The Continuing Tragedy of Severus Snape: Reflections on Books 1-

[puduhepa98 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 165672

> Cassy:
>POA:
Well, the result of Snape *totally* losing it in  the Shrieking Shack
<snip> is that the real culprit, Wormtail,  escaped... to rejoin
Voldemort. Sirius Black is (still) the Most Wanted,  Remus Lupin is a
disgraced werewolf and Fudge thinks that Dumbledore employs  deranged
staff. Nice one, Severus... still it's good to know you're  (supposed
to be) on our side! 

> Nikkalmati:
This statement  really has me puzzled. Lupin and Sirius are about to
tell their story, Snape  comes in and some things about their past and
his character are revealed,  Snape is knocked out, the Marauders
continue their story, convince the Trio,  and all leave the Shack.
Snape's arrival interrupts the flow of the story,  but nothing happened
in the Shack or afterwards that would not have happened,  if Snape had
not come out after Lupin, except that Snape rescues unconscious  Harry,
Sirius and Hermione. 

> Cassy:
With apologies to Severus  Snape, whom I agree did the right thing in
conjuring the stretchers to save  Harry, Ron and Hermione (and Black!)
from the Dementors; my point is that if  Snape had played it
differently in the Shack, he could have captured Wormtail  that night
... and he knows it. IMHO, it's terribly tragic that Snape, Lupin  &
Black were unable to understand one another sooner ... a cornered  rat
(even one so catastrophically underestimated as Pettigrew) should  have
been no match for three powerful members of the Order of the  Phoenix,
even without the (not inconsiderable) talents of the teenage trio.  Yet
they failed ... (as the Marauders had failed before) ... and  this
time, Snape was in a large measure responsible for the failure.  

<snip>. Pettigrew's escape made Voldemort's return possible  and
Pettigrew's escape was only possible because Snape failed to listen  to
Sirius & Lupin and to unite with them at this moment. If he had  done
so then (even with the added complications of lycanthropy and  the
Dementors), I have little doubt that Wormtail would now be in Azkaban.  

>Of course, there are some major justifications for Snape's  behaviour
in POA19. One could ask: why should he listen to Lupin &  Sirius? He is
rightly concerned for the students' safety, 'out of bounds , in  the
company of a convicted murderer and a werewolf'; he blames Sirius  for
the Potters' deaths with an intensity of feeling matched only by  Harry
in the last-but-one chapter (thus supporting the hypothesis that  he
loved Harry's mother); and he believes Sirius to be capable of  murder
for the very good reason that (as Snape says) "he [Sirius] once  tried
to kill *me*". (To add to which: he apparently believes that HRH  have
been the victim of a Confundus Charm.)

>However, I would argue  that JKR also points to Snape's culpability in
this scene. There is evidence  that he is too strongly motivated by a
desire for revenge (and for personal  vindication from Dumbledore),
which leads him to take maverick action without  reasonable precautions
(why oh why did he not send a Patronus to DD before  rushing to the
Shack?): "I've told the Headmaster again and again that you've  been
helping your old friend Black into the castle ... I shall be  quite
interested to see how Dumbledore takes this ... Vengeance is sweet  ...
How I hoped I would be the one to catch you ...". In a  shocking
moment, Snape even threatens to "call the Dementors once we get out  of
the Willow" though thankfully (after being knocked out) his sense  of
justice reasserts itself. We know that Harry, Ron & Hermione  were
starting to come round to Black & Lupin's version of events  before
Snape appeared, but the evidence suggests that Snape could not  even
begin to make the necessary mental adjustments.  
<snip> 

>I think he would have been appalled. And for  all the extenuating
circumstances, he would have blamed himself.  

>Sometimes, IMHO, Snape is not well served by his apologists ...  in
this case, I think we need to acknowledge his level of  responsibility,
not to blame Snape, but in order to understand the resultant  anguish
which drives his actions in subsequent books. If Snape had  ever
hesitated on that memorable night in GOF36 when he set out to rejoin  &
deceive Voldemort, then the shame & humiliation of Wormtail's  escape
would have strengthened his resolve, IMHO. And now he has to live  with
Wormtail in Spinner's End, as a permanent reminder of what should  have
been ...

Nikkalmati
Sorry to take so long about replying.  I see your point about Snape  possibly 
blaming himself, but only because he does always want to be  right.  I don't 
think his tirade had much to do with Wormtail's  escape.  The primary 
instigators of that disaster are Lupin, who gave  Wormtail the opportunity by 
transforming, and, sad to say, Harry, who spared  Wormtail's worthless life.  If Snape 
had listened to SB and RL, the most  likely outcome would have been 
Wormtail's death.  I think hSS
+ would have weighed in on the side of getting rid of the  vermin.  In any 
case, if Snape listened and believed and Harry was given  the final choice ( a 
very unlikely result IMHO) Lupin would still have  transformed and in all 
likelihood Wormtail would have taken advantage of the  distraction to escape.   
Nikkalmati

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