Dumbledore and Snape that night WAS: Re: GoF CH 27-29 Post DH look

[xuxunette]

No: HPFGUIDX 182293

> Alla:
(snip) 
> So, sure I certainly hope that Potioncat is right and Dumbledore IS 
> testing Snape, although even for me, whom you can hardly suspect in 
> being sympathetic towards Snape, that was well
 cruel.
> 
> I am not BOTHERED by it, don't get me wrong, I think Snape deserved 
> every word he got from Dumbledore that night, but um, I still think 
> it was cruel.
> 
> Now, if it was some sort of shock therapy for Snape, something that 
> Dumbledore did not really mean, something he did to shake Snape out 
> of the hole he got himself into, to show him the horrors that his 
> actions caused, to show him that now even the leader of light may not 
> be very willing to protect the person who is in danger because of 
> him, Okay I can see that.
> 
> And the therapy seemed to work for Snape, but was it a shock therapy?
(snip)

xuxu's two knuts:

I think Dumbledore's disgust with Snape was every bit as genuine as
his willingness to give him a chance to amend.

IMO the view that Dumbledore was only set to shock Snape with his
harsh words goes against both DD's and Snape's characterization.

Dumbledore is not only an universally compassionate good-whisher, as
demonstrated by the development of his character in DH, he is also a
ruthless man when it comes to achieving what he thinks is for the
greater good. Furthermore and more importantly, if DD believes in
giving second chances, it is also obvious that he believes in
unmitigated and un-salvageable evil as well, as demonstrated by his
dealing with Tom, and later Voldemort.

And then there is Snape, as heroic and self-sacrificing as his role in
the war is finally revealed to be, I do not believe his motives for
self sacrifice are totally 'good' either.

You see, when Snape came to Dumbledore, all he cared for was that he
caused the death of the person he loved. That's why DD was disgusted
with him: he saw that if Voldemort had given Snape the means to claim
Lilly back, Snape wouldn't have had a second thought about how much
damage his actions wrought. Snape's plea for a way of redeeming
himself didn't originate from a genuine realization of his own
immorality, but rather from an egoistical grief of a love lost and
hatred for the man who caused it. 

So yeah, I believe DD's disgust was genuine, and his harsh words
sincere. Then come to question the reason why Dumbledore offered Snape
a chance of redeeming himself.

My take on that is that it was a half ruthlessness and half compassion
at first.

Dumbledore did not believe that YKW was truly dead, and saw that Snape
would be an asset when he returned. But he also understood Snape's
grief because he himself understood grief, and I think that in a way
he was moved by it, when at the same time he despised Snape as a person.

And then, when it comes to the relationship between DD and Snape,
there is the decade of lull between VD's two risings to take into
account. I believe that during this time and during the Harry's years,
Snape proved to Dumbledore that, whatever his motives may be, he was
determined to do the right thing, and showed courage and strength in
doing so, and Dumbledore came to trust him completely. 

xuxu