Nice vs. Good, honesty, and Snape:

[leslie41]

No: HPFGUIDX 152928

> > Leslie41:
> > 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>

> Nora: 
> 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.

Leslie41:
I discussed this in the post below:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/152593

> Nora:
> I think there's an interesting thematic thread to 
> the ways in which Snape *is* wrong, though.

Leslie41:
I'll have to think on that.
  
> Nora:
> 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.  

Leslie41:

And to my mind, Dumbledore is wrongfully excluding Snape from this  
discussion, considering that Snape caught Black and tried to save 
the trio.  It's very much his business, but Dumbledore pushes him 
off.

Hey, I'm not saying that Dumbledore was WRONG, I'm just saying that 
I'm not giving Dumbledore bonus points for tact here.

> Nora:
> Interesting that Dumbledore *lets* Snape hang himself, isn't it?

Leslie41:

Yeah.  Shows that Dumbledore isn't always considerate of Snape's 
feelings.  But we know that from HBP.