[HPforGrownups] Re: Snape and Harry

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 188961

Karen wrote:
> He was I think trapped in his cover story no matter if he might have wanted to seek a better relationship with Harry, he dared not. Even if he had loved Harry as Lily's son, how could he have showed it and not potentially compromised himself? The fact that Harry seemed so much like his father probably just made Snape feel more comfortable in his cover.
>   

Bart:
    I think it is far more complex than that. There are a bunch of 
contradictions involved, here. He saw Harry as the girl he loved and the 
boy he hated ("girl" and "boy" being used very much on purpose here; as 
far as we know, he never knew the woman and man they became). He also 
has a degree of self-hatred. In terms of skill and talent, he is up 
there with DD and Morty, yet he threw it all away for empty praise from 
phony friends who just wanted to use him. He's largely to blame for 
Lily's death, but it's only human for him to put a large part of the 
blame on Harry (as I have mentioned before, much like Ebenezer Scrooge 
in "A Christmas Carol" was cold towards his nephew because Scrooge's 
beloved sister died in childbirth). It's a shame that Snape doesn't see 
that there IS a James/Snape style rivalry going on between Draco and 
Potter, except the roles are largely reversed.

    Also, before I jumped on the LOLLIPOPS bandwagon, I considered a 
major part of Snape's feelings towards Harry a Salieri/Mozart kind of 
thing, where Snape works hard to achieve his victories, and Harry 
practically falls into his own, while Snape necessarily gets no credit, 
and Harry gets all the accolades (I will point out that while Harry's 
luck factor is not as high as Snape thinks it is, it IS pretty high).

    And, finally, he's charged with protecting Harry, yet he has to keep 
it secret, AND Harry insists on risking his life every few weeks. This 
can be frustrating for ANYBODY.

    As I've said before, I think that when Snape talks about getting 
Harry expelled, he's playing "bad cop". And, once again, other than 
Hagrid, who was thought to have caused a student to die due to his 
reckless breaking of the rules, we know of no student who has ever been 
expelled from Hogwarts. As I've said, I think that "expulsion" in 
Hogwarts is like the death penalty in the Old Testament; bandied about a 
lot, but almost never actually exercised.

    Bart