Snape investigating Potters' Betrayal WAS: Re: Secrets (Long) OLD POST REPOST

[jkoney65]

No: HPFGUIDX 186544

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Carol" <justcarol67 at ...> wrote:
>
> Carol again:
> Sorry. I meant "IMO," of course. (Twenty years of writing academic essays got me in the habit of stating the point I intend to support as a direct assertion without qualifiers like "I think" or "in my view" or "IMO." Hard habit to break.)
> 
> At any rate, you're right, of course, that it's my opinion, not a canon fact, and I didn't mean that the so-called Prank played no role at all, only that it wasn't Snape's primary motivation, IMO. (More on that later.)
> 
> However, it *is* a fact (within canon) that Snape thinks Black entered the castle to murder Harry and that Lupin has been helping him all year. That assumption (also made by Dumbledore, Fudge, Mr. Weasley, and everyone else except Sirius Black himself and Pettigrew) would naturally strengthen Snape's view that Black betrayed the Potters to their deaths. Even Lupin acknowledges that Snape is there to save Harry ("Severus, you're making a mistake. . . . Sirius is not here to kill Harry"), and Snape himself makes his purpose clear:
> "I have just saved your neck. You should be thanking me on bended knee! You would have been well served if he killed you!").

jkoney:
Continuing the quote: "You'd have died like your father, too arrogant to believe you might be mistaken in Black--now get out of the way, or I will make you."

I do love irony. Snape talking about people being arrogant, when he is the only person being arrogant in the scene. 

> Carol:
> Granted, Snape is not only mistaken here but uncharacteristically irrational, absolutely certain that he's right and unwilling to listen to Lupin, but Lupin makes matters worse by calling Snape a fool and blaming his behavior on a schoolboy grudge, which not only infuriates Snape more but convinces Harry (and, through him, the reader) that Snape's only motivation is the so-called Prank. 

jkoney:
Yes, but at this point Lupin has figured out what is going on. He knows that Peter is the guilty one and just wants Snape to listen for a minute. 

Calling him a fool didn't help, but he tried the reasonable approach and it didn't work either. Snape was out of control and the only other option was to attack him. Which we know Harry and friends did, knocking Snape unconcious.