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

[lanval1015]

No: HPFGUIDX 170663

> 
> Magpie:
> I have to agree. I think it was more a case of Snape being okay 
with the
> idea of Voldemort going out and killing somebody due to this 
information
> (kid or adult) vs. the reality of the idea that Voldemort is going 
to kill
> these people he's connected to and the different way that feels. 
It's like
> Draco in terms of the idea in the abstract and the reality--though 
I think
> they were probably facing slightly different revelations since 
they were
> different people, and Snape was a little bit older.
> 
> 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.
> 

Lanval:
That's a good comparison with Draco, as far as setting 
things in motion, and the realization "Whoa, we're talking death 
here* are concerned. I wish JKR had included some suggestion that 
Draco felt remorse about almost killing Katie and Ron, though. I'm 
willing for now to believe that it did make him feel bad and added 
to his general state toward the end of HBP (instead of it just 
being fear for his own life).

I think you and Alla are both right, too, in suspecting that Snape 
was okay with *some possible deaths* in exchange for LV's approval, 
until he knew exactly who the people in question were. 

> Lanval:
> 
> Even Harry, who without thinking leaps toward transforming Lupin, 
to 
> save his best friend Ron, but is held back by Sirius, IMO deserves 
> more recognition for his actions than Snape.
> 
> 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. 

Lanval:
That may well have been JKR's intent, but the question discussed, I 
think, did focus on whether Snape saved Harry's life (and others) 
here, and, in a wider context, on the often recurring question of 
Snape as Savior and Protector of Harry.


Magpie:
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.
> 
> JKR could have had Harry and Hermione just waking up on their own 
outside
> and wondering what happened, but there is something memorable 
about them
> seeing that Snape did that. Not because it makes him a huge 
savior, but I
> think if we wrote down everything we see Snape do we'd see a 
careful
> balance that included a lot of examples of Snape taking care of 
stuff like
> that--the most memorable and dramatic of which is in HBP when he 
heals
> Draco. Harry and Hermione could very well have gotten back another 
way, but
> it's intriguing they didn't.
> \

Lanval:
Again, maybe it was. I can't tell what she was thinking when 
writing , but if she did intend it, she failed to convince this 
reader. :)

And to me Snape does not look good here at all.

Without much fanfare -- certainly not at the lakeshore, no. There's 
after all no one around. But what happens when Harry wakes up in the 
Hospital Wing? The first thing he hears is Snape bragging to Fudge, 
lying his butt off, or at the very least spinning Fudge a fine and 
fantastic yarn (because nowhere in the Shrieking Shack scene did 
Snape ever give the slightest hint of believing the kids to be 
Confunded. Nor has he any proof that the kids went out to catch 
Black), trying to get Harry & Co suspended or expelled, and just 
generally sunning himself in Fudge's praise.

What exactly *did* Snape do that was so caring? He awoke, by his own 
words, to see the Dementors drifting back to their positions at the 
entrances. He had to notice the direction they came from, otherwise 
he would not have found Harry, Hermione and Sirius by the lake. So 
he goes to check it out. He notices Ron, also unconscious, conjures 
a stretcher, so he can bring him along. Which may speak for Snape 
ensuring Ron's comfort, but could be nothing but common sense. He's 
a wizard, he has to somehow transport this kid with the broken leg --
it wouldn't require an outrageous amount of compassion to figure out 
a stretcher being the best idea. Especially since he may have to 
deal with more than one body. He had no idea what he would find in 
the direction the Dementors came from, did he?

So he sets out toward the lake, floating Ron along (not exactly a 
sign that he expected a werewolf attack at any time either -- if he 
had, he could have strapped Ron down, hung the stretcher high enough 
to be out of reach, and then checked things out), and finds the kids 
and -- hooray! -- Black! alive, which in the case of Black is a bit 
of a bummer, but things can still be arranged quite nicely. What an 
entrance he will make! Three unconscious kids, and the murderer (and 
Snape-torturer) Black. Whom he promptly binds, and *gags*. 

The gagging part I find particularly interesting. He really, really 
wanted to shut Black up as long as he could, didn't he? If he 
was so absolutely certain of Black's guilt, why bother silencing him?

The kids? Well, he couldn't just leave them out there. It would have 
looked pretty bad, too. The stretchers? Again, the most convenient 
method for all, *including* Snape. JMO.

To me any suggestion that Snape is meant to come across as caring is 
negated by his appalling behavior in the Hopital Wing.

 
>