Grow up Harry! (What HBP was lacking...)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 158533

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "rijl_kent" <rijl_kent at ...> wrote:
<snip>
> For a book titled for Snape, we don't learn a whole lot. He's a mean
bastard, not much is new. I wish we learned why Dumbledore trusted
him. I won't go into the debate on whether DD knew about the Vow and
wanted Smape to do it here. I guess we'll find out in 7.
> 
> One of my biggest gripes is that Harry seems like he didn't grow at
all!  I was really disappointed that he didn't learn soundless
casting.  I know Snape is a lousy teacher, but  Harry's _good_ at
Defense.  <snip>

Carol responds:
I have to disagree with you here. we actually learn quite a bit about
snape--not the answers to the central mysteries, of course, but we see
him for the first time as a good teacher who really does know his
subject. No one except Harry is complaining about his teaching
methods, and Harry is (IMO) doing himself a disservice by not trusting
Snape and Snape's teaching, just as he did with the Occlumency
lessons. The only reason Harry isn't learning nonverbal defesive
spells is that he has a mental block against the teacher. Ironically,
he learns a *lot* from Teen!Snape, the HBP, with whom he identifies.
He not only develops an interest in Potions (setting aside the ethical
problem of taking credit for knowledge that isn't his), he also learns
several useful spells, especially Muffliato. And snape the DADA
teacher shows the students what they're fighting against and provides
an alternate method of dealing with Dementors that may well be
effective for those who can't cast a Patronus in the face of a
monstrous being bent on sucking out their happiness or their soul.

As for what we learn about Snape himself, we see him as he appears to
the Death Eaters and see why Narcissa, at least, would trust him--and
that Bellatrix doesn't. We see that he apparently really cares about
Draco and the Malfoys--enough to endanger himself by taking the
Unbreakable Vow to protect Draco. (The reasons for taking the third
provision are left mysterious, of course.) We learn that he was at
least as gifted a student as James Potter and Sirius Black, despite
McGonagall's and Lupin's statements about their abilities, a genius
who invented his own Potions improvements and a variety of spells,
ranging from imaginative hexes like Levicorpus and the toenail hex to
useful charms like Muffliato to one dark spell "for enemies,"
Sectumsempra.

We see the depth of Dumbledore's trust in him (interesting that DD
constantly refers to him as "Severus" in the final chapters--does that
indicate affection, too?) We see that he really *can* teach DADA and
that Dumbledore relies on his knowledge of the Dark Arts as a means of
countering Dark spells. We see Snape in a new role as Healer. The
HBP's comment, "just stuff a bezoar down their throats," reminds Harry
of Snape's very first Potions lesson, in which he told them what a
bezoar was. If not for Snape in this dual role, Harry would not have
known how to save Ron from the poisoned mead. And Snape acts directly
as Healer as well, saving Dumbledore from the ring Horcrux, Katie Bell
from the cursed necklace (presumably removing the curse from the
necklace as well), and Draco from Sectumsempra. (Who expected to see
Snape crooning over the bleeding Draco, chanting a complex incantation
in some language Harry doesn't understand? I didn't!) And, of course,
we find out that he was the half-blood son of a Muggle father and a
witch, just like Tom Riddle, but also just like Seamus Finnegan. We
also see that the DEs seem to fear and respect him, and that he's a
master duellist, a role that was hinted at in CoS with the short-lived
Duelling Club.

So, paradoxically, JKR has made Snape still more mysterious by
revealing additional information about him. And, of course, she's
intensified Harry's hatred of him and his desire for revenge to fever
pitch--a situation that will certainly culminate in a climactic scene
in Book 7.

Carol, believing that Snape will be redeemed and his actions validated
in Book 7 and hoping that he'll somehow survive into the epilogue
without being sent to Azkaban