Did Snape really abandon his post? Was: No progress for Slytherin?

[cubfanbudwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 173873

SSSusan:
> > > Does *anybody* here have a real inkling of what JKR was 
> > > thinking of when she chose the words 'abandoned his post'?  
  
krista7 wrote:
> > <snipping>
> > He chose #4--to depart, and give the job of governing Hogwarts 
> > to McG. Since the main reason he leaves is to continue his job
> > of protecting Harry, he's really given up his post as Headmaster
> > of Hogwarts to McG. So, he abandoned post--for good reasons, but
> > he still left his job at Hogwarts.
> > 
> > I thought about how this fit with Dumbledore's example, since
> > he too fled Hogwarts at one point (from Umbridge and the aurors),
 
colebiancardi:
> ahh, the nitpicker in me asks - did Dumbledore *abandon his post* 
> when he chose to have Snape kill him?  In a way, DD got to flee 
> Hogwarts by using Snape to kill him in the manner of the type of 
> death & the time that DD wanted.

SSSusan:
Hee. I like this kind of nitpick!  It's a good question!


colebiancardi: 
> So, in a way, DD also abandoned his post at Hogwarts because he 
> defied the normal course of fate and got Severus to kill him on 
> command, as DD wanted to go out peacefully and not violently.
> 
> I see no difference between the choice DD made at the end of HBP 
> and what Snape did in DH - they were both forced to leave 
> Hogwarts.  I don't think Snape *chose* to leave - he was forced 
> to.  He was trying to find Harry, as his conversation with 
> McGonagall shows us.  
<snip>

SSSusan:
I think the difference may be what Jen pointed out earlier in the 
thread:  that Hogwarts or the Headmaster's Office itself or whatever 
magical power places the portraits is somehow somewhat partially 
*sentient.* 

It might not have known about motive, though, only action?  So when 
DD was murdered, of course it would only see DD was dead and not 
know why; thus it tossed up a portrait.  OTOH, when Snape ran, it 
would not recognize the motivation for his decision (Krista's #4, 
above), only that he skeedaddled. 

IOW, it *doesn't* know DD abandoned because it only knows he's dead 
& gone.  And it does 'know' Snape abandoned because that's the 
surface read from the situation when he hightailed it out of there.  
Surface read in both cases. :)

Heh.  Not sure that works, but....

Siriusly Snapey Susan



>  
> 
> colebiancardi
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