The Continuing Tragedy of Severus Snape: Reflections on Books 1-5

[Unspeakable]

No: HPFGUIDX 164546

Hi, Carol.

Thanks for taking the trouble to reply in detail. :-)

Just responding to your response as I'm afraid that my second post,
which (for some reason) has only just appeared, was actually submitted
and swallowed at 7.05pm before you posted. (I think a few of the
issues you mention are touched on in that post though.) 

I should add the caveat that (as a newbie) my first thread was
designed to spark discussion on some Snape-controversies that I find
particularly interesting and was therefore slightly tongue-in-cheek
(so apologies if I alarmed anyone!); whereas, my attempt at a
(reasonably) comprehensive, supported overview can be found online at
the link cited below (won't mention this again - but I'd love to know
what you make of it...).

Anyway, on some specific points...

- Carol responds:
You're assuming a great deal here, including Snape's jealousy of
Harry's relationship with Dumbledore and his resentment of the points
awarded to Gryffindor (which I can certainly see the Slytherin
*students* resenting) at the last minute. The story is told from
Harry's very limited point of view, and we have no idea what went on
between Snape and Dumbledore. ... Nor do we know how much Snape knew
or what his motivation was since his explanations at Spinner's End are
geared to a DE audience. 

Cassy:
Very true. Even allowing for 'the Harry filter', though, I am struck
by the immaturity of Snape's behaviour and the main reason I cite
jealousy as a probable motivation here is that Snape's chief outburst
comes when Dumbledore is being particularly supportive & affectionate
towards Harry after the Quidditch match:

'As Gryffindors came spilling onto the field, he saw Snape land
nearby, white-faced and tight-lipped -- then Harry felt a hand on his
shoulder and looked up into Dumbledore's smiling face. ... Snape spat
bitterly on the ground.' (PS/SS13)

Slughorn & Scrimgeour (objective outsiders?) both notice Dumbledore's
especial closeness to Harry ... indeed Scrimgeour comments that Harry
might have been his "favourite ever pupil" (HBP30)... I just wonder if
Snape felt it keenly at this moment & resented it. After all, DD is
(possibly) his only friend in the world. 

- Carol:
Again, you're assuming. We don't *know* that there's a Lily/Snape
connection.

Cassy:
Again, true... although if you start with that assumption & 'think
backwards' it helps an awful lot of theories to work!

Carol:
Even if Lily was as good at Potions as Slughorn remembers her as
being, that doesn't mean she was a potions genius like Severus or that
she ever saw his Potions textbook. Good-at-Potions Lily simply
misleads Slughorn into thinking that Harry is actually coming up with
his own potions improvements. 

Cassy:
So you don't subscribe to the view that it is Lily's *Potions* talent
inside that textbook? I find it curious that Slughorn (who taught them
all) repeatedly equates Harry with Lily (specifically mentioning her
creative brilliance), but compares him favourably to Snape:

`But I don't think I've ever known such a natural at Potions!
Instinctive, you know – like his mother! 
 Well, then, it's natural
ability! I don't think even you, Severus –` `Really?' said Snape
quietly, his eyes still boring into Harry, who felt a certain
disquiet.' (HBP15) 

In other words, Lily demonstrated the sort of imaginative instinct as
a Potioneer that even Snape lacked. And I think Hermione could be
right about a female mind at work, though wrong about the handwriting,
if Snape copied Lily or they collaborated in Potions. This is what
IMHO lends some retrospective poignancy to Snape's initial
interrogation of Harry in PS/SS, as if Snape was trying to find out
whether Harry was his mother's or his father's son. But as you say,
it's not canon (yet!)

- Cassy:
Question: does Snape suspect that Harry's scar is a Horcrux?

Carol:
I seriously doubt it. He may suspect that it contains powers that he
acquired from Voldemort, but that's another matter. Or he may suspect
that Harry is a Dark wizard in the making, a second Tom Riddle who
really is responsible for Petrifying the students. After all, in his
mind, James Potter and Sirius Black tried to murder him. Why wouldn't
Potter's son, who somehow vaporized a Dark wizard at age one, follow
in his father's footsteps, especially if he had Dark powers of his
own? Snape could very well think that Harry is the Heir of Slytherin
who somehow got placed in the wrong House. (Snape may very well
suspect that Voldemort has at least one Horcrux, presumably a powerful
magical object made of some durable material, but I doubt that he
thinks the *scar* is a Horcrux.) Harry!Horcrux is not canon, BTW, just
fan speculation, at least till July 21.

Cassy:
No, it's only speculation, but I do wonder if part of Snape's problem
with Harry – a very large part – arises not from his facial
resemblance to his mother or father but from the fact that he has
Voldemort's scar on his forehead. Snape is mortally afraid of
Voldemort. Indeed – though Harry never stopped to think it through –
the main reason that Snape was using a Pensieve for the duration of
the Occlumency lessons was not to conceal his thoughts from Harry but
to protect them from Voldemort. What if Snape too has seen `a shadow
of him stir behind [Harry's] eyes
' (OOtP37)? IMHO, if Harry *is* a
Horcrux then Snape might well have seen what Harry is too blind to see...

Oh, I can't wait for July 21!
Cassy, who would love to type some more but must go to bed. 
http://book7.co.uk/