CHAPTER DISCUSSION Chamber of Secrets Ch. 5. The Whomping Willow

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 188803



--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" <dumbledore11214 at ...> wrote:

> 
> Because as I am sure you know I do not believe that book showed us that Snape felt anything but hatred towards Harry till the day he died, I do not think we were showed any reversal in that, and as part of it, I cannot find any canon showing that Snape only pretended wanting to expel him.

Pippin:
Besides Jerri's example from HBP, there's also the Trio's attack on Snape in PoA, where Snape claims the Trio were confunded and couldn't have known what they were doing. Then he   says that any other student would be suspended, at least, just for having led his friends into danger and complains about the amount of special treatment  Harry gets. Of course, Snape himself is part of the special treatment for Harry, but Fudge isn't to know that. So Snape is definitely play-acting. 

There are other times when Snape utters threats and doesn't carry through on them. He doesn't turn Sirius over to the Dementors or spike Harry's pumpkin juice with veritaserum. According to Bella, he's always saying he'll do things and slithering out of action. Even she knows Snape's actions speak louder than his words. 

Snape has agreed to help Dumbledore protect Harry. They both know that. No matter how fiercely he argues for Harry's expulsion,  Snape knows that Dumbledore knows he doesn't really want Harry expelled and isn't going to take him seriously. Snape claiming that Harry doesn't deserve to be at Hogwarts is part of the cover story he and Dumbledore are concocting for Voldemort: that Snape has not tried to harm Harry because he believes Harry is an inferior wizard who couldn't possibly be a threat to the Dark Lord. 

Would Snape have liked to see Harry suspended for a while, or better yet, on his knees, pleading to stay at Hogwarts?  Of course! Subconsciously, IMO, Snape wants to make Harry feel the way that James made him feel: frightened, humiliated and hopelessly inferior. And he never misses a chance to do that. But he never presses for Harry to be expelled when there's the slightest chance of it actually happening. 

Consciously,  Snape doesn't want Harry to know that he's protecting him, so any time that he is taking actions for Harry's safety, he has to make it look as if he's doing it for some other reason. But it's necessary for Harry to understand that he could be expelled in order to make sure he doesn't do things that would force Dumbledore to expel him.

 Probably Snape would have liked to see Ron expelled and Harry suspended. But since he has to pretend that there's no special treatment for Harry from him, he can only ask for them both to be expelled, knowing full well that Dumbledore isn't going to do it. 

Pippin