Nice vs. Good - Compassion

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 153154

Lanval:

> > > Btw, how do you (and others who believe that Snape lives by the 
> > > code of Must-Keep-Harry-Safe) deal with the fact that both in    
> > > CoS and PoA he tries to have Harry expelled?
> > > <snip>

Alla:

> > Hehe. I know the answer. Don't you get it, he was just pretending. 
> > You know, messing with Harry's mind. He does not really want him 
> > expelled. He just complains to DD all the time. :)

Leslie41:

> > Oh, he definitely wants Harry expelled.  I'm with you on that.
 
Betsy Hp:

> I'm going to disagree. <g>  When Snape is actually in a position to 
> get Harry expelled, when Umbridge is just *aching* for an excuse, 
> Snape doesn't help her at all.
  
Lanval:

> > :) I should probably check the other books too. But in CoS he 
> > definitely tried to get both Harry and Ron expelled for the flying 
> > car episode.

> Betsy Hp:
> He says that if Harry and Ron were in his house, he'd expel them.  
> But Snape also concedes that the power to expel Harry lies in 
> McGonagall's hands.  Something Dumbledore verifies.

houyhnhnm:

What he actually does is look (to Harry) as if Christmas had been
cancelled.  Then he says, "Professor Dumbledore, these boys have
flouted the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry, caused
serious damage to an old and valuable tree--surely acts of this
nature--"  Surely acts of this nature what?  Rowling loves those
broken off statements, doesn't she?  Maybe he just wants to make sure
their detentions are suitably nasty. *Trying* to get someone expelled
implies a little more effort than that to me.

As for complaining to Dumbledore "all the time", I'd like to see some
page numbers before I swallow that one.

Snape has two other real opportunities to get Harry expelled and he
fails to take advantage of either one of them.  One of those
opportunities comes when he has the ear of the Minister of Magic after
having been knocked unconscious by Harry, Ron, and Hermione.  If Fudge
had known what really happened in the Shrieking Shack, would even
Dumbledore have been able to prevent their expulsion?  Instead Snape
makes up a story about their having been confunded.

The other is when Harry uses a Dark and potentially fatal curse on a
fellow student.  McGonagall is the one to bring up the E-word.  She
tells Harry that he is lucky not to have been expelled and that she
supports wholeheartedly his Saturday detentions with Snape.  Nothing
at all to indicate that Snape pushed for Harry's expulsion.

I may be wrong.  I was wrong about Filch's nose.  But I don't think
there is a single instance in all six books where Snape actually uses
the word "expelled" in connection with Harry.