WHY Snape's Worst Memory (Was: My Take on the Whole Snape/Draco/Dumbledore)

[jamie.sommers]

No: HPFGUIDX 161213

--- "Eddie" <harryp at ...> wrote:
> This all ties into a long-standing question... why was THIS memory
> Snapes' WORST memory.  (See
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/61591 for a
> discussion from over 3 years ago).  Some theories from then, and my
> personal opinion, is that this memory shows the moment when Snape
> realizes Lily is prepared to torment him too, and that she is just
> like all his other tormentors.

Hi All, new here, love all the discussion, Thanks for being obsessed
like me!  :)
My personal take on why this chapter in OotP is labelled Snape's Worst
Memory is just that it is the *last* thing that Snape would want Harry
to see.  We have to remember that Snape was removing this memory from
his mind before his Occulemency lessons with Harry.  So I took it mean
that Snape just wanted to make sure that Harry would never see it on
the off chance that he managed to see into Snape's mind.

With that context, it doesn't necessarily follow that this is Snape's
worst memory of his *entire* life, but just the worst one for Harry to
see.  Why would Snape put this on his "I don't care what else he may
accidently see, but I definitely don't want Potter seeing this one"
list?  I would guess just because of the sheer amount of embarrassment
that Snape experienced in the scene as well as the inferior position
that he was placed into at the hands of James.

So, again, this scene doesn't necessarily have to reflect Snape's
actual worst memory, and I doubt that he'd label it that because it
represents the end of his friendship with Lily or anything like that.
 We have to keep in mind Snape's motivation for removing this memory
at all.

Anyway, just my opinion, Thanks for having me here!
Jamie Sommers