Snape as Headmaster was Re: GoF CH 27-29 Post DH look/ Snape and

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 182181

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "montavilla47":.
> 
> These are really good points, Leah.  I agree that, even as a Snape
> supporter, I don't have anything good to point at for Snape's reign
> as Headmaster (other than his sending the kids out to the forest).

Pippin:
Snape was sitting on a powder keg -- it wouldn't be interesting to
watch, but that doesn't make it safe or easy. 
  
Somehow he kept the school so close to rebellion that the students and
staff rallied behind Harry without much debate, while still keeping
things quiet enough to satisfy the Carrows. They weren't bright
people, but they were deeply suspicious. Even if their suspicions fell
on the wrong person it would have been very bad news for somebody.
They're weak wizards compared to Snape, but what difference does that
make when they can summon Voldemort with the touch of a finger?

The people that Snape might have trusted aren't good enough actors.
McGonagall would have tried to help Snape if she'd known.  But   could
she feign the sort of barely concealed contempt that she showed for
Umbridge? I don't think so. Hagrid has that awful habit of blurting
out secrets, and Flitwick's no actor either.

It sounds awful that Snape had to let the Carrows teach the
Unforgivable Curses, but think about it. As we know, it takes more
than pointing your wand and saying the words to become proficient. 
AFAWK, only Crabbe and Goyle were  successful as a result of the
Carrow's teaching. Oh, maybe the others could raise a squawk, like
Harry did with Bella, but a full crucio? Canon leans the other way.
Even using the very smallest estimate of the student
population, the Carrow's success rate was worse than abysmal. 

Besides which, I very much doubt  that even Voldemort wanted any but
the Slytherins actually able to use the things. He's not *that* stupid.

Hogwarts is deliberately removed from the centers of wizarding power.
It's no easier for Hogwarts to interfere with the Ministry than vice
versa. So what was Snape going to do, set up a secret wand factory in
the owlery? Oops, no, wandmaking is a highly specialized art. Spy on
the DE's at the Hogs Head -- oh, wait, Aberforth does that. Blow up
the train station in Hogsmeade and kill some innocent people? What
for? To teach the kids to be terrorists, er, freedom fighters? But the
DA already existed, and Snape managed to protect all of its members
but one, despite that  thanks to Hermione, the ministry had a list of
their names. That's impressive.

Besides JKR not wishing to introduce any more major characters, she's
made the point that the real  danger to an underground organization
isn't The Man. It's the Mariettas and the Pettigrews (and the Dracos
and the Snapes) -- the people who want to belong but don't realize
what they're getting into.  That's reason enough for not holding a
recruiting drive until there's something for the resistance to do.

I miss Snape -- it's part of the reason I still want to talk about the
books, and of course I'd love it if DH had more Snape in it. But,
y'know, JKR's writing career isn't over. I think a Snape-ish character
in a book written outright for adults, without the constraints JKR
faced as an all-ages author, might well out-Snape Snape himself! 

Pippin