Snape and Harry and expulsion WAS: Re: CHAPTER DISCUSSION Chamber of Secrets

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 188818


> 
> Alla:
> . If Harry IS suspended, and the term is not over yet, would he not have to go somewhere which is not Hogwarts? Would not the threat to his life increase drastically outside of Hogwarts? Who cares if this is only for a few days? It will only take a second to kill him, right and he will never return to Hogwarts anyway lol.
> 
> So I think if you agree that Snape may only want Harry suspended, you have the same dilemma as I do.

Pippin:
Harry is in the hospital wing. He's not going anywhere till he recovers, suspended or no. Term is only going to last a few more days, and then he'll be going back to the Dursleys, where he has spent most of the last twelve years. Snape has no reason to think that returning to the Dursleys a few days sooner than he would have anyway would put Harry in mortal peril. 

Snape has made a study of Dark Magic and he knows all about the power of love -- he'd know that Voldemort can't get at Harry there. And he's certainly never been afraid of Petunia, whom he knows. If she were a killer, she'd have done in her sister a long time ago. <g>

But much more than that, it wouldn't matter if Snape did convince Fudge that Harry deserves to be expelled or suspended for breaking school rules. Fudge doesn't have the power to do it. Per OOP, the ministry can only punish Harry for breaking wizarding law. Snape not only provides an excuse for Harry's attack on him, he utterly fails to put two and two together and accuse Harry of misusing a time turner.  So altogether, JKR has given us four instances where Harry broke wizarding law.  Snape could have gone over Dumbledore's head, and he not only doesn't do it, he doesn't even try. That's way too much for coincidence. 

He doesn't want Harry expelled, IMO, he just wants validation for his opinion that Harry is a shameless rulebreaker who gets away with everything.   

The people who can expel Harry for breaking school rules are McGonagall and Dumbledore. But Snape knows that just establishing that Harry broke the rules isn't going to make them do it. He's been working for and with these people for more than a decade: he knows McGonagall is a softie at heart and that Dumbledore isn't going to punish anyone (including Snape himself) unless it serves the greater good. 

So I just don't see a serious effort to get Harry expelled. Does Snape think that Harry has broken rules that carry the penalty of expulsion and does he try to establish that? Yes. But can he possibly  think that by doing this he will get Harry expelled? IMO, no. 

 Pippin