First lesson WAS: Re: Marietta, was Slytherin's Reputation

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 185756

Pippin wrote:
> In any case, Harry's celebrity meant he could never be shielded from
public mockery. By the time he had to face Rita Skeeter, Harry could
take it in stride, unlike Hagrid who completely withdrew, or Hermione,
who embarked on a dangerous and ultimately senseless course of revenge.
> 
> Alla:
> 
> Harry has Snape to thank for that as well? 

Carol responds:

If we look at unintended consequences, yes. But, of course, Lockhart
also, unwittingly, played a part in Harry's not wanting to be a
celebrity, as did his desire from the beginning to be Just Harry.

Pippin's comment made me take another look at *Dumbledore* intentions.
it seems to me that when he gives a person (Harry, Snape, McGonagall,
et al.) reasons why they should do something or why he himself has
done something, he usually gives them valid reasons that they will
accept and that are, in themselves, true--just not his primary reason.

So, when he tells McGonagall that Harry needs to be protected from his
celebrity status until he's ready, he's telling the truth, just not
the whole truth. But assuming for a moment that he meant what he said,
as far as it goes, putting Harry with the Dursleys, where he is
treated as anything but a celebrity, has made him very different from
the pampered James, who was evidently treated as special by his
"elderly" parents (weren't they in their forties when he was born? But
never mind). But, setting aside whether his treatment by the Dursleys
constitutes abuse or neglect, sleeping under the stairs with the
spiders, wearing overlarge hand-me-down clothes, and being laughed at
by the kids as school because he's different (rather like Luna) has
given him the strength of character to deal with that celebrity
status--another example of an unintended consequence, good coming out
of evil (if the Dursleys qualify as evil on a small scale).

Lessons with Snape help to further Harry's ability to deal with
bullying and unfairness, preparing him to deal with evil on a much
larger scale in the form of Voldemort. And Snape himself seems to
realize his role in preparing Harry, at least in OoP when he gives him
Occlumency lessons. If Harry can't deal with Snape's Legilimens
spells, how will he ever face the greatest Legilimens who ever lived,
who can, as we see in DH, enter the mind of his victims as if that
mind were a Pensieve?

Dumbledore, as we know, is preparing Harry in other ways as well.
While Snape is trying to stop Harry from entering the third-floor
corridor, concerned with protecting Harry without Harry's knowing what
he's doing, Dumbledore is subtly encouraging Harry's exploration,
giving him the Invisibility Cloak and lessons on how the Mirror of
Erised works, at the same time being kind to him. Dumbledore wants
Harry to survive long enough to face Voldemort, but he also wants him
to be prepared. His resourcefulness and courage must be tested and
developed, but he must also be unafraid of mean people or detentions.
Snape is part of his plan. So, I think, is Hagrid, who exposes Harry
to the Forbidden Forest and its dangers. Even Quidditch could be part
of it since it develops Harry's reflexes and exploits one of his
skills. (Did DD encourage McGonagall to buy Harry that Nimbus 2000?)

Harry isn't Neville. He never fears Snape. Instead, he learns from him
in spite of himself. (The Bezoar lesson later saves Ron's life, and
Hermione's paying attention in Potions class leads to the Polyjuice
Potion HRH brew in CoS.) Even Neville graduates from fear of Snape to
overcoming that fear and facing his real demons, the Cruciatus Curse
and Bellatrix Lestrange. 

I agree with JKR that learning to deal with mean people is an
important life lesson, and we probably make a mistake to protect our
children and prevent them from dealing with bullies on their own. What
are a few points unfairly deducted or a few sarcastic remarks compared
with the danger of torture and death?

And, as I noted earlier, Snape's exposure of Harry's "mediocrity" (or
normalcy) also serves a useful purpose. Harry doesn't have curious
Slytherins hanging around him hoping that he's the next Dark Lord, nor
does he have a horde of Gyffindor hangers on comparable to Krum's fan
club. He's free to explore Hogwarts with his two best friends while
Dumbledore turns a blind eye to rule breaking, all to prepare Harry
for the much greater challenge of facing Voldemort. The "binding
magical" contract that forces Harry to compete in the TWT (thanks to
Crouch!Moody's putting his name in the cup with no expectation of his
surviving the encounter) serves the same purpose. As Dumbledore later
tells Snape, "We have protected him because it has been essential to
teach him, to raise him, to let him try his strength." (Or, as Snape
sees it, protecting him so that he can die at the right time rather
than protecting him so that Lily won't have died in vain--yet another
of the partial truths that Dumbledore uses to manipulate people to
willingly serve his ends.)

Dumbledore needs Snape. He can't make Snape like Harry and he can't
tell Harry the truth about Snape without breaking his own word. But it
doesn't matter to DD whether they like each other. Snape's teaching
methods fit neatly into his plans for Harry in any case, not just to
protect him without his knowing it, but to test him and try him and
help him develop strength and resilience and the ability to think on
his feet. (It helps, of course, that he has a friend who's booksmart
and learns the lessons that Snape and the others actually teach.)
Dumbledore is not about to reprimand or alienate Snape. He needs him
not only to protect Harry and to serve as a spy when Voldemort returns
(not to mention his skills in potion making and dealing with Dark
Magic). Even before Karkaroff's trial, he's not about to let Snape go
to Azkaban. He needs him at Hogwarts. And, in the meantime, his
lessons, like Quidditch and Hagrid's dangerous COMC lessons, help his
students, and especially Harry, to cope with the dangers of the WW
outside Hogwarts--the antithesis of Umbridge, who thinks that
"children like yourselves" should not use magic in her classroom or
learn to defend themselves yet her detentions are crueller than any
that Snape gives.

Carol, now wondering whether James's and Sirius's treatment of Severus
somehow served to toughen him and shape him into a superb Occlumens
who uses sarcasm as both weapon and self-defense (unintended
consequences again) 

Carol,