CHAPDISC: DH30, THE SACKING OF SEVERUS SNAPE

[montavilla47]

No: HPFGUIDX 184493

Montavilla47:
Thanks for the summary and questions!
 
> 1.How do you feel about Luna being the one to stun Alecto?  Is it
> notable that one of the "extras" from the DoM battle is the one to
> help Harry out?

Montavilla47:
I guess I missed the part where Luna was supposed to be
especially bad or useless at spells.  It didn't strike me as
notable.

> 2.Professor McGonagall was easily able to figure out the riddle to
> open the Ravenclaw entrance. What does this say about her Sorting?
> I've never found her to be incredibly brave but have always found her
> to be very smart.

Montavilla47:
I suppose she must have been one of those borderline cases, like
Hermione.  

> 3.More interestingly (to me anyway) is the fact that the Carrows had
> to have Professor Flitwick *let* them into the common room. Do you
> think they tried to enter but got Professor Flitwick out of
> frustration, or do you think they thought there was a password?  How
> does the fact that some people, like Professor McGonagall, seem to
> know things about the castle that the Death Eaters don't affect the
> upcoming battle?

Montavilla47:
I think it's of a piece with the castle itself rejecting certain teachers.
For example, the Headmaster's office wouldn't allow Umbridge 
inside.  I suppose (although it's extra-canonical) that it's of a piece
with the Headmaster's office not creating a portrait of Snape after
he dies.

> 4.Do you think Harry would have Crucio'd Amycus if he had not felt
> that rush of affection for Professor McGonagall moments before?  A
> Stunning Spell would have worked just as well and would have had the
> added bonus of not alerting Amycus to the fact that he was, in fact,
> in the Tower. (I'd like to avoid the moral points of the Crucio by
> Harry, but that's like trying to avoid discussing Severus' teaching
> methods!)

Montavilla47:
Hmm.  You mean if Amycus had spat on say, Draco or Trelawney,
Harry wouldn't have felt the need to use Crucio?  Maybe not. :)


> 5.Why does Harry tell Professor McGonagall that Voldemort is on the
> way to the castle when in reality he is on his way to check on the
> Horcrux? At this point, the jig is pretty much up: Harry's in the
> castle, there are Death Eaters everywhere, and he needs help.  He's
> used lies of omission on everyone else, why not Professor McGonagall?

Montavilla47:
I don't think Harry is being manipulative here.  He knows that 
Voldemort will be becoming eventually (eventually being in a 
couple of hours).  So, he's just giving McGonagall as much 
advancing warning as possible.  

It might have been smarter not to resist, however, and to
be more stealthy.  If Voldemort had showed up and the 
school seemed more or less as usual, he wouldn't have
needed to do a battle.

As for the Carrows?  Hide them away.  Voldemort would lose
time trying to find them and dealing with that mess, while 
Harry looked for the diadem.

> 6.Has there ever been any outrage about Professor McGonagall using
> the Imperius Curse on Amycus? If not, why not?

Montavilla47:
Yes.  People have objected her use of the Imperius Curse because
it supports (rather than condemns) Harry's use of the Crucio.

> 7.What do you think is the significance of Professor McGonagall
> *finally* believing Harry about something that is going on at the
> school (Quirrell stealing the Philsopher's Stone anyone?)?  Does it
> have more to do with Dumbledore or more to the fact that Harry has
> managed to survive several months with the Death Eaters trying to
> kill him at every turn?

Montavilla47:
I think McGonagall is a natural follower, rather than a leader.  It
wasn't that McGonagall didn't believe Harry before, exactly.  It
was that she was always taking her orders from Dumbledore, and 
Dumbledore's orders contradicted Harry's.  Now, without the
old Headmaster around (and because she can't respect Snape's
authority as the murderer of Dumbledore), she's looking for
someone to tell her what to do.

> 8.Can Severus see through invisibility cloaks?  If not, why does he
> always seem to know that Harry is around?  Severus never catches him
> in the cloak, but he always seems aware that Harry is there.

Montavilla47:
He's just a suspicious guy.  Either that, or he can smell Harry coming.

> 9.What do you think would have happened if Severus had found Harry
> alone?  Would Severus have told him everything?  Would he blow his
> cover?

Montavilla47:
I think that Snape would have taken Harry to the office and had
Dumbledore's portrait explain things to him.

> 10.Severus leaps out the window and flies away.  Do you think this
> was, at any point, part of the plan?  What do you think his plan was
> before? Do you think he has any idea what's to come?

Montavilla47:
I think that at some point, he had to made a plan about what to 
do if he were thrown out of the school.  But it's hard to figure
out what was in his head at that moment.

> 11.Can you even imagine being Ginny at this point?  Your whole family
> (and basically everyone you've ever met) is going to fight for the
> freedom of your entire world, and they want you to stay behind.
> Would anyone have listened?

Montavilla47:
Probably not.  But I think if it were me, I would have tried to find
something useful to do without being on the front lines.


> 12.Oh Percy Weasley.  Where to even begin?  Did you think he would be
> back?  Were you secretly hoping that he would battling his brothers
> American Civil War style because he was a Death Eater the entire
> time?  Did you think there'd be any resolution of his storyline?  I'm
> interested in what everyone else thought would happen to Percy.

Montavilla47:
I was pretty sure that storyline would get resolved because JKR
kept bringing it up to make sure we remembered it.  Then again,
I thought she had some plan for Grawp, so it doesn't necessarily
follow.


> 15.  The title of this chapter is "The Sacking of Severus Snape."
> What does that mean to you?  What did you think it meant at the
> beginning of the chapter?  What does it mean to you now?

Montavilla47:
It seemed pretty straightforward to me.  He was going to get fired 
in some manner.