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

[nikkalmati]

No: HPFGUIDX 188822



--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" <dumbledore11214 at ...> wrote:
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> > > 4. Snape implies that he would like to expel Harry. How can this be reconciled with the commitment to help Dumbledore protect Harry we saw him make in "The Prince's Tale"?
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> Alla
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This question is actually something that really bothers me as in I cannot figure this out still. As Zara knows I really struggled with the wording of this question, because I thought it would be rude to say – please only answer the question if you indeed believe that Snape wanted to expel Harry. But that's what my dilemma is, I am someone who in good faith believes that Snape wanted to expel Harry and at the same time I am scratching my head trying to figure out how the hell he was going to fulfill the promise to protect Harry away from Hogwarts.
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> Right, but precisely because the possibility may come up when Dumbledore's hands are tied, I think Snape keeps pushing for it every chance he gets, only I wish I could figure out why  he did that in light of what we know after DH.
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> JMO,
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> Alla
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Nikkalmati

Your right - these two positions are incompatable; therefore, one of them has to give way.  We know Snape promised to protect Harry and that it cannot be done outside of Hogwarts.  Ergo, Snape, no matter what he says to Harry, does not want Harry expelled.

I would point out that nowhere in canon does Snape urge anyone who had the authority to expell Harry to do so.  In addition, he does not appear to even report the fight in the bathroom to DD, thus, preventing DD from having to expell one (or both).

If Snape is particularly angry it is possibly because this incident reminds him of the Prank and that Griffindors never get expelled, even when they should be.

Nikkalmati