Harry's detention in HBP /Slytherins LONG READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 168313

Zgirnius:
> > In GoF he wanted Harry to tell him what was going on with Crouch,
> which Harry did not want to do. He was not making fun of Harry.
> 
> Alla:
> Harry wanted to see Dumbledore and Snape was stopping him from doing 
> it and smirking, no? <snip rest of post--sorry!>

Carol:

Snape must have known that Dumbledore was right behind him. Yes, he
was giving Harry a hard time, pretending to doubt his story, but at
the same time he was keeping him where he was so that he would be
there when Dumbledore finished descending the staircase. Had Snape not
kept Harry there, Harry would have gone off on a fruitless search of
some other corridor. I'm not sure, but I *think* that snape didn't
want to speak the password in front of Harry to let Harry go up the
stairs. There was, after all, no point in doing that with DD already
on this way down.

In fact, Snape actually stops Harry from running down the wrong corridor.

"Perhaps Dumbledore was in the staff room? He started running as fast
as he could toward the staircase.

"'POTTER!'

"Harry skidded to a halt and looked around. Snape had just emerged
from the hidden staircase behind the stone gargoyle. The wall was
sliding shut behind him as he beckoned Harry back toward him.

"'What are you doing here, Potter?'

"'I need to see Professor Dumbledore!' said Harry, tunning badk of the
corridor and skidding to a standstill in front of Snape. (GoF Am. ed. 557)

Now granted, when Harry tells Snape that Mr. Crouch has just turned up
in the forest (not, perhaps, the most plausible situation even though
it's true), Snape does ask him "What is this rubbish?" followed by a
statement he knows to be false, that the headmaster is busy (he's
actually coming down the stairs). Snape's pretense of not believing
Harry (he's a Legilimens, after all) keeps Harry standing at the
bottom of the stairs, trying to convince Snape that Crouch is out of
his mind, until DD arrives only a few minutes later, if that. (I doubt
that the entire dialogue took more than a minute.)

Had Snape not stopped him and kept him there, Harry would have run off
 fruitlessly to search for DD in the staff room. Far from delaying
Harry, Snape actually saved him time.

Carol, who agrees with Zgirnius's other responses but thought that
this one needed more support and development