later," giving Snape a chance to retreat 
gracefully.  It's that Snape doesn't pick up the clue, and even goes 
to Fudge with his "Only hope Dumbledore isn't going to make problems" 
comment, that ends up making Snape look ridiculous.  Interesting that 
Dumbledore *lets* Snape hang himself, isn't it?

-Nora is also not used to early early morning light