Snape's the Rescuer - Really?/Justice to Snape

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 170661

> Alla: 
> Okay, the explanation that Snape just did not understand the
> prophecy always amuses me a lot. Why, why would Snape think that
> Voldemort even postpone hunting the prophecy couple? Did he ever
> show that he erm....postpones hunting after his enemies?

Jen:  Dumbledore's explanation of Snape's 'terrible mistake' made 
clear what Snape *didn't* know about the prophecy and from there, 
it's not much of an extrapolation to decide what he did know:  "But 
he did not know - he had no possible way of knowing - which boy 
Voldemort would hunt from then onwards, or that the parents he would 
destroy in his murderous quest were people that Professor Snape knew, 
that they were your mother and father -" (HBP, chap. 25, p. 512, UK 
ed.)

I'd say Snape understood a boy child and his parents would be 
targeted by Voldemort; what Snape couldn't know was the specific 
family Voldemort would choose.  When LV decided to target the  
Potters, that piece of information was the catalyst for Snape's 
remorse.  JKR said a person has to shut down compassion to be a DE so 
it fits Snape didn't have compassion for a random family when he 
turned over the prophecy.

Magpie:
> Iow, I really think we'll just have to hear and judge for ourselves 
> exactly how Snape really felt about who the Prophecy turned out to 
> be about and--more importantly--how it changed his thinking on 
> Voldemort (if it did). That's the important thing for any DE who 
> changes his mind, not just why he doesn't like what's happened, but 
> whether it really changes his outlook in general.

Jen: You've just summed up what I'm looking for in DH!

> Magpie:
> I could be wrong, but what I get from Snape as "savior" here is not
> that he was anywhere near the one most dramatically saving anyone, 
> but that it's an interesting moment where they see Snape, by 
> himself, quietly conjuring stretchers and bringing everyone back to
> the castle. Whether there was really a werewolf in the vicinity 
> isn't important, because for me the significance isn't that anyone
> owes Snape their life. It's just that it's JKR putting in a scene 
> where Snape is shown caring for someone efficiently and without 
> much fanfare, and these things have always gone along with his more
> memorable scenes of being casually cruel and petty and angry at
> people.

Jen: The scene fits as a character moment more than a plot moment for 
me:  Snape alone, not realizing he's being watched, doing what he 
thinks is right with the information he chose to hear and believe 
that night.  A good deal of Snape's motivation is on display in that 
particular scene in my opinion.  He's a duty-bound man following his 
own code of right and wrong but is limited in his code because he's 
not open-minded to new information.  Plus, I think he will be proven 
as limited because he rejects some of the values Dumbledore believes 
in about equality.  But he does operate with a moral system 
and 'right' at that particular moment is taking Sirius to be kissed 
and the kids to the hospital wing.

I prefer this view to Snape saving the kids because in part, Snape 
doesn't appear to be rushed or casting wary glances around as if he 
senses imminent danger.  That type of information or a comment 
indicating Pomfrey actually did something to bring the kids to 
consciousness might have caused me to view the scene in a different 
light.  As it is, the children don't appear to be in danger, even 
unconcious, and woke up without intervention - something that could 
have happened on the grounds as well.

Maybe JKR intends to go back and have Harry learn how Snape really 
saved them all that night; it just strikes me as a point Harry 
wouldn't *get* when in his mind Snape's version of events led to 
Sirius needing saving in the first place. 

Jen, with credit to Ceridwen for describing Dutiful!Snape off-list 
once upon a time and helping her see him from a slightly different 
angle.