So, last night I got to thinking what I want Snape in my interpretation to look like, so please take this offering with my thought process
And after that I also made a rough sketch for a fun idea with a late night sneaking around that I l've got, so here's that as well
"Detention, Potter."
Something i’ve been kind of mulling over and thinking about in regards to Snape– and which I find frustrating, but endearing– is how… he is continually disadvantaged and disregarded by systems of power and persons of authority… but he chooses to work within their framework, anyways.
Snape is Lawful-neutral, to his own detriment. Hear me out.
Like, as a student, he gets bullied. It’s 4 against 1, and he’d have a hard time picking them off if he wanted to go a more aggressive or lethal route. In any case, he tends to be reactionary, rather than necessarily going out of his way to find and attack them… So, he tries to get them expelled, because that would be a way to remove all 4 of his threats at once, and it’s not as if they don’t consistently break the rules… Shouldn’t people who break the rules and mistreat others be punished? So when he’s almost lead to his death at the Shrieking Shack, he appeals to the system of authority (of whom Dumbledore is the purveyor, in this case) with what he feels is a pretty airtight case against his bullies…
…and he gets written off, and blackmailed into keeping his mouth shut.
If it were me, that kind of slap in the face would ensure i never respected another authority figure again in my life tbh. The Law and the gods that govern it would be dead to me. Anyways…
Being a werewolf does not inherently make Lupin a bad person. But being a good person does not make Lupin inherently safe. The point is: when you transform into a werewolf, you lose control of yourself, and that can result in you killing, maiming, or infecting other people. Lupin knows this. He’s known it for over 20 years,
As of 1993, there was this great new discovery: the Wolfsbane Potion, which helps to curb the effects of lycanthropy, right? It’s super expensive and super hard to make, but it’s an effective way to mitigate the more vicious effects of a transformation– it turns the drinker into a harmless wolf, rather than a werewolf, at the time of the full moon. A wolf, who is easier to control or subdue if one is confronted with it, and who seems to retain some semblence of control during the transformation (Lupin having described himself as curling up in his office during his transformations).
You may be thinking that wolfsbane potion is the closest thing to a preventative that the Wizarding World has circa 1993, and you’d be right. It’s not a cure, and people who drink it can still infect others, but damn, it makes it way more manageable.
We know that Severus, on more than one occasion, goes out of his way to give Lupin his potion (whether Lupin continually forgets to take it, or purposefully “forgets” to take it as a small power play/intimidation game against Snape is up for interpretation). Either way, we know that Lupin regularly forgets to take the life-changing potion unless prompted, which kind of makes him out as reckless. A timebomb.
Severus, who is not only a virtuoso on the Dark Arts and all that it entails (and thus, academically, very informed on the dangers that (non-medicated) Werewolves pose), is also intimately and personally aware of the threat Lupin poses to a school full of children as well as the staff, because of his experience in the 70s. Snape brings all of this up to Dumbledore…
…who repeatedly dismisses his well-founded and logical fears.
Snape is still beholden to Dumbledore’s insistance that he keep his mouth shut. Which he does for most of the year. The very explicit parameters of the system are: do not tell anyone that Lupin is a werewolf.
So, being the logical thinker that Snape is, he looks for (and finds) a way to achieve his desired outcome (informing people that Lupin is a werewolf) in a way that does work within those parameters. He can’t tell anyone outright that Lupin is a werewolf, but like… what if someone figured it out on their own?
Then we have Snape in the Shrieking Shack with the kids, Sirius, and Lupin.
Harry, in the moment after Black disarmed them all, straight-up wanted to kill Sirius. He gets his wand back, and he is about to fucking murder this guy, until crookshanks sits over his heart.
Snape comes up the stairs to the 2nd floor of the shack, right? He’s wearing the Invisibility cloak. No one knows he’s there or hears him coming. He could have killed Sirius in an instant, without anyone knowing. He could kill Sirius AND Lupin if he wanted to, and dump the corpses on the ministry steps, and convince the minister that he had deduced that they were working together months ago.
He could easily explain to the minister that he knew they were childhood friends, that Lupin started working at Hogwarts at the exact same time Black “wanted to infiltrate” Hogwarts, and that his speculations were dismissed. He could say all of this with the kids and Dumbledore to corroborate his story (since he arrives at the Shrieking Shack BEFORE the kids get the low-down on Pettigrew) and he would STILL get his order of Merlin (maybe 2?) But instead of killing them…
…he disarms and restrains them.
He’s like “Yeah, I’m handing you off to the Dementors, dickhead” but it’s important to remember… he disarms them, restrains them, and is willing to turn them over to the “authorities.” Even though, at this point, he whole-heartedly believes that 1. Black is a murderer, who killed like 23 people, and who broke out of wizard prison and 2. Lupin, a werewolf who has consistently not taken his potion and whom Snape believes has conspired to kill him in the past, is aiding and abetting said murderer… Severus Snape does not take the law into his own hands. He’s not about Vigilante Justice.
And… he gets disarmed, thrown against a wall, and almost ends up attacked by a werewolf for it later. heh
This is just up to the first 3 books, because i just finished re-reading them, but i’m certain there are more examples of these types of exchange in subsequent books. In any case, I love how the books have this consistent theme of “Harry distrusts authority, disrespects it, and challenges the system,” that’s all very good.
But i also love that Severus Snape, the dude that everyone argues is super unfair, petty, spiteful, etc… attempts to use strategic thinking to operate within the paramaters of these systems, and tries to maintain respect for these systems, and consistently gets his ass handed to him for it. I love you, you lawful-neutral dumbass.
I love this, and I’d argue that Snape’s desperation for specifically institutional power is the result of his institutional disenfranchisement rather than in spite of it, but I’m also interested in how and why Snape’s use of the system changes as he gets older.
As a child, Snape wholeheartedly believes in the Wizarding world as the solution to all of his oh-so-Muggle problems. He’s already rejected everything Muggle – his father, Lily’s sister, even his Muggle clothes the second he boards the Hogwarts express – and he can’t understand why Lily still cares about anything outside of escaping Cokeworth. He blows past her sorrow at Petunia’s anger: “‘But we’re going!’ he said, unable to suppress the exhilaration in his voice. ‘This is it! We’re off to Hogwarts!’” (Deathly Hallows, ch. 33). He has absolute faith in the Wizarding world as his salvation, and in his ability to succeed in a society he believes will be fair where the world of his birth never has been. He longs for the systemic power that his childhood denied him (social respect), and he believes that magic will provide a fair playing field in which to achieve it. Childhood faith is a powerful thing, and it takes years of relentless bullying culminating in (as @the-witches-son points out) his public assault and near-murder before it finally shatters.
Once it does shatter, adolescent Snape finally tries to abandon the system – he joins the Death Eaters, the ultimate anti-establishment movement of his era. He rebels completely against mainstream Wizarding laws and society, and the result is the murder of the only person he’s ever loved in the world. His attempts to save and then honour her lead him to Dumbledore, and by the time Harry meets him the system is all that Snape has available to him. I doubt very much that renegade behaviour like murdering Black and Lupin in the Shrieking Shack would go over well with his new boss; his loyalty to Dumbledore and to Dumbledore’s cause has hemmed him in.
Of course, despite it all, he does still in his heart of hearts long for institutional respect. (Not love, mind you. He couldn’t give less of a damn at this point that society doesn’t like him. He only wants them to admire him.) He infamously takes advantage of his position of authority within Hogwarts, bullying his students and emphasizing that Harry must use his titles of respect (‘professor’ or ‘sir’) at all times (Order of the Phoenix, ch. 24). He’s clearly very pleased when Fudge, still believing him to be the hero who captured Black, tells him that “it was lucky you were there, Snape” and that he’ll surely deserve an “Order of Merlin, Second Class, I’d say. First Class, if I can wangle it!” Snape’s expression and tone in this exchange (somewhat uncharacteristically) aren’t described, but he responds first with “Thank you, Minister” and then with “Thank you very much indeed, Minister,” which I can just hear in his quietly smug voice. He also knows exactly how to speak to and manipulate authority figures, taking the opportunity to clear Harry and co. of assaulting him by telling Fudge that “Black had bewitched them, I saw it immediately. A Confundus Charm, to judge by their behaviour. […] They weren’t responsible for their actions” and yet simultaneously to forward his case that Harry’s routine recklessness deserves to be punished (Prisoner of Azkaban, ch. 21). He gets the Minister’s ear and he hangs onto it, and he later flies into a caps-locked rage when he sees all of that power slipping through his fingers (ch. 22).
Speaking of punishing Harry, I was also thinking yesterday about the relative fairness of Snape’s teaching and grading methods. I’d never in my life argue that Snape is a responsible educator who should be allowed within 100 yards of children; he’s cruel to Neville, he favours his own house and pet student (Malfoy), he bullies the Gryffindors, he probably deliberately mind-fucks his students with his exam subjects, he uses public embarrassment as a pedagogical methodology. All that said, the only student he ever tries outright to grade unfairly is Harry. Hermione, despite having to endure Snape’s usual Gryffindor-directed taunts as well as the flack she catches for being Harry’s friend, apparently does quite well in potions. Even Ron scrapes by, as do the rest of the Gryffindors. It is, of course, heavily implied that Snape tries deliberately to fail Harry in third year: “Harry was amazed that he had got through Potions. He had a shrewd suspicion that Dumbledore had stepped in to stop Snape failing him on purpose” (Prisoner of Azkaban, ch. 22). It’s also heavily implied that he deliberately smashes Harry’s exam submission in fifth year: “He had just turned away when he heard a smashing noise. Malfoy gave a gleeful yell of laughter. Harry whipped around. His potion sample lay in pieces on the floor and Snape was watching him with a look of gloating pleasure. ‘Whoops,’ he said softly. ‘Another zero, then, Potter’” (Order of the Phoenix, ch. 29). Apart, however, from the very special case that is Harry Potter, Snape appears to toe the system’s line, deriving part of the systemic respect he craves from his classes’ academic performance.
Snape wants the rules to be fair – despite everything, despite his own hypocritical unfairness and his spy work and the death of the only person who’d ever sincerely liked him, he still strives for a place of respect within the Wizarding world. He respects the system because he wants to be able to manipulate the system to his advantage. Even as a Death Eater, what appeals to Snape about Voldemort’s movement is the ability to rise within a hierarchy; as Dumbledore’s spy, what appeals to him is gaining Dumbledore’s trust in his intelligence and abilities. In spite of it all, some part of him will always be that little boy with faith that magic will be his salvation.
I loved this, i was so stoked to read all this good good snape meta, and it made me think of some other stuff, Cause, if we’re frank about it, the driving desire for institutional reknown/power is such a Slytherin thing to want, haha Your reblog really sparked a lot of ideas in my brain. Like, i think you really hit the nail on the head in regards to him wanting the rules to be fair, and that by climbing the ranks and playing the game within various institutions, he feels like he could make them fair. Esp in regards to Snape’s grading and teaching methods, cause i always felt that (while an intimidating and hyper-critical teacher who never doles out praise nor house points) he probably feels as if he’s the great equaliser at the school. He probably feels as if he really is being fair. Like, his own house (to which he not only belonged, but of which he’s the head of now, going back to what u said about him wanting institutional respect) his own house has been one that was.. ostricised? criticised? looked harshly upon for decades if not centures. It’s to the point that 11 year old first years and Adults alike (coughHagridcough) assert that Slytherins = Bad. This reputation of ill repute, combined with his past unfair treatment and the lack of support from authority figures (esp Dumbledore, who was also in Gryffindor), he probably feels like his own house is really disadvantaged while Gryffindor is really favoured within the Hogwarts microcosm, so any over-harshness he expresses towards Gryffindor probably feels like he’s leveling the playing field. Other people have talked at-length about Snape’s teaching and whether it’s overly-strict, par for the course (in regards to Hogwarts/England at the time) or downright awful (some examples here and here off the dome). They’ve already taken a closer look at the intricacies of Snape’s actions in the classroom vs. harry’s perception (our narrator) of Snape’s actions in the classroom, and have done a waaaaay better job than i could. I also suspect that, outside of James-related pettiness, it’s also a contributing factor to how he treats Harry. If, during his Hogwarts years, Snape had done half the dangerous stuff the Golden Trio had done, or had broken nearly as many rules (and laws) as Harry & Co had done, he’d have had his ass handed to him haha But Harry manages to have so many adults really going out of their way and looking out for him and covering for him, he manages to maintain his fame and popularity, not to mention he gets awarded a ton of bogus house points at the end of HP1 (thus snatching the rightful victory from Slytherin House), Snape probably feels like he’s the only person who treats Harry fairly by… being harsher with him than anyone else is.
This is a great elaboration on how Snape and Harry view fairness differently, and how that affects Snape’s treatment of Harry specifically and Gryffindor house generally. There is an interesting triple layer of perception at work here. There is what Harry perceives and what is thus presented to the reader; there is what Snape believes; and then there is what is actually happening, and all three of these layers are rarely-if-ever in sync.
I absolutely think you’re right – Snape sees his favoritism toward Slytherin and his harshness toward Harry as a justified leveling of the playing field. Snape consistently frames his behaviour toward Harry not as unfairness but as simply treating him “like any other student” (Prisoner of Azkaban, ch. 21), refusing to allow him the indulgences that he sees others allowing due to Harry’s fame. He’s wrong, of course; as Dumbledore says, “You see what you expect to see, Severus” (Deathly Hallows, ch. 33), and what he expects to see is James. Nevertheless, in Snape’s mind it’s specifically fairness, rather than unfairness, which motivates his nastiness toward Harry and his friends.
I also suspect that, outside of James-related pettiness, it’s also a contributing factor to how he treats Harry. If, during his Hogwarts years, Snape had done half the dangerous stuff the Golden Trio had done, or had broken nearly as many rules (and laws) as Harry & Co had done, he’d have had his ass handed to him haha But Harry manages to have so many adults really going out of their way and looking out for him and covering for him, he manages to maintain his fame and popularity, not to mention he gets awarded a ton of bogus house points at the end of HP1 (thus snatching the rightful victory from Slytherin House), Snape probably feels like he’s the only person who treats Harry fairly by… being harsher with him than anyone else is.
I absolutely think you’re right – Snape sees his favoritism toward Slytherin and his harshness toward Harry as a justified leveling of the playing field. Snape consistently frames his behaviour toward Harry not as unfairness but as simply treating him “like any other student” (Prisoner of Azkaban, ch. 21), refusing to allow him the indulgences that he sees others allowing due to Harry’s fame. He’s wrong, of course; as Dumbledore says, “You see what you expect to see, Severus” (Deathly Hallows, ch. 33), and what he expects to see is James. Nevertheless, in Snape’s mind it’s specifically fairness, rather than unfairness, which motivates his nastiness toward Harry and his friends.
These two quotes from @the-witches-son and @professormcguire respectively really do encapsulate the way that I typically interpret Snape’s perception of his behavior as a teacher, specifically towards Harry. I’ve alluded to it before but I would also suggest that Snape’s own experiences at Hogwarts as a student may also have influenced his perceptions of appropriate teaching behavior. As @the-witches-son notes, had Snape attempted to do some of the things Harry did or take the risks he did it is possible his own behavior would not have been rewarded.
Indeed, we know that the one canonical occasion where Snape behaves like Harry and breaks curfew to investigate where Lupin went using the Whomping Willow (comparable to Harry breaking curfew to investigate Draco’s involvement in any number of suspected schemes from book two to six) not only does he almost lose his life (or at least risk being horribly maimed by a fully transformed Lupin) attempting to get his school bullies expelled but the headmaster of Hogwarts threatens him with expulsion instead. Rather than uncovering an instance of rule-breaking by the Marauders, he learns that Dumbledore has arranged for Lupin to use the Whomping Willow so he can attend the school. While Dumbledore was at least formerly unaware of the Marauders involvement or the fact Lupin had been leaving the Shrieking Shack to romp around as a werewolf with his friends, nonetheless, he’s forced to protect Lupin and his own position as headmaster of the school by using his position of authority to force Snape into silence.
One might loosely compare this experience to the one Draco Malfoy has with McGonagall when he spies the Trio sneaking out after curfew and informs McGonagall only to get detention with them for being out after curfew himself. Meanwhile, we know Harry makes a regular practice of breaking curfew via the Invisibility Cloak that Dumbledore gifted to Harry, that he uses the Marauders Map and on one occasion Polyjuice potion to spy on his classmates and any number of other offenses that would typically merit a student being punished or even expelled. The reader may be joining Harry and, from Harry’s perspective, feel that the end justifies the means but ultimately Harry is basically a repeat offender when it comes to rule-breaking at the school and on multiple occasions breaking the rules is something that comes with rewards for him. In HP: PS ignoring Hooch’s threats of punishment and expulsion, Harry’s rule-breaking gets him a spot on the Quidditch team and a top-of-the-line broom, for instance, and even Hermione remarks sourly on Harry feeling he was being rewarded for rule-breaking.
In short, Rowling’s series is largely structured in a way where it does canonically seem that rule-breaking may favor one hour over the other. When Harry does it, he often stands to gain more than he loses. When someone from Slytherin does it, the reader is encouraged to frown upon it and root for their failure. Which makes the series interesting when read from a Slytherin character’s perspective. Particularly, when you read from Snape’s perspective you might make a case that he did have a reason to see his house as being victim to systemic disenfranchisement. He would have witnessed firsthand as a student the way that figures of authority could seemingly abuse their power when it suited them and he may have thought very little of abusing his own position of authority in order to even the odds for his house just a little in a school where the headmaster comes from Gryffindor, the deputy headmistress comes from Gryffindor, and all the other houses show they can unite when the common goal is rooting against Slytherin.
Lots of good things in this meta :)
Re: Snape’s perceptions of fairness:
He starts teaching in the immediate aftermath of Voldemort’s downfall, when the side claiming Slytherin as a figurehead and ideal, and associating Slytherin with the Dark Arts, bigotry, and terrorism, has just lost a major power struggle; it is highly likely that Slytherin House is catching a good amount of the blame for the war and its causes, and is perhaps being treated like defeated enemies often get treated after wars: judged, forced to shoulder blame, perceived as owing reparations, and treated with resentment and hatred by the people it harmed, who might feel that even cruelty from them is justified, honorable, and good because “they deserve it.”
This would be a highly familiar refrain to Severus Snape, who’s been targeted for his House and his Dark Arts affinity ever since James Potter showed up in his compartment on the Hogwarts Express. He has suffered all his life from people who claim to be Good while reveling in their own cruelty, alternating with people who simply claim status of some kind while reveling in their own cruelty. (Tobias Snape might have claimed fatherhood; Petunia, money/class and later normality; Dumbledore, the “greater good” of protecting Remus’ reputation and quality of life. James and Sirius got both the use of their pureblood ancestry and the rejection of it, and seem to think there’s nothing too cruel about tormenting someone whom they can accuse of getting involved with the Dark Arts.)
He would absolutely see Slytherin as the disadvantaged and unfairly maligned House at Hogwarts, disliked and ganged up on by the other three, with himself as the only person who would bother to advocate for them and demand their fair treatment. His use of the points system is in line with this, as is his strictness towards other Houses while offering respect and praise to the Slytherins.
His treatment of Harry as well falls under this paradigm. We could compare his perception of Harry to Dumbledore’s pronouncement of judgment on Dudley: in Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore flat-out declares Petunia and Vernon’s spoiling of Dudley as an appalling mistreatment that is worse than the neglect, abuse, and resentment they’ve heaped on Harry. We are meant to agree with this: look at Dudley at age eleven, with “only” thirty-six birthday presents being a cause for misery, and compare him with Harry a few days later, delighted with his first-ever birthday cake. (Of course, both are terrible ways to raise a child; Harry’s simple delight at such a small thing is not worth the decade of deprivation he went through. But we are meant to agree with the message that Dudley’s indulgent upbringing, and Draco’s, do them a great disservice.)
Snape, seeing Harry get away with a multitude of sins due to the other visible authority figures giving him a pass, might view his harsher treatment of Harry as not only justified but as a necessity and even a kindness: correcting errors in Harry’s self-perception that would lead him into greater danger and personal tragedy if left unchecked, and instilling in him valuable concepts like self-discipline and the ability to work rather than coast. Snape is probably familiar with spoiled pureblood children at this point, and has his work cut out for him undermining those effects in his Slytherins from a less “bad cop” position; he likely considers it a relief, in a way, to be able to correct such budding character flaws in people of the other Houses, especially Harry Potter, in a more direct way.
(This includes Neville; his perception, misguided as it is, probably started out being an assumption that a spoiled-darling Gryffindor pureblood just can’t be bothered to read instructions, pay attention, or put the slightest bit of effort in. Why expect fear and intimidation from a Gryffindor? If he was really that frightened, that timid, how did he get into that House? Of course we the audience know how wrong he is. His terrorizing of Neville is the go-to evidence of his cruelty. Yet it is not credibly different from the treatment we’re supposed to cheer for when given to Dudley, who is given a pig’s tail at age eleven, given a massively swollen tongue at age fourteen, and attacked with a Dementor at age fifteen, and who is depicted as terrified all three times. The only distinction is that we are showed Dudley being cruel beforehand, positing the magic-induced terror as just desserts, and Snape’s assumption of Neville’s character is only an assumption, and incorrect.)
(I should make clear: Snape is responsible for the effects of being wrong here. I am not condoning his treatment of Neville, just providing a possible explanation for it.)
All of this would have served to solidify Snape’s perception of unfairness toward Slytherin House from his childhood experiences, when Slytherin House’s status was such that he was a convenient target for bullies from another House to torment with relative impunity.
What he took from the whole situation, though, is sort of the inverse of Harry’s takeaway from his own mistreatment: while Harry lost faith in the authorities early, dismissing their power as he condemned their worth, Snape acknowledged and credited their power enough to covet it and to seek to use it, rework it, make it more fair. These are, absolutely, chaotic and lawful alignments personified.
Snape’s whole life is an attempt to achieve power and be respected and admired for it, to force it to work for him as it has previously worked against it. Harry’s whole life, meanwhile, is an attempt to struggle against power and tear it down whenever it tries to work against him. Snape’s guiding principle is his ambition to be powerful and use it for what he perceives as good; Harry’s guiding principle is his courage to stand against power in an attempt to destroy it. This is beautifully fitting for a pair of rivals who each chose their House: Severus claiming Slytherin on the train, and Harry fighting with the Hat and admiring, and regularly near-repeating, his parents’ sacrifice.
I would also like to add that it is heavily implied that a lot of why Snape is kept out of positions of power is because he is considered a person of no real consequence. He’s described as ugly and socially awkward. He comes from a low socio-economic background. He has a muggle father in a society that still very severely frowns upon intermarriage (at least in the highest echelons where all the power and old money resides) and creates a caste system of sorts based on blood. And since his mother was a pureblood, I can assure you that her fall from “grace” was probably a huge dark mark (so to speak) on Snape’s back from day one. He is the proof of someone pureblooded procreating with a “dirty muggle” and regardless of his hard work and willingness to kowtow to authority and play by the rules, he is always shut out in the end.
Hell, the fact that he dies horribly, still considered by most to be a villain of the worst order and even the other death eaters seem to hate him, simply shows that no matter what he does, he’s still already lost before he tried to play the game.
So so so many good points here from fantastic writers. A must read
So good. Snape twisting his power to make Hogwarts more fair in his own eyes, in the eyes of a Slytherin tormented by the other Houses for his whole life, with impunity; this is what I like. Harry has the pov of a favoured child inside a House. Snape has the pov of a casted off (young) adult teacher over four Houses. Of course he’ll be perceived unfair in this damn hole of Hogwarts.
Jumping on a 5+ year old post just because I recently wrote about it and am still thinking about it? Yes, please.
Re: there being more examples of Snape (more or less) strictly operating within the rules, he even does this when it comes to “unfair” punishments in school (at least in the early books; I haven’t yet had a chance to reread the later ones to find more details).
Snape doesn’t punish Harry for things he knows Harry has done if he doesn’t have proof. He could make up that he saw Harry throw the firework in CoS and use it to punish Harry - but he doesn’t, even though he’s probably 99.9% sure it was Harry. He could say that he had evidence that Harry broke into his stores in CoS (Hermione turning into a cat is pretty compelling evidence), and he could make it up again in GoF - but he doesn’t. When it comes to school punishments, he acts on what he knows for certain.
Sure, he employs the rules more often against Harry - but Harry also has a tendency to 1. completely demolish the school rules and even break the law and receive no actual punishment for it from anyone else anyway, and 2. to completely overblow anything Snape does - or might do. In my meta I looked at any mention of a punishment - and Harry often thinks that Snape would or will give him a detention, or take points, etc, even when Snape actually doesn’t. Snape’s (hypothetical) punishments are probably mentioned just as much, and with more biased narration of events, than every other teacher’s real or imagined punishments in 6 years combined. Harry’s hypothetical punishments give the impression that Snape is going around deducting points from Gryffindor and favouring Slytherins all the time, when really it’s just Harry’s (unfounded) expectations, or often as a direct result of Harry breaking a mundane school rule and being told off for it. And Harry occasionally almost acknowledges this himself: in OotP he expects fair grades on potions he’s actually concentrated on, inadvertently admitting that he’s usually not paying that much attention. (The rest of Snape’s punishments in OotP are a bit weird, though, and don’t follow the same pattern that they did up until this point - which is why I wanted to read it again before doing a meta on the later books).
There’s not exactly overwhelming evidence that he favours his own House, either - at least not in terms of overtly spoiling them with points like Dumbledore does to Harry/Gryffindor. The most “favouring” I found was that Snape often looks the other way when Draco is provoking people, but punishes Harry/Ron/whoever else when they act on the provocation - and that’s still only when Snape actually sees them fighting/throwing things, which is the same approach that McGonagall takes. She also doesn’t care who started it - she cares who threw the first actual punch, so to speak. And sure, Snape doesn’t deduct points from any Slytherins in the books - at least in public - but we can infer that he does punish his Slytherins in other, less public ways - probably in retaliation, as pointed out above, for the way that Slytherin is maligned by the other students/houses (and staff).
This is pure headcanon territory (based solely on the fact that Crabbe and Goyle got detentions for failing a class, and the fact that the Slytherins sometimes wait until Snape’s back is turned to act out) but I expect that Snape’s much more liberal with other forms of punishment for Slytherins that won’t see their ambitious House collectively fall behind - individual punishments like writing to the parents, maybe, or more normal school punishments like lines, detentions, etc. It’s very fitting for the type of vibe Slytherin has going for it, which is much more… private, in a way, much more insular and self-preserving than the other Houses. I can’t phrase it properly, but it simply wouldn’t do to be openly punishing your own ‘family’ when the matter could be dealt with in private and in a way that also doesn’t harm the whole family’s success (which coincidentally also feels like a very old school, old-money-family type approach to misbehaviour, which also fits). Anyway, my point is that Slytherin students do get punished by Snape for breaking the rules too, but it’s likely in private, so Harry’s not there to know about it.
TLDR: Snape follows the rules, at least until GoF - he often gives a warning, then a reasonable justification for deducting points if that’s ignored (being late, repeatedly speaking out of turn, fighting in the halls), and usually only escalates further if the rules or his authority are still being disrespected. His punishments tend to be normal and proportionate to the crime (unlike some of McGonagall’s), and also like McGonagall, he punishes for a students’ direct actions - and not whoever provoked them.
Anyway, I just enjoy this little quirk of his.
hey do you think you could expand a bit on separating the art from the artist? clearly you’ve done it with jk rowling but what are your thoughts on it as a general idea?
okay, but you’re not going to like the answer.
here’s the truth: you can’t separate the art from the artist. not entirely. HP Lovecraft was an incredibly talented, but much more incredibly racist man. It would nice to say you don’t agree with his views but you can enjoy his works without that leaking in but…. well, I’m afraid that would be misunderstanding his books entirely.
Consider, for a second, that Lovecraft’s works were horror stories about extradimensional alien monsters having mutant children with humans, they were about invasions from distant monsters, they were about the purity of quaint European towns being tainted. Consider how this may have all been inflicted by the fact that he just simply despised anybody who wasn’t white. Consider how is opinions on “mixing the races” might fight into this; consider why being unable to maintain the “purity” of white Europe was the scariest thing of all to him.
This extends to Rowling too.
I would love to say we can just acknowledge that she is an awful, racist, antisemitic, transphobic person and then say “but at least her books are good,” because, well, they are, aren’t they? I would say so, for sure. But to suggest that one can separate her from them is…. ridiculous.
Consider why an antisemitic woman wrote about a species of goblins who live among us, but who for the most part keep to themselvesand are maybe a little bit oppressed by the institution, but also hold all the cards, all the money, run the banks.
Consider why a racist woman would write about a species of slaves who loved being enslaved, who enjoyed working for no pay, and cleaning up after humans, with the only small caveat of that they didn’t want to be beaten. Imagine that only the most radical of their species wanted to be free, and he still spent the rest of his life working for no pay and helping out a little white boy and his friends wherever he could. Consider why the only person in the story who thought they should be free, that they should have rights, was treated as an overzealous joke, who was acting against the wishes of those slaves who really LOVE being enslaved. Consider that Rowling went on to say that she kind of considers that girl to be black, now.
Consider why JK Rowling, an open and proud transphobe, wrote Rita Skeeter as having a large square jaw, thick “manly” hands, and dressing incredibly gaudily with the most obvious fake nails and fake teeth and fake hair and fake everything. Consider why a woman who tweets about how trans women are “foxes pretending to be hens to get in the hen house” might write this Rita Skeeter to then illegally transform her body in order to spy on children.
Harry Potter is full of Rowling’s bigotry, start to finish. Not even tangentially, like, “oh the goblins are bad, Rita Skeeter is bad, the house elves are bad, but most of it’s good!” because the deeper you dig and the longer you think the more you realise the entire story is based on her prejudices.
Harry Potter pretends to be an aracial story about found family, but if that were true, why are Harry’s distant ancestors important to who he is today even in the seventh book? Why does Harry have to live with his cousin and aunt and uncle? Because magic inherently prefers blood ties. Whilst Rowling was writing a story that seemed to say, “your heritage is not that important and doesn’t make you better than others” she was still writing a story about a boy who got all of his money through his bloodline, who was protected by living with his bloodline, no matter how evil, who was uniquely able to stop Voldemort because his bloodline passed down the invisibility cloak for generations and generations. Any step Harry takes he is compared to his perfect parents who were exactly like him — he looks just like his father, but he has his mother’s eyes, you know! — consider WHY a woman who is racist might’ve written a story like this. A story that on its surface, condemns a blood caste, but still in every step it takes, validates the idea that blood is thicker than water, and your geneological origin is what makes you special.
You can enjoy Harry Pottwr, of course you can. There are fantastic parts. I love a small group of teenagers deciding to become anarchies rebels and train to fight against fascism in secret. I love the murder mystery plots, I love how the series tells kids that it’s a good thing to be brave, and a good thing to fight injustice, and a good thing to challenge the government. But I cannot separate it from its author because it is such a product of its author. All of the structures of the world, the way things work in the universe, and drenched in Rowling’s beliefs, her bigotries. Of course they are: she made them.
Again. This doesn’t mean you cannot enjoy it. But I think we are past the day where we can pretend that disavowing a bigoted author is enough, and that that somehow separates the text from its bigotry. I think we are past the day where we can pretend that Harry Potter isn’t a deeply, inherently bigoted piece of media. Even the bits we love. I think we are beyond the day where we can truthfully pretend to separate it from her, because she is present through all of it. We MUST recognise its flaws. We MUST admit that she is in every part of it.
#this is a brilliant post that sets up an answer the anon’s question#which is that separating art from the artist isn’t about ignoring who the author was#but rather ignoring what the author tells you their work means#rowling will never say her work contains the things rightful pointed out here#but she doesn’t get to make that call#we all have eyes and can look for ourselves#and who she is is part of what we must look at (via @ratherembarrassing)
These are the kind of important analytical conversations we miss out on when we declare ‘No one can ever mention or think about the potterverse ever again forever because never talking about it will somehow disempower JKR here and now’
Don’t give her money, certainly - but talking about a book and movie series that dominated the zeitgeist for a decade is kind of important.
i mean this in the gentlest possible way but if 75% of what you're posting for a given fandom is fuming rage spirals then maybe just maybe it's time to take a step back and consider whether or not you're actually having any fun with this optional thing you do for fun
My iPad hasn’t been working for the last week, which is probably the biggest reason that my fan art posting has slowed down. Basically, I need to wait for it to die naturally (it’s frozen) and then I’ll be able to do more art when I charge it again.
In the meantime, here are some Snape sketchies done with pen on printing paper. Lily at the bottom.
random sad snape thought time
if he became a spy at 19 without making voldy sus then he was definitely already a master occlumens
which means he taught himself occlumency as a teenager
severus snape had such a traumatic childhood that he became a master of the art of repressing emotions as a child
please all stand still while I collect your tears into my mug to make myself young again thank you x
The magical way of dissociating everything.
Severus having magic outburst as a kid, thus making his father angry -> his mother telling him to control his emotions.
Severus being bullied at his magic school, not able to show any weakness, anger, tears, because it would have made everything worse -> has to bottle up everything, only fucking crying in his pillows with a Muffliato charm casted around his bed so his dorm mates don't hear him.
Severus being assaulted in SWM -> having no way of dealing with the trauma of it, shutting it down as far away as he can.
Severus somehow stumbling upon the word 'Occlumency' in a book, discovering what it is and when trying it being 'a natural'.
Severus addicted to using Occlumency, because every time a strong emotions constrict his throat he can shut it down and get on with his day.
As Harry was helping himself to roast potatoes, the doors of the Great Hall opened again. It was Professor Trelawney, gliding towards them as though on wheels. She had put on a green sequined dress in honour of the occasion, making her look more than ever like a glittering, oversize dragonfly. ‘Sybill, this is a pleasant surprise!’ said Dumbledore, standing up. ‘I have been crystal-gazing, Headmaster,’ said Professor Trelawney, in her mistiest, most faraway voice, ‘and to my astonishment, I saw myself abandoning my solitary luncheon and coming to join you. Who am I to refuse the promptings of fate? I at once hastened from my tower, and I do beg you to forgive my lateness …’ ‘Certainly, certainly,’ said Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling. ‘Let me draw you up a chair -’ And he did indeed draw a chair in mid-air with his wand, which revolved for a few seconds before falling with a thud between Professors Snape and McGonagall.
-Prisoner of Azkaban
Everything I need to know about Dumbledore's sense of humor is encapsulated in him putting Trelawney between Snape and McGonagall at a small table where there's no escape and waiting to see what happens.
And the way he doesn't just straightforwardly put the chair there — he makes it spin for a few seconds to draw out the tension, scare the other diners, and give himself deniability... we all see what you did there, Dumbledore...
And then as soon as Trelawney sits down after making her "thirteen dine together" announcement, we get this:
Professor McGonagall poked a large spoon into the nearest tureen. "Tripe, Sybill?"
...like "you give us tripe, I give you tripe back." What an icon
Meanwhile Snape says Nothing At All and does Nothing At All (because we all know Harry would have said something if he'd made any faces, even). Dumbledore ofc directly addresses him about Lupin's potion:
"I doubt," said Dumbledore, in a cheerful but slightly raised voice, which put an end to Professor McGonagall and Professor Trelawney's conversation, "that Professor Lupin is in any immediate danger. Severus, you've made the potion for him again?" "Yes, Headmaster," said Snape.
The absolute lack of any speech tags, as @said-snape-softly has pointed out, is something Snape does around Voldemort when Occluding really hard. Which I think he's doing here. He's determined not to give Dumbledore the satisfaction. Especially since Dumbledore just baited him with the Christmas cracker incident.
I’m a bit put off by fanfics where Severus is portrayed as a super confident, cold, and impenetrable romance novel-type character who has everything under control, is excessively dominant, and exudes that magnetic aura of someone who can handle anything—because we’re literally talking about a man who spent 20 years with severe depression, major self-esteem issues, and a laughable ability to manage his anger.
I like the rabid cat who lashes out at the slightest provocation, explodes every other minute, looks like he hasn’t eaten in two weeks, and can’t believe anyone could genuinely like him. The mere idea or suggestion of it makes him angry because he thinks he’s being mocked. Give me that dysfunctional adult I love so much, please.
I saw ewan mitchell wearing a long black wig and ever since then I’ve been playing with the idea of him playing severus, he’s young, acts good, his built like how I imagine severus and honestly it’s like the perfect little cast in my head
I just searched it up and omg, he definitely has the features for it. This is such a good fancast
Again, here we have another show of Ronald Weasley being the voice of reason.
I mean technically Ron is correct that the book is dangerous as we learn in the future. Why couldn’t they have shown this side of Ron?
God, where did people get the idea that Snape is an incel? Have they even read the definition of that word? Do they even know what it means?
Clearly, they have no idea what they’re talking about or what they think incels actually are in real life, because this is just all wrong. I mean, tell me, what is "incel" about a guy who accepts a no, walks away from the person who rejected him, lives his own life without bothering anyone, and only comes back into the picture five years later when that person is in danger, he knows about it, and wants to warn others to save her? Like, what part of that is incel?? Someone explain it to me?? It’s not even stalker or creep behavior either.
I’d also like to remind people that the guy who kept chasing after Lily, pressuring her to date him, and even blackmailing her by saying he’d stop bullying people in exchange for dates was James, not Severus.
i don't understand why people take neville's boggart so seriously. i mean, in terms of storytelling, the boggart part serves to show the contrast between the childish fears of harry's classmates and harry's "mature" fear. it's that classic moment where the protagonist is shown to be more special and deeper than the others.
neville's fear is silly and irrational, it has no deep meaning behind it. sorry if this disappoints you who love to portray severus as the biggest monster of the story.
I actually headcanon that one of the major reasons Lily decided to marry James was his money, and this is absolutely pro Lily for me. my mind cannot comprehend how could anyone ever like a piece of shit such as James Potter, but I approve of using rich people as wallets, at least like that they can be of some use. I don't think she didn't like him at all, but frankly the more practical I imagine her motives to be the more I like her lol
If you told me that Lily only accepted James because she wanted to leave her mediocre life behind and take advantage of that guy’s money and status for a comfortable life, I’d find it totally fair. Like, I’m not going to judge anyone for choosing money in a society that only favors those who have it—at the end of the day, she’s just redistributing wealth to herself, no judgment there.
In fact, I find it funny how people get mad when someone suggests that there might have been some interest involved in Lily getting together with James, as if that were a bad thing. Like, guys, it’s not bad at all to take some rich old-money brat who’s never had to lift a damn finger in his life and squeeze him dry—that’s class justice, you know?
And honestly, I think marrying for that reason is way more ethical than genuinely choosing and loving a sexual assaulter, an abuser, an oppressive, toxic bully. Like, choosing him for money is smart girl behavior—actually loving someone like that? That’s just being a piece of shit, honestly.
Tbh this is why I don't truly blame her for marrying James. A working class girl, a muggleborn, of course she decided to marry the rich pureblood. It's security.
Was he full of red flags? Yeah, but then look at the man her sister married (who, interestingly enough, is ALSO a man in a higher class and richer). If their parents told them boys bullied them because they liked them, I wouldn't be surprised that she figured James truly loved her. Especially because he'd been in love with her for so many years.
A rich man, a pureblood, someone well liked and also the head boy of the school to her being the head girl, and he loved her so at least he'd try to make her happy, right?
To me, the marriage, from Lily's end at least, was a matter of being practical. Also her parents probably pushed her too because hello this is an ARISTOCRAT Lily you can't do better than THAT yes he's a piece of shit but he clearly loves you and he's an ARISTOCRAT.
