Heroes in the Harry Potter Series

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 176202

Betsy Hp wrote:
<snip>
> 
> At first I was pretty upset that Snape had let down the Malfoys 
(especially Draco) and all of the Slytherin children placed under his
 care.  Then I realized that I was expecting far too much of what was
essentially a woefully abused and mishandled child who grew into a 
broken man.  (A plant kept out of the sun, indeed.) <snip>
>

Carol responds:

Can you explain what you mean by this statement? I can't tell whether
you're talking about snape as HoH or headmaster. In either case, he
could not have prevented Draco from becoming a DE to avenge his father
(though he did protect him all year). And only two of his former
students (Crabbe and Goyle) appear to be corrupted by the Carrows.
Theo Nott, though his father was a DE, does not appear to have joined
Voldemort, and no sytherins fought for Voldie (who is clearly lying to
Lucius). All of them followed Pansy and Filch out of the Great Hall on
McGonagall's orders, and only Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle hung back
(ostensibly to turn Harry over to LV, but given that Draco never cast
a spell in the RoR and kept trying to keep Crabbe from doing so, I'm
not sure that was really his intention). Contrast the hotbed of
budding DEs under Slughorn in Severus's own school years. Lucius
Malfoy, Bellatrix Black (actually probably older than Lucius), the
Lestrange brothers, Macnair, Avery, Mulciber, Rosier, Wilkes, and
probably many others all became DEs (as did Snape himself). Snape's
record as HoH is much better.

Did you notice that Snape prevented Ginny from going into Hogsmeade
(where she might be kidnapped by DEs as Luna was on Platform 9 3/4),
just as he tried to prevent Harry from doing so in PoA, and that he
closed all the secret passageways, which kept the students from
sneaking into Hogsmeade but also kept the DEs out? Reinstating
Umbridge's decrees kept the more timid students from defying the
Carrows and getting injured and at the same time encouraged the DA
members to rebel? Not to mention that Ginny's, Neville's and Luna's
detention gave them a chance to be alone with Hagrid? Think what
Hogwarts would have been like if Yaxley or Dolohov were in charge.
McGonagall and Flitwick, at least, would have ended up in Azkaban with
DEs in their place. As it was, Snape let the permanent faculty members
subvert the Carrows exactly as they had done with Umbridge. I realize
that it's all done off-page, but everything I've mentioned here can be
supported by canon. He could not prevent the Crucios without giving
away his true loyalty, just as he could not rescue Charity Burbage,
but he did encourage resistance and allow both the DA and Hagrid to
remain in hiding. (I think he knew perfectly well that they were using
the RoR.)

Carol, who does not see Snape as at all a broken man and thinks he did
the best job possible of protecting the students without arousing the
suspicion of the Carrows