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

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 188832

Pippin wrote:
><snipping the part I agree with>

> 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. 
>
<snip for same reason>

Carol responds:

As indicated, I agree with most of your post. But I don't think that James made Severus feel frightened or hopelessly inferior--humiliated, yes, on the one occasion when James attacked him publicly, but the humiliation was mostly because a girl he liked (and wanted to impress) came to his defense. I think it was anger, not fear, that motivated him. He swears, tries to get his wand, and fights back (fighting dirty just as the other two did), ignoring Sirius and concentrating on James, of whom he is jealous, not because of Quidditch, Remus to the contrary, but because of Lily. He's understandably furious that he was attacked unawares, two on one. In a fair fight, as even Sirius (or is it Remus?) admits, he "gave as good as he got."

Even as a boy, Severus was a talented and brilliant wizard who invented his own spells and had quick reflexes, just not quick enough for boys who already had their wands pointed at him and intended to humiliate him publicly. As an adult, he's a master duelist, and there's no reason to suppose that he wasn't equally talented (if less experienced and wary) at sixteen.

Carol, still wondering how James learned Severus's nonverbal spell