Snape's Remorse

[pippin_999]

Something jumped out at me on 3rd re-read.
In the final confrontation between Snape and Harry,
Snape's words are almost bantering when Harry calls 
him a coward  the first time, though he has to shout 
as there's so much other noise.

"Coward, did you call me, Potter?" shouted Snape. "Your
father would never attack me unless it was four on one,
what would you call him, I wonder?"

Translation: I've got you outnumbered five to one, you
idiot, and you think it's cowardice that keeps me from
attacking you? 

It never has seemed before that Snape is
troubled by  an accusation of cowardice -- if he was,
surely Sirius would have thrown it right back at him
when they were fighting at GP? And Slytherins don't
really mind being considered cowards by Gryffindors,
at least if Phineas is any guide. They don't see anything
wrong with saving their own skins first.

Harry sees Snape with the same look of rage he had
on the tower, which could mean he was acting both
times. 

But then Harry says, "Kill me like you killed him, you 
coward--" and we get a reaction we've *never* seen
before...

"DON'T--" screamed Snape, and his face was suddenly
demented, inhuman, as though he was in as much pain
as the yelping, howling dog stuck in the burning house
behind them --"CALL ME COWARD!"


Now, Harry is only thinking of Dumbledore when he
says "like you killed him," but Snape has been talking
of James. Could it be that the "DON'T--" is our first glimpse of
Snape's remorse for his part in James's death, an interpretation
reinforced  by the hellish image of the dog burning alive, and the 
word 'demented' which calls up worst memories?

Then, realizing he's giving himself away, Snape
finishes with "CALL ME  COWARD!" 

What do you think?


Pippin