Lily, Hagrid, Snape, Lucius, Friends (was Re: good/bad Slyth/Disappointment

[ivanneth63]

No: HPFGUIDX 175308

Irene:
> But that's exactly my point! No matter how long the list of actual 
acts 
> of kindness, the list of the persons involved is rather short, and 
they 
> are all centered around Harry.

> 
> Ron gets inside the circle after Sirius learns he is Harry's 
friend. 
> Before that Sirius could care less how frightened or injured Ron 
gets.
> 

Lanval:
Where's the proof for that?


Irene:
> Weasley family gets covered as extension of Ron, I suppose.
>
> It's exactly the same with Snape - he is nice to his friends, and 
the 
> rest of the world can go to hell for all he cares.

Lanval:
Well, then, show me -- moments of real kindness by Snape. Mind, 
absence of malice does not count. I only picked moments where Sirius 
does something actually kind, as opposed to just being "not mean', 
or being civil. Nor do I mean earth-shaking, life-saving deeds. 
 
Snape?

He once helps a distraught Narcissa into a chair.



Irene:
> Sirius dismisses his own brother as a perfect little Death Eater, 
when 
> Regulus was so much more than that.
> 
Lanval:
It was kind of hard for Sirius to know the truth, no? And I never 
got the impression that Sirius thought of Reg as a perfect little 
DE. He did know that Regulus had wanted out. I read his comments as 
Sirius being extremely bitter over his brother's choices that 
brought about his early death. Which leads me to believe that the 
brothers were once closer than they were in their teens. But that's 
of course just speculation.


Irene:
> Look, I'm not arguing that Sirius was the most evil character in 
the 
> series or anything like that. He was good to Harry, and very 
important 
> in Harry's life and I felt sorry for Harry when he died. But I 
don't 
> think Sirius should be held as a shining example for Snape, of all 
> people, to follow.
> 

Lanval:
No adult in the HP is a shining example. 

The way I see it is that even after twelve years in Azkaban, half 
starved, or deep in a depressive state, Sirius still is able to 
extend some degree of kindness, understanding, and good-will toward 
his fellow humans -- if they're not named Severus Snape or Peter 
Pettigrew or Barty Crouch. For a man who's been treated as unfairly 
as Sirius, that's a remarkably short list of personal enemies. 

In addition he loves Harry, and seems still very much Remus' friend 
(yes, yes, I know, that will...). 

Snape? Dislikes/despises the entire world, with the exception of 
perhaps DD and the Malfoys. But even that must have cooled over 
time, for how can he, if he did indeed come around to be DDM in the 
end, have still genuinely liked Lucius? And his relationship with DD 
must have been ambiguous, to say the least.

And his Hate List includes children, for crying out loud. That's 
what I can't get over.


Irene:
> I can't help wondering, though, how sorry really was Dumbledore 
when 
> Sirius died. My theory is - not at all. Sirius was a loose cannon, 
and 
> would certainly never accept his plans to sacrifice Harry. Because 
> Sirius, for all his faults, loved Harry; I totally get it.
> 
\
Lanval:
On this we agree, to a point. DD must at least have felt something 
like guilty relief, that Sirius was out of the way -- what with 
Sirius' fierce love of Harry, his habit of interfering and doing 
unpredictable, stupid things, and most of all his hatred of Snape, 
Harry's DD-assigned protector.