On the trivial and the profound

[M.Clifford]

No: HPFGUIDX 165469

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "eggplant107" <eggplant107 at ...>
wrote:

> One of Snape's "mistakes" led to the death of the Potters, if he 
> felt genuine remorse over that it seems odd he would treat their 
> only son like shit for 6 years.

Valky:
HAhaha, good one there Eggplant, you're right.
I actually think Snape probably feel remorse for what he did, but he
doesn't connect that responsibility to Harry's suffering and loss of
his family. If he did I think he would at least make a half effort to
act respectfully toward Harry, regardless of his ire. Instead he goes
out of his way to show his contempt and lack of respect to Harry, and
not even in a public way that you could believe was just a clever
cover for an agent, surreptitiously and directly in a personal sense. 
If I'm right that he feels remorse then his actions are extremely
childish and self centered. And it is, as Eggplant implies, either
that, or he has no remorse at all. There's no 'nice guy well intended'
Snape in this picture.  
 




> > It's when they copy from that book or from their
> > helping friend and claim credit for it on their 
> > own that I kick them to the curb. 
> 
> But Harry did nothing of the sort, he never claimed to have invented
> those potions, 


I agree with you again, Eggplant, on this point. Harry did not 'claim'
the credit willfully, he allowed it to be given and withheld correction.  

I know a lot of people on the other side of the debate recognise this
distinction (Carol ;) ) and don't see it as a mitigation, and that's a
fair stand I won't argue against it. 

OTOH, the one time Harry really worried about his 'potions genius'
moniker falling by the wayside was the Golpalott's Law class, which
was also the time when he first planned to probe Slughorn about the
Horcruxes. And so at least a good part of his basis for caring about
said reputation and being determined to keep it was that he believed
it would help him get the information he needed. 

It turned out afterward to be of some help for him to have the good
reputation for potions making in order to get the lost memory from
Slughorn because it created a visible and tangible connection between
Harry and Lily in Slughorns mind. So in a sense Harryr was right when
he felt it was a desperate necessity to keep his reputation up. And
although the Bezoar trick in that particular class wasn't the sealing
of the deal, it helped in the end, as it reinforced Slughorns
reminiscence of Lily as a factor in the student teacher relationship.