Occlumency VERY VERY LONG

[willsonteam]

No: HPFGUIDX 191732

Shaun:
> To me, it does seem that it makes most sense that what Snape does is 
> intended to 'keep Lily Potter's son safe.' That's what Snape has 
> dedicated his life to doing. He has spied and lied and put himself in 
> mortal danger. Not because he's a nice man. He's not. He's a nasty piece 
> of work, and he's done evil in his past - but he has spent his life and 
> risked his life, and gives his life to protect Harry Potter, since 
> failing to protect his mother. And so I do tend to look at Snape's 
> actions in the light of 'how do they protect Harry'?

Potioncat:
This is the best description of Snape I've seen in many a year.

It's all very interesting, how we respond to different characters differently. I found out midway through SS/PS that Snape wasn't the villain. I became curious about his actions before the ending and that affected how I saw him evermore. Along came Rickman!Snape and---what can I say, I'm sure I've defended this character far more than he deserved. The curiosity of "what's he up to--this horrid man who watches over Harry?" caused a bias toward him.

Then look at Sirius Black, two sides of the same coin, these two.

Sirius ends PoA as a hero, but then is never there for Harry. We learn more about his teenage years that he never outgrows and I began to really dislike him. Maybe it's expectations of what a good man should do. So I find myself forgiving the bad man because of the good he does, yet blaming the good man for not doing enough. 

What I really like is that JKR could write characters who cause so much conflict within the reader.