[HPforGrownups] Re: If the Marauders weren't so mean to Snape would he have been nicer to Harry.

[Shelley]

No: HPFGUIDX 192496


> Crescent:
> I also think Snape going into Slytherin condemned him in Dumbledore's eyes.
> Remember how the Marauders were always getting away with breaking rules (as
> does Harry, but for very different reasons) and McGonagal and Dumbledore
> always have these rose-colored glasses through which they remember James
> Potter. Add the shrieking shack incident with Sirius setting Snape up to be
> murdered and Dumbeldore doing almost nothing about it except threatening
> Snape not to tell anyone Lupin's secret and you almost see Dumbledore
> pushing him into Voldemort's camp. Why do I say that? Because the leader of
> the light side is basically making it clear that not only can they bully
> Snape, but they can try to murder him as well. If it were me, even if I
> didn't much like Voldemort I might have joined for protection!
Shelley:

I guess I see that incident slightly different- Dumbledore had a very 
real reason for protecting Lupin, and it wasn't for Lupin's sake. There 
were entrances into Hogwarts from the outside, and secret places that 
weren't known to the "general public", and Snape telling others would 
just open up a whole world for the students to search for more of those 
secret places, and in the process, put themselves in danger. (They found 
them anyway, such as the way to the kitchens, the Vanishing Cabinet, the 
tunnel exit to Hogsmead, and the Room of Requirement, and later, the 
entrance to the Chamber of Secrets). The Whomping Willow was a special 
piece of magic that could be used for a great many things, but only if 
it's secret was held by a select few.

Murder, or an attempt to murder, was a very heavy charge that was not 
leveled at the Mauraders, in part because what happened to Snape was of 
his own doing, and in part because someone went to valiant efforts to 
save him the natural consequences of his own actions. No one put Snape 
in harm's way but Snape. But Snape being Snape, he doesn't take 
responsibility for himself, instead, he's got to put blame on others.

I disagree with the Protection theory- in part because the bullying of 
Snape I think extends out to his last day at the school, and his being a 
Death Eater happened while he was at school, so the two overlap, showing 
no protection (or not full protection) from everyday events. Voldemort 
had no desire, and no need, to protect Snape from being teased at 
school. There was nothing in it for him. Instead, Voldemort was much 
more likely to rub Snape's nose in it if would goad Snape into doing 
what he wanted him to do, just as he did to Wormtail.

Shelley