Snape's Rage at Being Called Coward : No, just a coward

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 171898

vmonte wrote:
> How does being deeply horrible equate to being brave? I think Snape
is a coward. some people don't like being told the truth. Especially
when it's something negative.
 
> Sherry added:
> 
> I can never accept murder being considered an act of bravery.  I
think Snape reacted with such rage because he knew he acted out of
cowardice.  He saved his own neck and murdered an old man, the one
person who had stood by him for years.  not very brave in my opinion.  

Carol responds:

But what options did Snape have? Even if he had a Bezoar in his pocket
and a Bezoar could have saved DD from that horrible potion, he
couldn't have given it to Dumbledore or aided him in any way without
being killed by the DEs or the UV. Nor could he have fought the DEs
without the same consequences. And if he had allowed another DE to
kill Dumbledore, failing to keep his vow, he might also have died.
Moreover, DD's body would not have gone over the battlements and the
DEs would have had no reason to get off the tower.

Now, granted, Snape's action does save his own life. But notice that
he immediately snatches Draco by the scruff of the neck like a mother
cat protecting her kitten and orders the DEs off the tower. Surely, he
knows that Harry is hiding under the Invisibility Cloak and will come
rushing out unless he hurries them away. As it is, the last DE is
leaving when Harry is unfrozen (did DD take that long to die?) and
Harry is able to hit him in the back with a Stunning Spell rather than
taking on four DEs (not counting Snape, who would be dead, and Draco,
whom he would also have seen as an enemy but who would really have
been in as much danger as Harry).

Claerly, Snape does not *want* to kill Dumbledore. He does not rush in
with his wand raised and immediately commit murder. He merely looks
around and pushes Draco out of the way, essentially relieving him of
the task of committing the murder, which he has already failed to
commit, triggering the UV. Snape hears DD speak his name and turns to
look at him but does not raise his wand. His expression changes as DD
looks into his eyes. Surely Snape reads some sort of message there, an
image or emotion that he understands but Harry doesn't? His expression
changes, but *he does not raise his wand* until DD says "Severus, please."

As I read it, the terrible has to be done or worse things will happen.
Snape has to kill Dumbledore, who has no chance of surviving (if Snape
or the potion or the ring curse doesn't kill him, the DEs will do it
themselves or Crucio Draco into doing it. They can't leave with their
mission unaccomplished). If anyone or anything but Snape kills DD, the
two boys will be in terrible danger and the DEs will have the free run
of Hogwarts. Snape will not be alive to protect the boys or order them
out. We see from the attempted Crucio, the broken Gryffindor hourglass
(symbolizing blood?), Fenrir Greyback's attack on Harry, and Hagrid's
burning hut the bare beginnings of what they would do if they were not
ordered off the grounds.

I know that the simple answer is that Snape should have died defending
Dumbledore and the boys, but what good would it have done? DD would
have died anyway, Draco whom he had sworn to protect would have been
killed, and Harry, the only person who can vanquish Voldemort, would
have been killed or captured. (He couldn't outduel Snape, much less
four DEs at once, one of them a known child killer who would have
loved to eat him.)

As for "deeply horrible," what else is JKR supposed to say about him
without giving away her plot? She's talking about his teaching methods
and his bitterness and his sarcasm, not his loyalties, given the
context of the quotation. And note that she also says, more than once,
that there's more to Snape than meets the eye. That probably means
more than meets Harry's eye, since that's the point of view we see him
from in most of the books.

Carol, who agrees with vmonte that people don't like unpalateable
truths and who expects a roar of outrage from the Snape haters when
Snape is revealed as DDM