Why didn't Snape turn Harry in?

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 159157

Magpie:
> Hermione says Snape didn't want Dumbledore to know about his own
> connection to the book and some of the spells in it, but that
> sounds wrong to me.  It's not like Dumbledore doesn't know the 
> kind of kid Snape was, right?  He knows he was a DE, which was 
> even worse--the book was before he worked up to as bad as he could
> be.  Snape's not Lupin trying to hide schoolboy indiscretions.
> He's an ex-DE.

Jen: I took that one at face value at the time even though it seemed 
a little childish. Now I'm wondering about it. Hermione is assuming 
Snape was a betrayer when she said that and therefore would also 
assume the story Snape told Dumbledore was a lie. Seeing the spells 
that were later used by DE's (Levicorpus) in Snape's book would give 
away the lie in her mind.

*If* this was her logic it rings false to me. Like Magpie said, 
Dumbledore was aware what kind of kid Snape was in school and likely 
knew about the injury James sustained with the cut on his face or 
that Levicorpus was used by many of the students and later by DE's. 

Magpie
> The fact that the question is asked, and Hermione's answer doesn't
> sound very convincing, and Harry himself says that he should have
> shown the book to Dumbledore because it was "proof" that Snape was
> evil at school "just like Voldemort" (Harry's even less objective
> about the book once he knows it was Snape's) makes me wonder if
> there is some more important reason Snape didn't turn Harry in.  

Jen: Part of it may have been embarassment. I still don't get the 
whole "It was I who invented them--I, the Half-blood Prince!" scene, 
but it seemed like something Snape was able to keep to himself as a 
schoolboy. The nickname, but more importantly all it stood for, was 
one secret he kept from the Marauders and Dumbledore. Likely it had 
nothing to do with betrayl so much as what that alter-ego meant to 
Snape personally. 

Magpie:
> Was there something in the book Snape wanted Harry to have? Did
> Dumbledore know of it too and also want Harry to have it?  Was it
> information that Snape wanted Harry to have access to without
> Dumbledore knowing or agreeing?  Is there something in it that
> will help Harry later--Harry did make a point of hiding the book
> so he can still get it when he wants.  Was that scene only to give
> us a chance to see the Vanishing Cabinet was in the RoR, or will
> we return to it?

Jen: Many of us keep waiting for Harry to realize he's learned 
something from Snape along the way--could this finally be it? 
Actually, I think it may go deeper than Harry pulling a spell or 
potion out of the Half-Blood Prince's pocket at the last moment. The 
whole "you can't judge a book by it's cover" scenario that played 
out when Harry changed the book covers seemed like a meaningful JKR 
moment. I could see Harry learning the truth of who Snape was and 
retrieving the book to muse about how he only saw the snarling, 
bitter, & resentful side of Snape (and truly that's the only side 
Snape ever revealed to Harry). Maybe the good parts of the Half-
Blood Prince will live on in a new Potions Master at Hogwarts, as I 
think Slughorn's days are numbered. 

Another thought--the book may never be retrieved. That room 
was...well, it was sort of a graveyard. Maybe the Half-Blood Prince 
died that night. If it was a symbolic moment, then either Snape's 
secret alter-ego died, the part of him which later blossomed into a 
DE, or else whatever good was left in him.

Jen