Snape and caring (WAS :Re: Dumbledore lied to Harry... AGES ago.)

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 175764

> zgirnius:
> I certainly see where your reading is coming from. The thing is, 
so 
> far as we know for *sure*, Snape had felt affection/ caring for 
> precisely one human being, ever: Lily. Yet he has never said so to 
a 
> living soul. Not to her, not to Dumbledore. (OK, he intimated to 
> Voldemort he 'desired' her, not the same thing, not the whole 
truth, 
> and he had to explain his odd request for the life of a Muggleborn 
in 
> some way). Further, once Dumbledore knows (without being 
explicitly 
> told) Snape swears him to secrecy as soon as he is in a position 
to 
> impose any conditions. 

Alla:

But he did tell Lily that he cared for her, no? As a friend, yes, 
but still if we are talking affection, I thought he made it 
abundantly clear to her, IMO of course.


Zgirnius:
So the fact that he never said he felt caring 
> or affection for Harry, or for Dumbledore (to name another person 
I 
> think got past Snape's guard eventually), does not prove to me 
that 
> he did not. His instinct is to hide 'the best of him', not 'wear 
his 
> heart on his sleeve', etc.


Alla:

Well, there is JKR saying that he did not care for Harry till very 
end and how unfair it is, but I understand if you want to look at 
the text only. I guess to me just as to LL, Snape answer means 
basically **how dare you DD suggest that I may care for him, while I 
care only for his mother and here is my patronus as proof of it**.

Obviously only my interpretation.


 
> zgirnius:
> Snape does not deny caring for Harry. Nor does he confirm it. He 
> says, "For *him*?", and casts his Patronus. Were Snape to have 
> answered Dumbledore in the affirmative, it would have been the 
only 
> time in his life that he made such an admission as far as we know, 
so 
> its absence does not convince me.
<SNIP>

Alla:

To me what he did is rather strong denial and much more impressive 
had he simply said no. IMO lets JKR kill two birds with one stone - 
show that Snape still loves Lily and does not give a fig about her 
son, even if he wanted him to live as extension of her.

Which I grant you was certainly more than I ever expected of Snape.

JMO.

Alla