Bathroom scene again WAS: Re:Weasley Family Dynamics

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 164964

Alla wrote:
<snip>
> I am still absolutely convinced that the **only** reason Snape does 
> not talk about Sectusemptra much is because he is afraid that Draco 
> is going to end up in Azkaban.
> 
> And Snape did not punish Harry? Detentions are punishment, are they 
> not?

Carol responds:
But how could Draco end up in Azkaban for a spell that he didn't
complete? It wouldn't even show up on his wand. And Harry has also
attempted to cast Crucio twice, once interrupted like Draco's, once
completed but unsuccessful because he didn't "mean" it (didn't have
sufficient sadism to sustain it). So should Harry be in Azkaban, too?

And, in any case, how was Snape supposed to know that Draco had tried
to cast an Unforgiveable Curse? He heard Myrtle screaming and came
hurtling in, saw the blood and the cuts and knew exactly which Dark
curse *Harry* had cast, healed the curse, took Draco to the hospital
wing, and ordered Harry to wait. When he returned, he questioned Harry
about where he had learned that curse and used Legilimency to see his
own Potions book in Harry's mind. Not once did he ask Harry *why* he
had cast that curse or what Draco had done to provoke Harry. How could
Snape be protecting Draco from Azkaban if he didn't know that he had
tried (and failed) to cast an Unforgiveable?

I agree that Snape is protecting Draco by not questioning Harry (and I
don't think that questioning Draco would get him very far given
Draco's belief that Snape, who has just saved his life, is trying to
steal his glory), but I think what he's protecting him from is not
Azkaban but expulsion, which would leave him vulnerable to being
murdered by DEs or Voldemort himself for his failure to fulfill his
mission. Harry, too, could have been expelled (McGonagall says so, and
Harry actually *used* a deadly curse rather than merely attempting a
nonlethal Unforgiveable), but Snape gives him detention instead.

And, yes, Snape punished Harry, but not for using a Dark curse. The
punishment is for lying about where he learned the curse and cheating
all year long in Potions (using what Harry doesn't realize is Snape's
own notes)--and yet Snape doesn't act on Harry's greatest fear of the
moment, telling Slughorn where his Potions "brilliance" is coming
from. Rather than thinking about what he has done, Harry just wants
his book back, and Snape is on the same wavelength. He may have a
secondary motive for the detentions, which last into June and would
have lasted till the end of the year if Draco hadn't brought the DEs
into Hogwarts, to keep the two boys apart. Snape probably knows
perfectly well that Harry is tailing Draco and doesn't want him mixed
up in deadly matters that don't concern him. But Magpie's point is
that neither boy is punished for using, or trying to use, a Dark
curse. And she's correct.

Carol, wishing that she could see beneath the surface of Snape's words
and actions to the thoughts and motives that prompt them