The Isolated Headmaster: Implications for Snape and Harry

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 163563

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

> 
> Which is why I see a large discrepancy between the way Snape sees the 
> upcoming confrontation and the way Dumbledore must have seen it.  
> Snape thinks there will be a showdown where Occlumency will make a 
> difference.  Dumbledore said he didn't think it was necessary.
> 
> So, Harry will have to do things a different way than Snape, and he 
> will get different results.  His mission is different.  Since Snape, 
> in my opinion, can't or won't see that there is a different way, he 
> is really straining to get his opinion heard and possibly followed, 
> given DDM!Snape, of course.


Okay, let's look at this in a somewhat different light.  JKR has told 
us two things (at least) about DD with great clarity: 1) she sees him 
as isolated (and since she is the god of the Potterverse, he therefore 
*is* isolated), and 2) he has no confidante.

Now, that means at least one thing with regard to his relationship with 
Snape -- Snape is *not* a party to DD's inner thoughts and plans, at 
least not completely.  Also, if we accept that DD was not flatly lying 
to Harry at the beginning of HBP, Snape does *not* know the full 
contents of the prophecy (and if we accept that Snape was not standing 
in the shed under an invisibility cloak).

Whether Snape is DDM, ESE, Grey, Red, White, or Polka-Dotted at the 
time of his actions in HBP is really of no interest to me, and of no 
importance to the point I'm trying to get at.  The thing I think IS of 
interest, and which Ceridwen is addressing, is the way Snape basically 
regards Harry and Harry's confrontation with Voldemort.

Given that Snape was *not* DD's confidante, and that he does *not* know 
the full contents of the prophecy, and if we allow that DD and the 
prophecy are the best guides to the way to defeat Voldy (which is an 
assumption that could well be wrong) then it follows that Snape *can't* 
have a true or realistic idea of Harry's potential and the way that 
Harry might best go about defeating Voldy.  And even if DD is mistaken, 
it seems unlikely that JKR will choose to show Snape as more in the 
right than the Headmaster was.

Now, we might as well ask why DD did not fully confide in Snape.  There 
could be several reasons.  Maybe DD is just so naturally reticent and 
uncommunicative that he is incapable of fully confiding in anyone.  
Maybe he has a strong feeling that the contents of the prophecy are 
Harry's private property, so to speak.  Maybe he thinks Snape just 
isn't capable of "getting it."  Maybe he deliberately kept Snape in the 
dark because his plan depended on having a misinformed Snape among 
Voldy's entourage.

I don't believe the last one for two seconds.  But I could readily 
believe a combination of the first three.  He probably does think that 
the prophecy is between him and Harry.  He probably does have 
problems "opening up" and sharing his plans.  

As for the problem with Snape "getting it," though, there may be a 
theme at work.  Why doesn't he explain to Snape the importance 
of "love" and "mercy" in defeating Voldemort without going so far as to 
reveal the prophecy?  I suspect the answer is that he has tried, and 
Snape simply refuses to believe it.  

The events of OOTP probably drove this home.  Snape's failure 
to "overcome" his feelings about James likely convinced DD that any 
attempt to get Snape to realize the value of the kind of virtues Harry 
embodies is, unfortunately, doomed to failure.  Thus, at the end of 
HBP, Snape is still clinging to what is essentially a mistaken strategy 
and giving out bad advice.


Lupinlore