[HPforGrownups] My current opinion of Snape (Longish) / Re: Clues to Snape's Loyalties

[Kathryn Lambert]

No: HPFGUIDX 170872

Sherry Gomes <sherriola at earthlink.net> wrote:          Leslie41:
Yet Hermione does not seem to hate Snape. She does not precisely take his
side, but she is able to step back. In book 1, she speaks approvingly of
Snape's logic, a quality lacking in many wizards. In HBP she responds to
Harry's loathing of Snape, and his disgust at Snape's first DADA lesson,
with a very intelligent and well-observed commentary on both Snape and
Harry. 

And Hermione's reaction to Snape has always been very balanced and
clear-headed, perhaps far more than he deserves (for who can blame Harry,
really, for hating him?).

That more than anything makes me believe Snape is on the side of the Order.

Sherry:

<<<SNIPPAGE>>>
   Hermione strikes me as
one of those people who just blithely believes a person in authority is good
and is right, just because the person is in authority. I don't get the
impression that she actually *thinks* about whether or not Snape is all the
things Harry believes him to be. But to her, Snape is a teacher, and
therefore, he must be good and he must be right. <<<SNIPPAGE>>>
Sherry

  KATIE RESPONDS: I don't think Hermione blindly trusts authority figues...she never liked Trelawny, even though she is a teacher. Hermione never, ever trusted Dolores Umbridge, even though she was from the MoM, and she doesn't blindly trust Snape, either. In fact, she was often quite ready to believe Harry, until Harry has been proven wrong about Snape so many times that Harry's blind hatred seems to be the ONLY cause of his distrust of Snape. Only at the end of SS/PS does Hermione begin believing that Snape is good - because before that, she fully believed that Snape was trying to kill Harry.
  In PoA, she is one of the three who hit Snape with an expelliarmus spell to keep him from attacking Sirius - and while she did have a small meltdown about it, "We attacked a ateacher, we attacked a teacher...", she chooses standing by her friends over trusting a teacher. 
  I do not think Hermione is some sort of sheep who blindly trusts authority figures. She has legitimate reasons for distrusting Harry's opinions about Snape, and she also has reasons that Snape is trustworthy...trying to save Harry from Quirrell, sending for help at the end of OotP, not to mention DD's trust of him, which (while currently debatable), seems to be good enough for all the adults.  

  I just can't wait until we've all read Dh, and found out! ACK, I get so excited. Katie

         

       
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