There it goes again! Objectivity out the window.

[va32h]

No: HPFGUIDX 175254

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" <justcarol67 at ...> 
wrote:
> Either you like the Marauders,
> empathizing with Sirius, who went after Peter Pettigrew to avenge
> James and ended up spending twelve years in Azkaban and later 
rattled
> around his parents' hated house drinking and feeling depressed, or 
it
> turns your stomach every time he calls Snape Snivellus while snape
> (who returns his animosity with cool sarcasm) is out risking his 
life
> for Harry and DD (and, as it turns out, Lily), atoning for his past
> mistakes while receiving little praise or gratitude and no affection
> (except, occasionally, from DD).

va32h: Is Sirius hiding in 12GP, drinking and being depressed because 
that's his choice? Or is he stuck in 12GP because his status as a 
wrongly accused and falsely condemned murderer makes it impossible 
for him to contribute to the Order outside of 12GP?

Do you really think so little of anyone but Snape that you don't 
think Sirius would be out there, risking his life, if he had the 
freedom to do so?

And can we PLEASE not forget that from the time of Voldemort's 
downfall to the time of his rebirth, Severus Snape did NOTHING 
dangerous or risky. He says so himself in HBP: "I had a comfortable 
job that I preferred to a stint in Azkaban...Dumbledore's protection 
kept me out of jail; it was most convenient and I used it."  And 
don't try to argue that Snape is just lying because he's talking to 
Bellatrix. Everything in canon says that the 10 years following 
Voldemort's disappearance were peaceful and uneventful, and we have 
seen in the first three years following Harry's arrival at Hogwarts 
that Snape faced such terrifying dangers as...refereeing a Quidditch 
match, getting bit by a dog, threatening the pathetic Quirrel, 
duelling the incompetent Lockhart, and trying to get back at Lupin. 

How very fortunate for Severus that Dumbledore's suspicion that 
Voldemort *might* come back *one* day and that Snape *might* be 
useful as a spy one day, *if* Snape could regain the returned 
Voldemort's trust of course, actually came true. So that Snape does 
have this opportunity to be brave. For which I give him full credit. 
But I won't pretend that he didn't enjoy 13 years of peace and 
comfort in the interim. Perhaps that makes him even more brave that 
he was willing to give that up, unlike say, Slughorn. But let's not 
pretend that Snape devoted his entire adult life to risking it on 
behalf of Lily and Harry. He devoted 4 years at most (1 year pre-
Godric's Hollow, 3 years post GoF.)

Oh and who was it who did survive a stint in Azkaban? That would be 
Sirius, who kept himself sane, risked everything, including the 
Dementor's Kiss, to escape the unescapable prison, to come back to 
the heart of the wizarding world, to come face to face with the 
people who thought he'd betrayed and murdered his best friend - and 
all this to save Harry from a danger Sirius believed only he knew 
about. 

So could we possibly conclude that Sirius and Snape are at a draw in 
terms of bravery? One suffered while the other one lived in relative 
peace and vice versa? Why must one be "better" than the other? Why 
can't both men be just as praiseworthy, (or condemnation worthy).

va32h, who had this wacky notion that the series was about a boy 
called Harry Potter, not The Canonization of Severus Snape with a 
cameo appearance by Harry Potter.