Snape's Psychology: WAS: More thoughts on the Elder Wand subplot - Owner?

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 187466

 
> 
> jkoney:
> Atonement for his actions would be more believable to people if he had done it without Dumbledore roping him into it. Also if he done if for Harry and not just for the memory of Lilly.

Pippin:
I think most people with something serious to atone for have to be roped into it at first. If their judgment was  good enough to recognize the  full extent of the wrong they were doing, they probably wouldn't have done it in the first place.

Snape did not come to Dumbledore to clear his conscience  but only to persuade Dumbledore to save Lily. He does not feel any concern, still less remorse, for the harm that threatens Harry or James. 

Snape wouldn't have understood at the time that Dumbledore was already doing all he could with the resources he had, and the only thing that could be done to make Lily or anyone else safer would be to increase those resources -- by  enlisting Snape. 

After Lily died, Snape still was not thinking of clearing his conscience. He only wanted to die, not caring or perhaps not knowing that he would take the pain of his torn soul with him. I don't think he believed that any atonement was possible.  But Dumbledore asked him to protect Harry so that Lily would not have died in vain. 

I don't think Snape ever grew to care for Harry, but he did learn to value other lives than Lily's, even the life of his old enemy Lupin. And he allowed the unconscious Sirius the dignity of a stretcher, which is more than Sirius did for him.
 

> jkoney:
> If he had lived, I doubt even Harry backing him would have influenced the people to forgive the man who killed Dumbledore. I'm not saying it would be right, but the herd mentality tends to rule.
> 
Pippin:
Harry has a lot of influence over the herd. If we believe JKR, he eventually got Snape's portrait installed in the Headmaster's office, so while I doubt that Snape would have wanted to return as Headmaster, it doesn't seem impossible that he could have.

No one in the books complains about Snape's teaching methods. Harry floats the idea that he deliberately sabotaged the occlumency lessons, but if anyone did that, it was Harry, who wanted his visions to continue. 

The Gryffindor kids hate that Snape's unfair, but nobody, even Harry, ever says that he'd be a better teacher if he was fairer. A better role model as a human being, certainly, but it's abundantly clear that Hogwarts does not consider that when hiring staff.

Pippin