Did you LIKE Snape?

[Zara]

No: HPFGUIDX 183220

> Mike:
> We've had a recent thread that mourns the passing of Snape. I 
don't, 
> but that led to this query. In the interest of full disclosure, I 
am 
> a Marauder fan and Sirius Black is my favorite character.

Zara:
In the interest of full disclosure...Eew. Though I put up with 
Marauders, since Harry loves most of them, and Harry is a great kid.

> Mike: 
> In that respect, I too liked Severus Snape. I too wanted to know 
why 
> he was the way he was. I even color myself slightly disappointed 
that 
> his love for Lily was the *only* driving force that propelled him 
to 
> do what he did for Harry and the good side. I wanted to see 
something 
> more. Maybe some of you did see more, if so maybe you could cite 
some 
> canon for your belief? 

Zara:
I have to say this is a position I have difficulty wrapping my brain 
around. At the time Snape showed up on the hill to warn Dumbledore 
about the danger, and throughout the remainder of the first war, when 
Snape was keeping his end of the bargain to do "Anything" in exchange 
for the protection of the Potters by spying on Voldemort for Albus, I 
can see this view; I can even, perhaps, agree with it. While Lily 
lived, there was some chance Snape would get something of worth to 
him out of it. But after she died, I don't see how she, and she 
alone, could continue to be the "only driving force". She was dead. 
Everything Snape was ever going to get of her, he had already, in his 
memories. 

To me, if the motivation was in large part guilt - that is already 
not "just Lily" and "just love". Remorse, certainly the sort of 
remorse that would drive a person to risk their lives over the course 
of years, would seem to me to require a sense of having done 
something wrong. And doing things because they are right vs. wrong 
is "something more".

> Mike:
> Up until the very end, all we 
> were shown was that Severus did it all for Lily. The Doe Patronus 
> followed by his answer to Dumbledore: "Always"; 

Zara:
And yet, he went along with Albus' plan in the end, even though it 
was counter to the mission he had taken on himself to keep Harry 
alive "for Lily". And I will not repeat the actions several posters 
have listed, that served the good side/Albus/Hogwarts, but did 
nothing for Harry/Lily. For at least one of them, a motivation is 
explicitly provided by the text (sparing an old man pain and 
humiliation, e. g.). For others, the reason "for Lily" seems simply 
not to apply. 

> Mike:
> But that wasn't my question, was it? ;-) I wanted to know if you 
> liked Severus Snape. 

Zara:
Oh, well then. "Like" does not do my feelings justice. I very much 
like Snape, and admire him, and sympathize with him, even while 
recognizing he has some room for improvement in certain departments.

> Mike:
> If you were in the Potterverse, would you be mates with him? If 
your 
> answer is yes, is it unqualified? That is, would you have been 
mates 
> when he was just pre-Hogwarts, during Hogwarts as a student, only 
> after he returned to Dumbledore to plea for Lily's life, or do you 
> have no qualifications? 

Zara:
In my case, an unqualified yes. But the extent to which such a 
friendship could have happened would depend on many things. Had I 
been another young witch living in the old neighborhood, I would have 
liked to be friends with Sev. In school, I wonder how we might have 
met to *be* friends, (I expect I would have been a Ravenclaw - 
perhaps we could have met in the library <g>). As an adult, perhaps 
also teaching at Hogwarts, sure.

Of course, this does not mean Sev would have wanted to be friends 
with ME. I was no Lily, pretty, popular, and a "catch", at school. 
And later in his life - I'm not sure he would have allowed himself to 
get particularly close to anyone new.

> Mike:
> If you wanted to be more than mates with Severus, umm, ... I don't 
> want to know! ;-)

Zara:
Well, having somehow achieved his romantic interest, it would seem a 
girl could count on his continuing loyalty. <bg>

Seriously, it is one of the things I admire about him. He's got a 
couple of the Hufflepuff virtues going for him (he could work 
on 'fair' if he cared to go 3 for 3).

> Mike:
> Is there any part of his behavior you disliked, abhorred, or just 
> thought was a little too over the top?

Zara:
He could be nicer. On the other hand, he's funny. He's got some great 
lines. Disliked would definitely be the strongest word I'd apply to 
his teaching - nothing else he did post-return bothers me in the 
slightest.

> Mike: 
> I didn't place most of the blame on him for James's and Lily's 
> deaths; in fact I put him third after LV and Pettigrew. But he does 
> get some blame there that cannot be expunged in my eyes. That he 
was 
> redeemed for that act, that he spent the rest of his life serving 
> penitence for that mistake, does not make me like him for it.

Zara:
For me it matters at least as much, that he attempted to prevent the 
consequences of his own mistake before it was too late. Yes, 
Voldemort was interested in the Potters because of Snape, but it was 
Snape who warned Albus of this interest, and Snape attempted to 
arrange for the most powerful wizard of their day to protect them as 
well. Both of which latter actions put Snape himself at risk.

> Mike:
> I have a particular revulsion for the Snape in PoA, in the 
Shreiking 
> Shack scene. 

Zara:
Not me. It is the one time in the series I wish, a la Alla, to slap 
someone. And it ain't Sev. Lupin, probably.

> Mike:
> I get that some people identify with Snape, just like lots of 
people 
> identified with Harry and I identified with Sirius. Did that make 
you 
> like Severus, or understand him, or both?

Zara:
I would consider myself an identifier with Snape, and yes, I think 
this makes me both like and understand him.