Closure for Harry & Snape

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 174560

bboyminn wrote:
> <snip>
> But, was Snape /really/ a legitimate Headmaster, by
> what authority was he appointed to the position? The
> only authority I recognize is the Board of Governors,
> and even if they cooperated, it would have been under
> duress, coercion, threats, and possibly torture. That
> doesn't make Snape very legitimate in my eyes.
> 
> Further, he was Headmaster for less than a year, and 
> DID desert his post. 
> 
> I think Harry, at a later date, would have recognized
> that Snape needed to be honored for the tremendous
> risk he took to help Dumbledore, and would have 
> worked to get Snape's portrait added, but I really 
> don't see Snape as a legitimate Headmaster. 
> 
> True the office of Headmaster opened to him, but that 
> might have been Dumbledore's doing. The 'Office' might
> have understood Snape's true nature and intent, but
> even if he was working for Dumbledore, that doesn't
> mean he came across his office legitimately. <snip>

Carol responds:

Steve, I agree with you about Snape's reconciliation with Harry (not
really the right term, since they were nerver friends--Understanding
and forgiveness come closer, IMO.) But I disagree that Snape was never
the rightful headmaster. First, the length of time he held the post
makes no difference. Pope John Paul I was pope for a mont before he
died, but he was still pope. William Henry Harrison was president of
the U.S. for one month, but he was still president.

As for being the rightful headmaster, he was appointed to the post.
Minerva McGonagall, the only other possible candidate, apparently
retained her post as deputy headmistress (thanks to Snape). And better
Snape than a loyal DE. His mere presence prevents the Carrows from
taking over Hogwarts. Imagine if, say, Yaxley had been appointed
headmaster. Would McGonnagall, Flitwick, and Hagrid have kept their
posts? Snape is counting on them to keep the Carrows in check, to the
extent that that's possible, just as they undermined Umbridge.

McGonagall does not say that Snape was not a legitimate headmaster.
She says that "our headmaster has taken a short leave" and later that
he had "done a bunk," exactly the reason JKR gives for his not having
a portrait in the headmaster's office--yet.

It's clear from the fact that Snape (somehow) had access to DD's
office before his official appointment and from DD's extracted promise
from Snape to protect the students of Hogwarts *after* Snape kills him
that DD expects Snape to return to Hogwarts. If McGonagall is
headmistress, that can't happen. She's not going to appoint the man
she thinks is DD's murderer to teach Potions or DADA or any other
subject. The only position in which Snape can do what DD wants him to
do--protect the students from the Carrows to the degree that that's
possible (without giving away his true loyalties), to help Harry
without Harry's knowledge, and to have access to the Sword of
Gryffindor, is for Snape to be headmaster. I'm almost certain that
Snape as headmaster was part of DD's plan, as indicated by his access
to the office (in contrast to Umbridge) and by the password,
"Dumbledore." (How could Mcgonagall not have known? I guess she was
blinded by Harry's view of events. But it's interesting that Slughorn
inquiringly asks, "Severus?" Evidently, he's reverted to his old view
of Snape.)

We glimpse Snape's smooth, cool style as headmaster, not acting
remotely like the Carrows but not blowing his cover, either, when he
talks to McGonagall before she attacks him. It's only the presence of
Harry that triggers the mutiny. Before that, he seems to have been in
control, unable to keep the Carrows from torturing students but
quietly allowing the other teachers to thwart the Carrows and inciting
rebellion against his own regime by reposting Umbridge's decrees. He
even allows the students to go home for Christmas and Easter
vacations. I imagine that he presides over banquets, makes
announcements, and holds staff meetings exactly as any other
headmaster would do. And since Hagrid is teaching his students about
unicorns, we have some indication that all classes except DADA and
Muggle Studies are being taught normally.

A bit of speculation: Since Snape has ostensibly killed DD on LV's
orders and LV quite literally regards him as his right-hand man (note
where LV tells him to sit in chapter 1), it seems likely that LV asked
Snape to name his reward once the DEs take over the government and
Snape, who has promised DD to protect the students at Hogwarts,
requests that he be named headmaster in DD's place. LV would certainly
consider that a fitting reward and (wrongly) a coup for himself.

JKR has Harry refer to Snape in the epilogue along with Dumbledore as
a headmaster of Hogwarts. She tells us in a chat that she expects
Harry to see that Snape has a portrait in the headmaster's office.
And, as numerous posters have pointed out, the office does not close
itself to him as it does to Umbridge (whose regime Snape quietly
undermines in OoP), I can only conclude that Snape is a true
headmaster, and Draco, who suggests back in OoP that Snape should
become headmaster, is an unwitting prophet foreshadowing what for me
was one of the most unexpected plot twists in DH.

Carol, trying to put together every piece of evidence we have
regarding Snape, including what the characters misinterpret or fail to see