DH Thoughts

[leslie41]

No: HPFGUIDX 172475

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "lupinlore" <rdoliver30 at ...> 
wrote:
 
> I think it is
> going to be important to acknowledge as time goes along that
> Dumbledore and Snape had a very difficult and complicated
> relationship. Snape was loyal to Dumbledore, he seems to have
> respected Dumbledore and wanted his trust and approval. He seems,
> over time, to have adopted at least some of Dumbledore's values. But
> in the end he was, after all, driven by his own ends and needs. 

Leslie41:
I don't see that at all.  He imperils his own soul by killing 
Dumbledore.  Perhaps that's true when he first goes into Dumbledore's 
service, but by the end of it Snape is not merely fighting for Lily.  
He mourns the loss of those that he had to watch die because of his 
status as a double-agent.  And he saves the life of (cough! cough!) 
Remus John Lupin, when it would have been far easier and better for 
him not to.  These are things he did not have to do to relieve 
the "crushing emotional burden" of his onrequited love for Lily and 
her death. 

Lupinlore: 
> Dumbledore for his part respected Snape and developed compassion and
> pity for him. But he also felt disapproval, disappointment, and
> outright disgust for many of Snape's choices and attitudes and
> practices, and is expressing those feelings in rather harsh terms
> right up until late in HBP.

Leslie41:
Go back to "The Prince's Tale".  That chapter is late in HPB, but it 
covers a period of about 25 years in Snape's life.  

Dumbledore exhibits disgust with Snape when he returns before the 
Potters are killed.  That's perfectly true, but that's when Snape is 
around 21 or so, after he comes to DD as a Death Eater. When Snape 
puts himself in Dumbledore's service after the Potters are killed 
(shortly after that), Dumbledore promises not to reveal Snape's 
secret, which he calls "the best of you."

After that, every single thing Dumbledore says about Snape is 
admiring, even loving. 

Lupinlore: 
> The "business" aspect of their relationship explains a great deal,
> particularly with regard to Dumbledore's attitude and action. Snape
> was, at the end of the day, a servant. He was not a beloved 
> disciple,nor did Dumbledore have feelings of paternal love for him 
> as he did for Harry. 

Leslie41:
And when Snape sees the white doe burst from Snape's wand, and knows 
what that white doe means, and his eyes fill with tears, is that part 
of the "business" too?

> That it was Snape, rather than Harry, who was most clearly being 
> set up as a pig for slaughter was ... delicious.

So, er, are you, *Lupinlore*, relishing in the death of the character 
who, at some risk, deflected a curse that saved Remus Lupin's life?  

Now there's an irony I find delicious...