Snape increasing/Dumbledore decreasing(was) I have even less respect for Snape

[Tammy]

No: HPFGUIDX 172632

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "phoenixgod2000" <jmrazo at ...> wrote:
>
> I'll post my review of the whole book tomorrow but I had to put this 
> up now while it is still fresh in my mind. I've been on a road trip to 
> comic-con so I just now finished the book--I didn't like it BTW.
> 
> Snape strikes me as a petty, pathetic, short-sited man whose life of 
> misery and pain is completely deserved.   Snape's love isn't pure, 
> isn't good, no matter how fuzzy his patronus is.  It is selfish and 
> possessive.  If he really loved Lily, he would have done so much more 
> for Harry than what he did over the past seven years.  I know that if 
> the woman I love died, I would do everything for that kid--especially 
> if he was a student of mine. I would have trained him, and cared for 
> him and made him want to be around me because every second he stared 
> at me with those green eyes I would have been Happy. I would have been 
> reminded of the person I love and I would take solace in knowing that 
> they were smiling down on me with gladness.  Instead he treats Harry 
> like crap and in his final moments demands to see Lily's green eyes 
> one more time.  Why didn't he want to do that for the past six years?  
> why wouldn't he want to see Harry grow up into the kind of boy Lily 
> would have been proud of.  That would have been a worthy testament to 
> her.   
> 

> phoenixgod2000, who thinks the epilogue is a travesty and hasn't been 
> this disappointed in a book in a long time.
>

Tammy's reply:

Perhaps Snape could have been nicer, but then who would have been
there to toughen Harry up? Snape couldn't afford to be nice to Harry
and still be worthy as a spy. He couldn't get close to Harry and be
close to Voldemort. I think perhaps if he had lived, the pair of them
would finally have understood each other and become something closer
to friends. Harry has always had friends of his father around him, but
never really anyone who was close to his mother (which always struck
me as odd I must say). I'm certain he and Snape would have loads to
talk about.

Honestly I think Snape winds up looking a heck of a lot better than
Dumbledore. The follow passage in particular intrigues me:

>From Ch 33 The Prince's Tale:

(after telling Snape that Harry must be killed by Voldemort)
Dumbledore opened his eyes. Snape looked horrified.
"You have kept him alive so that he can die at the right moment?"
"Don't be shocked, Severus. How many mena nd women have you watched die?"
"Lately, only those whom I could not save," said Snape. He stood up.
"You have used me."
"Meaning?"
"I have spied for you and lied for you, put myself in mortal danger
for you. Everything was supposed to be to keep Lily Potter's son safe.
Now you tell me you have been raising him like a pig for slaughter - "
"But this is touching Severus," said Dumbledore seriously. "Have you
grown to care for the boy, after all?"

So basically all this time, Snape's motive has been to protect Harry
and to keep him from harm. Meanwhile Dumbledore has been positioning
Harry to die, then let someone else kill Voldemort. Despite his words
to Harry previously that he cared too deeply and thus allowed himself
to be blinded, he didn't care one wit about Harry. He just wanted
Harry alive. 

Who would have thought that in the end of Book 7, Snape would be the
good guy and Dumbledore would be the bad guy?

-Tammy