Hermione and 'Evil is a strong word' (WAS Re: CHAPDISC: HBP30, The White Tomb)

[Zara]

No: HPFGUIDX 165914

> > a_svirn:
> > But that's not the case as far as Snape is concerned. He is not an
> > essentially good man who suddenly fell from grace through a 
moment's
> > weakness. He is an extremely unpleasant man with a murky past, and
> > the only reason why he was tolerated in the order was that
> > inexplicable Dumbledore's trust.
> 
> zgirnius:
> This is your opinion. I do not share it, and I do not see why
> Hermione must. Hermione is aware of the following good actions of
> Snape, which have occured over the past six years:

<snip zgirnius's list of good deeds> 

> a_svirn:
> To start with, out of your list only the first point is 
undisputable. 
> The rest of your points has been challenged on-list over the years. 

zgirnius:
I made no claim that every act on the list was irrefutably good, just 
that these are the actions of Snape of which Hermione is aware which 
one might consider good. It is *possible* that *she* may consider 
some or all of them good, or not (except for saving Harry's life. She 
has expressed her views on that in canon). I cannot help but believe 
it is possible for a logical, intelligent person such as Hermione to 
have the opinion that these actions are good, because that happens to 
be *my* opinion.

A_svirn:
> More 
> importantly, it is not why Hermione had been defending Snape in the 
> past. Every time Harry started on Snape, his doubtful loyalties and 
> murky past what did she say to him?  Come on, Harry, Dumbledore 
> trusts him, and Dumbledore knows best. But now this argument is no 
> longer valid, is it? Dumbledore has been proved wrong.

zgirnius:
As I demonstrated in my response to Alla on this thread, Hermione has 
on at least two occasions defended Snape on the grounds that he saved 
Harry's life in PS/SS. 

I don't recall a single long argument on Snape involving Hermione 
anywhere is the series. Usually it is one or two exchanges between 
Hermione and Ron, with her defending Snape and Ron attacking. In such 
discussions, I would not expect her to put forward an exhaustive list 
of her own reasons for concluding Snape is good, just the ones she 
considers strongest and or simplest to state. So in my view, she may 
also consider some or all of my other examples as evidence for Snape.

> a_svirn:
> (And the seventh is certainly negated by his actions later on). 

zgirnius:
*ought not to have snipped my list*
7) was "Snape saved Dumbledore's life".
This remains a fact, I do not see why his taking of the same life 
later in the book negates the first action. An explanation is needed 
of why he would first save Dumbledore and then later kill him, for 
sure, but DDM! is one such explanation, and the threat of the 
Unbreakable Vow is another, neither of which point to Voldemort's 
Man/totally and consistently evil Snape. The first could be viewed as 
a 'good' motive, the latter could indicate a lapse rather than a 
pattern of consistently evil behavior.

So, now Snape has killed Dumbledore, and yet Hermione has always 
believed that he did at least one good thing that she knows of. Her 
trust was not entirely based on Dumbledore's with no explanation 
given, but also on her own opinion of an action or actions she knows 
Snape has taken.

She could decide that the killing of Dumbledore outweighs that 
completely, or not. But she does need to think about it. I think that 
her initial reaction in "The Phoenix Lament" was reflective of the 
sadness and shock she felt (as the characters all did) at the events. 
Her comments in "The White Tomb", however, suggest to me that she may 
have started to come out of that shock and be trying to reach an 
unerstanding of their meaning by applying her considerable intellect 
to the problem, rather than transitioning to a childish, kneejerk 
return to the "Dumbledore can't be wrong" thinking of which you 
accuse her.