Nice vs. Good, honesty, and Snape/Book 7 predictions and Harry's fate

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 153005

Joe:

> Didn't JKR her self say that the "adoration or liking" 
> that some people have for Snape and in particular Draco 
> was a bit disturbing to her?

houyhnhnm:

No, I don't think that's what she said.  Here is the quote (from the
August, 2004, Edinburgh Book Festival):
*************************
Q: Also, will we see more of Snape?

A: You always see a lot of Snape, because he is a gift of a character.
I hesitate to say that I love him. [Audience member: I do]. You do?
This is a very worrying thing. Are you thinking about Alan Rickman or
about Snape? [Laughter]. Isn't this life, though? I make this
hero—Harry, obviously—and there he is on the screen, the perfect
Harry, because Dan is very much as I imagine Harry, but who does every
girl under the age of 15 fall in love with? Tom Felton as Draco
Malfoy. Girls, stop going for the bad guy. Go for a nice man in the
first place. It took me 35 years to learn that, but I am giving you
that nugget free, right now, at the beginning of your love lives.
*************************

Notice that she is not responding to the questioner but to the
audience member who blurted out "I do".  It would help if we could see
the interview and hear the tone of voice of the audience member, but
I'm guessing she must have been a young girl and her declaration of
love must have had a self-abnegating tone to it, because Rowling goes
on to say that she has created an appropriate object for young girls
to have a crush on--Harry--and, instead, every girl /under the age of
15/ falls in love with Draco.

So she's saying, IMO, that when *young girls*, for whom *Harry* would
be an *appropriate* crush object, fall for Draco or Snape instead, it
is disturbing to her.

She is not speaking, it seems to me, to readers of any age who merely
see Snape as a sympathetic character, or even to mature ladies who
find Snape *kinda* sexy. If someone my age had a crush on Harry, that
would be really disturbing.

Notice also, that she switches very quickly from Snape to Draco, as if
to distance herself rapidly from the question of Snape's goodness or
badness.  She always seems to be evasive when it comes to discussing
Snape, possibly because she has a big surprise in store and resolutely
refuses to give anything away.