PS 8

[pauraque_bk]

In Chapter 7, neotoma asked whether Snape has ever awarded points -- I can't say I know. (She also notes that there might be fewer Squibs than Muggleborns because fewer Squibs survive, after their relatives try to force magic out of them...!)

Meanwhile, the discussion on Chapter 6 has busted the 100-comment mark. Don't miss nullabona's legal thoughts on who might stand to inherit Sirius's estate. Though it occurs to me, also, that Sirius might not technically have ever been declared dead!


PS 8: The Potions Master

Harry and Ron managed to get on the wrong side of [Filch] on their very first morning. Filch found them trying to force their way through a door which unluckily turned out to be the entrance to the out-of-bounds corridor on the third floor. He wouldn't believe they were lost, was sure they were trying to break into it on purpose and was threatening to lock them in the dungeons when they were rescued by Professor Quirrell, who was passing. (99)

Any significance to the fact that it's Quirrell who bails them out? Is he being careful to keep an eye on this door, or does he not know the Stone's in there yet?

[Mrs Norris] patrolled the corridors alone. Break a rule in front of her, put just one toe out of line, and she'd whisk off for Filch, who'd appear, wheezing, two seconds later. (99)

I prefer to think that Mrs Norris is just a regular cat -- I like the idea of the two "normals" teaming up against the magical majority.

'Ah, yes,' [Snape] said softly, 'Harry Potter. Our new -- celebrity.' (101)

I think we're in a much better position, post-OotP, to analyze what happens in this scene. Although Snape's already given Harry a dirty look once, Harry walks in more or less blind. Snape, meanwhile, walks in essentially expecting a confrontation with James Potter. He supposes Harry will be obsessed with his status, as James was. He also assumes he deliberately made Neville look bad to make himself look good -- as one can easily imagine James having done to Peter.

James wasn't just a jock, he was a *smart* jock. Magic came easily to him, whereas Snape had to work hard for whatever scholastic success he acheived. Now Snape's an academic by profession, and jumps to rub it in Harry's face.

From Harry's perspective, the sudden aggression is bewildering. But it's perfectly consistent, as long as you know that Snape sees Harry as James. (Not *right*, mind you, but consistent.)

'You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making [...] As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly wimmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses ... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death -- if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach.' (102)

Snape never goes on a poetic flight of fancy like this at any other time in the books, and I think this one abberrant speech tends to be given undue weight by fans.

The one thing I do like about this passage is its defensiveness. No one has suggested that potions aren't real magic, yet Snape jumps to defend himself from that criticism.

'Potter!' said Snape suddenly. 'What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?' (102)

I believe it was lizbee who introduced me to the idea of this line (the first Snape addresses directly to Harry) as a hint at Snape/Lily. Asphodel is related to the lily, and wormwood is notable as a bitter plant. Snape suggests putting them together. I like it. (Mind, I don't think *Snape* is trying to tell Harry he loved Lily -- if anything, it'd be a message from JKR to the reader.)

There's also an article at MuggleNet analyzing this as indicating a connection between Lily and Peter.

[Snape] swept around in his long black cloak [...] criticising almost everyone except Malfoy, whom he seemd to like. He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Malfoy had stewed his horned slugs[...] (103)

I'm struck by how similar Snape's first class is to McGonagall's, described just a few paragraphs previously. Snape and McGonagall are both strict; neither are teachers to be messed with, in Harry's opinion. Harry notes that they share the ability to keep a class quiet without effort. They both begin their first class with a speech essentially warning the kids that the subject at hand is complicated and dangerous, and to behave. They both reserve praise for a student Harry dislikes: Snape likes the way Malfoy stews his slugs (and who's to say he didn't do it perfectly?); McGonagall shows the class how well Hermione turned her match to a needle, giving her a "rare smile".

Though admittedly McGonagall doesn't single Harry out to be picked on, their similarities seem more notable than their differences at this early stage. Yet, Harry seems to respect McGonagall straight away.

While there's probably some house bias involved, I think what Harry may be responding to is that McGonagall is successful as an *authority figure* -- whereas Snape has a hard time placing himself firmly above his students. He instead approaches them as peers to be challenged (as he does with Harry, equating him with his old school foe), so when he lays down the law, it's interpreted not as "strictness" within the rules of teacher-student relations, but as ad hominem cruelty.

Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob and their potion was seeping across the stone floor[...]

'Idiot boy!' snarled Snape[...] (103)

Snape's anger isn't hard to understand. You're trying to teach 11-year-olds to work with dangerous chemicals, and one spills them all over the floor.

But after this accident, Snape continues to target Neville for special criticism. It's really quite predatory: he sees weakness, and exploits it. It's also my reading that Snape is bothered by Neville because they're too much alike... they both fear humiliation above all else.

Harry and Ron were delighted to hear Hagrid call Filch 'that old git'.

'An' as fer that cat, Mrs Norris, I'd like ter introduce her to Fang some time. D'yeh know, every time I go up ter the school, she follows me everywhere? Can't get rid of her -- Filch puts her up to it.' (105)

I'd entirely forgotten this. What should Filch have against Hagrid?


Past re-read posts are here.

Comments

[fluffers.livejournal.com]

Snape, meanwhile, walks in essentially expecting a confrontation with James Potter.

Exactly. It's funny, when I re-read the books over this winter break, I was struck when Molly (I think) cries out in OotP: "He's not James, Sirius!...Sometimes the way you talk about him, it's as though you think you've got your best friend back!" p.89 US. The first thought that came to my head was "Huh. Something Snape and Sirius have in common."

I love to look at Snape's behavior toward Harry! It's totally clear from the second Snape sees Harry that he must be just like James. It's an interesting conclusion to jump to. If behavior is largely a product of environment, well, clearly Snape knows Harry didn't grow up with James, so didn't soak up his attitude that way. So does Snape believe that behavior is an inherited trait? But we've seen a glimpse of the kind of home Snape grew up in...does that say something about the way he sees himself, or maybe he's afraid he won't be able to stop from turning into that?

Or possibly he assumes Harry's just been treated like the little champion his whole life, a pretty grand assumption to make about someone else. This is all much clearer in my head. Clearly I shouldn't be th inking this late.

[pauraque]

Although a number of characters occasionally fall into the Harry=James mode of thinking, it's a severe hang-up for three: Snape, Sirius, and Peter. In the Shrieking Shack, Peter expects Harry to act like James -- or rather, like Peter's idealized vision of James -- and spare Peter's life. "You look just like James, James would have spared me" and so on.

It's that idealization that's the thing. Peter wants Harry to be his hero, Sirius wants Harry to be his best friend, Snape wants Harry to be his old enemy. Not only are they not acknowledging Harry's individuality, they're not even acknowledging the full complexity of what _James's_ personality was -- just what they want/need him to be.

What is it about James that inspires this in people? It's pretty amazing to me.

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

Re: neotoma's question about Snape and points - the answer is no; we never see Snape award anybody points in canon, regardless of House.

The points list: http://www.livejournal.com/users/bethbethbeth/126193.html

[fluffers.livejournal.com]

I know we'll find out more about the parents in the next books, but I'm wondering what the source of that information will be--I don't think we can completely trust anything but something like a pensieve, which so far seems to present memories without the distortion of emotion, although the memory selection can be just as misguiding.

James is just such an enigma. One thing is for certain, whatever people's opinions of him are, they're all strong. I don't think we've heard from anyone yet who was like "Oh, yeah, James. Meh. He was all right." The Potters seem to inspire extreme emotion. But, at least in his Hogwarts days, he seemed okay with that, that people didn't ponder his other facets. He himself seemed to have such extreme feelings for others. I'd like to know what exactly caused his little turn around, since others said he settled down a bit after school.

[mandrill.livejournal.com]

I've wondered if perhaps one of the reasons that Snape singles out Neville for "special treatment" might be because Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom might have had something to do with pursuing and/or arresting Snape during the Death Eater round-up in the early 1980s.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

I'm not convinced that Sirius confuses Harry with James. It seems that Rowling wants us to believe it (and possibly believes it herself), but there is hardly any evidence in Sirius' behaviour that indicates his inability to see Harry and James as two different people. Off the top of my head, I can think of two instances where Sirius compares Harry to James: in PoA, before and after the confrontation in the Shack ("Your father would have done the same for me. Brave of you, not to run for a teacher." Chap. 17; "...you fly as well as your father did, Harry." Chap. 19), and OotP, when he tries to persuade Harry to meet up with him in Hogsmeade ("You're less like you father than I think you were." Paraphrased, because I'm too lazy to look up the exact quote.)

All the other times we are told that Sirius think Harry is a copy of James, it's through Molly Weasley (mostly) and Hermione. Now, Molly is not the most reasonable person on earth, nor is she above handing out seriously low blows and making use of emotional blackmail. She's also jealous and pathologically obsessed with keeping Harry in the dark and would go to any length to achieve this aim. I don't believe that because Molly says (and I'm convinced that she would say so even if she didn't believe it, only to weaken Sirius' influence on Harry's life) Sirius confuses Harry with James, it really is so.

But I didn't mean to go onto an anti-Molly rant here. What I mean to say is that we don't know all the facts and that, behind the scenes, Sirius might have indeed been obsessed with Harry=James, but if he was, we've never been shown. We've only been told through biased narrators.

Sirius mentions Harry's likeness to James three times. Snape compares Harry to James all the time, and he treats him like an exact copy of James. The list of characters who have compared Harry to James - and also mentioned "Lily's eyes" - includes Dumbledore, McGonagall, Hagrid and Kingsley. I'm not sure whether Remus did or whether that's movie canon.

I don't think, either, that Sirius sees in Harry his best friend returned; all throughout GoF, Sirius acts the protective adult ("You wouldn't understand... you're too young..." "Try us, why don't you?" "All right, I'll try you." Chap. 27), who nevertheless takes the children seriously as independently thinking and acting human beings. Which is more than can be said about most of the other adult characters.

In OotP, the matter of Harry=James comes up during the argument after dinner, but it is brought up by Molly. "He's not James, Sirius!" (Chap. 5) She continues saying that Sirius sometimes acts as though he thought he had his best friend back, but again, Molly is a) very agitated and not entirely reasonable in this scene and b) I find this a bit rich coming from a woman who disregards the individual characters of her children and tries to turn them all into little Percies (or little Bills with Percy's looks). Sirius himself never shows any signs of confusion about Harry's identity.

Sirius uses emotional blackmail by comparing Harry to James to make him agree to a meeting in Hogsmeade. However, this does not show that Sirius doesn't know who Harry is. It shows that Sirius is prepared to hit where it hurts in order to achieve his aim and to manipulte Harry into doing something that he shouldn't do. By saying, "You're less like your father than I think you were," Sirius is goading Harry on; he could just as well have said, "You're more of a coward than I think you were," or "You're less of a Gryffindor than I think you were," all of which would go in the same direction. By mentioning James, he merely lands the heaviest blow.

[stellahobbit.livejournal.com]

What should Filch have against Hagrid?

Jealousy, perhaps? Both Filch and Hagrid are essentially without magic; Filch because he's a squib and Hagrid because he's not allowed to use any. Both are in 'caretaker' positions in the school so should be equal in status, yet Filch probably sees Hagrid being treated special by Dumbledore (and may have an inkling about the Order of the Phoenix?)

It's also my reading that Snape is bothered by Neville because they're too much alike... they both fear humiliation above all else.

In my decidedly pro-Snape way, I'm hoping he's doing this solely to toughen Neville up. No doubt Snape is aware of Neville's parents and what they suffered, and maybe he even knows there could be some connection re Harry/Neville/born at the end of July.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

Snape, meanwhile, walks in essentially expecting a confrontation with James Potter.

Which is not at all helped by the fact that Harry looks like his dad, right down to the messed-up hair. Unfortunately for Harry, it's natural for him, but Snape is going to think he's doing it deliberately just as James did.

their similarities seem more notable than their differences at this early stage.

McGonagall is noticeably harsh to Neville in GoF, so while she doesn't go after him as relentlessly as Snape does, she's not above dressing him down in front of the other students either.

He instead approaches them as peers to be challenged

Bloodcult-of-Freud picked up in this her fanfic, and I think it's really key to Snape. He *doesn't* see the students as children, or more precisely, he doesn't see *himself* as different from them -- which leads to his appallingly immature behavior, especially when it comes to rivals for Dumbledore's attention.

It's really quite predatory: he sees weakness, and exploits it.

I also think this mindset is quite common in the Wizarding World. There is a 'step or be stepped on' mentality that seems endemic, and is another point that makes me wonder whether charity is considered a virtue among wizards (and how far various religions got into the culture, because it seems to lack the ideals of such).

What should Filch have against Hagrid?

Giant blood, the fact that Hagrid *can* do magic, or maybe just Hagrid's love of monsters? There is a host of possibilities.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

I think it's interesting that of the characters who knew James the best, apparently only Remus has avoided falling into the trap of "Harry=James". Why is that, do you think?

[starpaint.livejournal.com]

I love the topic of Snape and Neville. Absolutely love it. I think you're right about Snape as a predator; he snaps out at his targets and digs low. Sort of like what donnaimmaculata said about Sirius, who manipulates Harry through his adoration of James. The difference being that Snape really doesn't have a goal in calling Hermione a stuck-up know-it-all, or badgering Neville into being even more incompetent than he was. He's going after them because he doesn't like them and because he can. He's a very bitter man.

My other theory - which sounds a lot weaker in comparison - is that Snape dislikes Neville because he doesn't fit the role of an arrogant Gryffindor. He doesn't really fit the prejudice, and Snape likes him less for that. Something like an incompetent tagging along with a pack of idiots. Something like he thought of Pettigrew. And another reminder of the people he hates.

Remus, on Harry=James

[(Anonymous)]

First of all, take into account that Remus is far more rational than Sirius or Snape - He always tries not to prejudge people, as he's probably tired of being prejuged himself. He sees everybody for what they are, and taess a calm attitude to most intense situations.

He also taught harry for a year, and after all those patronus lessons, It would be a bit odd for him not to know harry for harry.

A tangent about Sirius

[millefiori.livejournal.com]

I think you make very, very good points about Sirius! I agree that Sirius didn't confuse Harry with James, and I think their relationship in GoF is probably closest to the truth of things. And I think it's significant that the GOF relationship was mostly carried out away from Dumbledore's scrutiny--once Dumbledore got into the act things started going to hell. At the end of GOF, when Harry could arguably be said to have needed Sirius most, Dumbledore sends him away. Then, in OotP, Sirius is allowed physical proximity to Harry, but no authority. His opinions and advice (something Harry sought and valued in GOF) are now irrelevant. He's not even allowed to speak freely to Harry.

I have no canon proof to back me up on this opinion, but I think the deterioration of Sirius's relationship with Harry in OotP was a side effect of Sirius's bitterness and resentment toward Dumbledore and the other Order members who were denying him his rightful role as Harry's godfather. (More so than his upset at being a prisoner in his hated childhood home, though that's a factor as well.) I can totally see him feeling ashamed and regretful after that comment to Harry comparing him unfavorably to James, and coaching himself to suck it up and do better next time they spoke. I also think his decision to go to the Ministry at the end of OotP, rather than being the act of a stubborn man desperate to escape the house, was the act of a godfather--there's plenty of evidence that Sirius takes that role very seriously--who felt that asking him to sit tight while his godson walked into a deadly trap was just asking too much. I also wouldn't eliminate some (conscious or subconscious) thinking along the lines of, 'If I'm not allowed to do anything else to help him, I might as well do my part to save him from Voldemort.'

I think you're spot on about Molly, and Hermione, as well. The essay 'Anatomy of a Rift' argues very convincingly that Hermione was dead wrong when she tells Harry in GOF that Ron is jealous. If she could be that off base about Ron, what might she be missing when she makes her pronouncements about Sirius? Harry has grown so close to Hermione, and is so used to her being right--which she usually is when it comes to plain information--that he's forgotten about her rather inferior social skills.

Speculation on the acceptance of Snape's behavior

[millefiori.livejournal.com]

I wonder if there might be some misunderstanding going on with regard to Snape's treatment of Harry. (And Neville, too--I'm convinced that a good part of Snape's viciousness to Neville is bleed-off frustration from having Harry in the classroom. If Neville were a Hufflepuff, or in a different year than Harry, I think he probably wouldn't have gotten much worse from Snape than sneers and the occasional mocking comment.)

Everybody in Harry's Potions class *knows* Snape is nasty and biased, since they've all been warned, so they assume Snape's behavior is typical and normal and they don't think to complain. Or when they do complain, it's not specific enough to be taken seriously. ("Snape was so nasty today!" "Oh yeah, Snape's always nasty.") However, what Dumbledore, McGonagall, the older Weasley boys, etc. consider 'nasty and biased' could very well be something a lot more benign than what Snape is doing to and around Harry.

I'm thinking that Dumbledore and McGonagall assume Snape isn't crossing some line, and if he were they would know because kids would complain. And ordinarily Snape *does* stay behind that line, but around Harry he just can't control himself (some wounds are too deep to heal) and he crosses it, repeatedly. But the kids in Harry's class don't know where the line is supposed to be, or even that it exists, but they *do* know that Snape's biased, nasty behavior is accepted at the school. To use a very drastic example, it's like a child being told to shut up and accept the kisses and cheek-pinching of family members and not realizing that instruction does not extend to letting Uncle Bob stick his hand up her dress.

[atdelphi.livejournal.com]

Excellent insight as to Snape vs. McGonagall's way of managing a classroom:

whereas Snape has a hard time placing himself firmly above his students. He instead approaches them as peers to be challenged (as he does with Harry, equating him with his old school foe), so when he lays down the law, it's interpreted not as "strictness" within the rules of teacher-student relations, but as ad hominem cruelty.

I'd never quite thought of it that way, but it fits the sense we have that Snape (like Sirius) has never entirely grown up. With Sirius it's because he's been stuck in Azkaban since he was little more than a teenager, and with Snape it's because he's stuck at Hogwarts. How can he get over the things that happened to him as a boy when he walks by the places they happened every day - when the teachers in charge of him then are still marginally in charge of him now? No wonder he comes off as having the emotional maturity of a teenager sometimes, defencive of what authority he's honestly earned for himself.

I'd entirely forgotten this. What should Filch have against Hagrid?

Hee - I've always rather liked this rivalry, especially the fact that affable Hagrid finally hates someone. It could be the usual manor-house take on below-stairs rivalry. Hagrid is in charge of outdoors, Filch in charge of indoors, and there's bound to be a few in-betweens that they've clashed on. Maybe Filch had the daring to insult Albus Dumbledore in front of Hagrid? As well, I can see Filch seriously resenting Hagrid for having magic despite being expelled at such a young age. And they likely have a lot of history together. Assuming that Filch started working at Hogwarts as an apprentice to Apollyon Pringle as an older teenager, it would have been around the time that Hagrid was still apprenticed to the groundskeeper.

...*will not write young!Filch/Hagrid*

[caesia390.livejournal.com]

This rings completely true. Sirius did not confuse Harry with James. It seems so obvious now that that never happened, that Molly and Hermione were way off base (which reminds me of another Hermione moment that always rang sour with me, Harry's 'saving people thing,' but that's for another discussion. :})

Of course, I think he does see Harry as James's Son, which is to say that he takes his godfather role so seriously because James was his best friend, not because Harry is a cool kid in need of a father figure. So I'd say he identifies himself with James, that he himself is still firmly within that friendship, that parternship. Pulling pranks together, anticipating each other's moves, helping each other out. His role isn't just Godfather, some abstract relationship, but a well-definied role with connotations of friend/uncle/surrogate father, stemming from his close connection with James.

[caesia390.livejournal.com]

Yes, and like Sirius, there was very little in-between time. There were only a few years to 'grow up' and those were in the insanely stressful period of war, almost certainly more so for Snape, who was a Death Eater and then a spy. And then when he *returns* to school, it's not just that he still *feels* like a youth but he *is* still a youth. It wouldn't have been in his head that the students challenge his authority, that the teachers treat him like a student; it would have been fact. And that first year - even if he hadn't been plagued by so much bitterness, there would have been students who remembered him, maybe not as Snivellus, but definitely as a student. An extremely strict, intimidating persona was probably the only option within the limits of his personality for keeping them all in line. A lot of his Death Eater skills, you could say. :}

But then, I do also think that the Snape we see who has to deal with Harry Potter all the time is significantly more stressed out than Snape in a non-Harry year. Someone mentioned it with regard to Neville. While I do think that he attacks Neville for defects he sees in his own personity, I don't think he would have been so defensive without a Potter around to dredge up all his insecurities.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_hannelore/]

I'm not sure where it's been noted, but I know there's been theories and whatnot that Sirius never really quite matured as Remus did. He mentions during into Padfoot in Azkaban in order to better escape the horrors, maybe even dreaming dog dreams of the good ol' days with the Marauders.

I think Sirius is obsessed with Harry as James because of how he seems to reward Harry when he acts like James (good of you not to go to a professor, even though if Harry *had* gone to a professor, Sirius might have not gone to the Dept of Mysteries, etc) and then chides him when he's not like James (the challenge of getting away with someone would be what would have made it fun for him, etc).

I feel as if the way Sirius missed out on the later years of life with his best friends, he is trying to recapture it by starting from day one.

Of course, all those these opinions might be influence by my reading that James and Sirius were bullies, just as Harry views Crabbe and Goyle as bullies. Sirius blames their pranks on Snape as being something boys just do, though he admits that James gives as much hell to Snape all the way through the rest of the school year. Sirius is too stubborn to realize that Snape has real and actual abilities to make better the world Harry and his friends live in (via the Order) and Snape carries over the grudge long enough to goad Sirius in OOtP.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_hannelore/]

But then, I do also think that the Snape we see who has to deal with Harry Potter all the time is significantly more stressed out than Snape in a non-Harry year.

Oh yes! I would love to see a behind-the-scenes ficlet where Snape realizes this is the year Harry Potter is coming to Hogwarts. If he had been brought up in a wizarding family, there's a chance that Snape would have seen Harry even as a very young boy, but in this case he's not seen him at all.

Uhhhhhhnless he did once go to the Dursley's, maybe out of curiosity. Heh.

[caesia390.livejournal.com]

I still think that the *basic* relationship is Sirius-as-Godfather, specifically Sirius, James's best friend, godfather to James's son, in James's absense trying to raise Harry the way James would have - ie, to be like James both in terms of taking joy in pranks and in terms of being responsible for himself (I firmly believe that James did mature, not that he stopped being a prick but that he found more important things to worry about than being a bully). That's the way it is in GoF, when Sirius is free physically and mentally and in control of himself and his situation, and that's the way it is for the majority of OotP.

I think Sirius definitely can't see Snape as anything other than Snivellus, and that in that context he might associate Harry with James. But it's a slip. Sirius thinks of Harry as James's *son*, and thus Sirius's responsibility. It's only rarely that Sirius is in a situation where he instinctively feels that James himself should be there and so his brain makes the jump over to putting Harry in James's place.

[circe-tigana.livejournal.com]

It's also my reading that Snape is bothered by Neville because they're too much alike... they both fear humiliation above all else.


Interesting ... but I'm not certain I agree. Is it humiliation they fear, or the consequences of failure? Neville seems (to me) to be more afraid of letting the other Gryffindors down (Ie: losing them points) than he is of being humiliated and/or embarrassed by his mistakes.

[atdelphi.livejournal.com]

But then, I do also think that the Snape we see who has to deal with Harry Potter all the time is significantly more stressed out than Snape in a non-Harry year.

Exactly - that's why I often like writing fic that takes place after he's been a teacher for a few years, but before Harry's arrival is imminenent. It's interesting to speculate what he was like when he didn't have to deal with Harry Potter every day. After all, it's not like he just has to teach Harry - he has to protect him as well (which Harry doesn't make easy) and come to terms with the fact that Voldemort is finally returning. That's a lot of stress.

[caesia390.livejournal.com]

I think perhaps it's more the fact that Neville *can* be intimidated. It's something Snape absolutely hates in himself - he hates feelings of helplessness and fear. That's how he felt around his father's violence and it's the weakness the marauders caught him in. So with Neville it could be seen as trying to toughen him up, but it's not remotely effective, so really Snape's just punishing the signs of weakness he can't allow himself or anyone.

[caesia390.livejournal.com]

Poor Snape. If he survives Harry's seventh year, I think the younger students will see quite a change in their professor. A relaxation, anyway. :}

[caesia390.livejournal.com]

To put it more dramatically, I'd say that Snape hates Neville because Neville reminds him of Snivellus.

And Snivellus is on his mind because with Harry around, all those insecurities are closer to the surface.

[pauraque]

I don't really agree. Though I understand what you're saying about biased informants, and I agree that Sirius is manipulating Harry, I also think he really _is_ disappointed that Harry isn't just like James. Admittedly, he is able to see that they do differ (which seems to indicate that he's less hung up on the issue than Snape or Peter), but he still harbors the expectation that Harry will grow up to be like James.

Sirius is prepared to hit where it hurts in order to achieve his aim and to manipulte Harry into doing something that he shouldn't do.

I guess where we mainly differ is that I don't think he's entirely conscious of the fact that he _is_ manipulating Harry, and I think the underlying reason that it happens is that he wants Harry to conform to his (selfish) vision of how Harry should be -- like James.