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After much debating between myself, others, and the leading Snapeologists, I've put together this essay on why I think Harry is right to mistrust Snape, and deserves an apology.
First and foremost on the list of complaints against Harry is his lack of gratitude for Snape having saved his life in SS.
My personal feelings on this subject are that Snape did not in fact save Harry's life, though the counter curse during the Quidditch match was an effort. Dumbledore says that he tried hard all year to keep Harry safe, but freely admits that was so that he could go back to hating James' memory in peace. Not particularly great motives, but we'll overlook that for now.
Since Hermione was the one who ultimately saved Harry that day, I still don't see where in SS Snape ever saved Harry's life, but just for the sake of argument, we'll say that incident counted, and that Snape and Hermione together saved Harry.
So, people think that Harry should apologize to Snape and are rankled at the fact that he never has.
Based on the text in canon, and Harry's character, I came up with the following argument. I don't think that Harry's really had the chance to thank Snape for his efforts, and I
fully believe that if that chance should come up, he would do so
immediately.
In PS/SS Harry was never in a
position to know that Snape did anything for him until Quirrell told him so at the end.
He couldn't rush out of the final challenge to thank Snape then, and
he was lying unconcious for three days afterwards IIRC. Dumbledore
never brought up exactly what Snape did to help Harry during their
talk, and implied that Snape was trying to pay back a life debt he
owed James, something Harry didn't know anything about.
The fact is,
there was very little time left in the stay at Hogwarts to allow
Harry any interaction with Snape. Snape didn't come to visit him in
the hospital wing that we or Harry know of, so he couldn't thank him
there. Classes were over, so Harry didn't have any stay late for
class excuses to interact with Snape. Unless he'd gone up to the
teacher's table in the Great Hall during the feast (and with Snape's
reaction to Gryffindor winning the House Cup would you have?!) and
thanked him then, he really didn't have a chance.
Harry might've sent a note to thank him. We certainly don't know if he has or not. After all he buys presents for birthdays that we never hear about, and I'm sure there are other things that cannot fit into the plot.
Its a bit of an awkward situation though isn't it? Snape has never come forward to tell Harry himself that he saved him, or was trying to help him. He's only ever been openly hostile towards him. If Snape doesn't know that Quirrell or Dumbledore mentioned him at all to Harry, he most likely doesn't have any reason to suspect that Harry knows at all. If they hadn't told Harry, he would have no reason to suspect that Snape was trying to help him.
It's exactly because Snape is so cruel to him that he suspected Snape of being the bad guy in the first place. And remember that it was Hermione that thought Snape was trying to kill Harry during the Quidditch match. Harry just took her word for it, because he had no idea what was up with his broom.
In PA Snape's whole "saving" of Harry depends on your point of view and which theory you subscribe to. When Harry was in the SS he didn't really need saving. So Snape might think he saved him and Harry knows he didn't. Why then should he thank him since in Harry's POV he was perfectly safe the whole time?
When Harry et all were being threatened by the dementors, Snape was lying unconcious. He didn't save Harry then, and in fact it could be construed that Harry saved him! Harry was the one who cast the Patronus Charm that stopped the dementors from giving him the Kiss. Would they have stopped with just him, or would they have cleaned up by giving everyone present the Kiss? We aren't sure how much time went by before Snape woke up and he could just as easily have become Dementor prey as Harry was.
We aren't sure if Snape knows exactly what happened that night, and so we aren't sure if he knows that Harry saved his life (or soul or both depending on how you look at it) We can just as easily say, why hasn't Snape thanked Harry for saving his life!?
Both situations are as follows:
Both saved the other without the other's direct knowledge.
Both would have to bring the subject up without knowing the whole
story.
Both would have to admit some kind of misperception about the other.
Both would have to admit some kind of guilt/debt to the other.
I think they both decided that there were too many things underlying the stories to bring them up safely.
Secondly, Snapeologists complain that Harry shows Snape no respect.
I believe Harry gives Snape an awful lot of respect for the treatment that he
recieves from him.
From day one, Snape has treated Harry with little more than contempt. He decided to hate the boy before he ever met him. He never gave him a chance to be himself. He saw James' child and projected all his hatred onto Harry before Harry even had a chance to show his personality.
Snape as a teacher has a duty to put his personal feelings and agendas on hold and teach the students the subject of potions. His feelings and agendas can be worked out and on during his evenings and free times, but during class, he has specific duties to preform.
Snape takes these duties and scorns them. He abuses his power. He abuses the students under his tutelage. Harry is not the only one to fall prey to his vindictiveness.
Harry did nothing to show disrespect to Snape during their first meeting. Snape asks him questions he clearly doesn't know, prolonging the agony and embarrassment as much as he can, and Harry merely tries to get him to look elsewhere by pointing out that Hermione seems to know the answers. He didn't mean disrespect in this, but that's how Snape meant his remarks.
It just all goes downhill from there. Harry laments to himself asking why Snape should hate him? He did nothing to the man, yet he is forced to look stupid and bear the insults that Snape throws at him every time they meet.
In SS Harry thinks that Snape is the villian because his treatment has been so abysmal. In CS, their relationship stays much the same, just deepening the wounds.
In PA the whole thing comes to a head in the Shrieking Shack scene. Harry is trying his best to grasp circumstances that are going on around him, fighting his own revenge demons, being surprised at old friendships and secrets, overwhelmed by his family's past that he knows virtually nothing about. Snape enters the scene in the middle of all this with his own personal revenge agenda, and is blinded to the truth by his hatred, and ambition.
Many people argue that this shows Snape in a bad light. Yes, it does. But only because he's acting that way. He isn't rational at all, but that's because he chose to be irrational. His hatred got in his way. That doesn't excuse his behavior. Especially towards the students.
When his plans for that evening went awry for the first time, he awoke to a situation that still could have been salvaged. Yet, he went on with his original plans and put out a bunch of lies to cover himself and his story.
He lied.
One thing Harry has never done is lie to cover his butt. He's lied to help others, most recently in OP for Dumbledore, but only after instruction to do so. Trust and respect often go hand in hand.
In GF we see Snape develop even more blatent favoritism towards his Slytherins, and despicable behavior towards Harry and his friends. He branches out to insult not only Harry, and Neville, but Hermione as well.
His little comment of "I see no difference" was more cruel than any he had yet delivered. Especially since it followed on the heels of him sending Goyle to the hospital wing.
In OP his abuse reaches new heights on two occasions. The first being when he consistantly fails Harry in class just because his work is not perfect. He does not give him a chance to turn in and recieve the grades he earned, but vanishes his work and gives him zeros, just because he can. The second when he physically hurts Harry time and time again during their Occlumency lessons, which culimnate in his throwing Harry across the room and striking him.
Where in all this is he earning any respect?
Where in all this childish behavior is Harry supposed to admire and like the man?
Snape is the adult. Harry is the child. Yet their emotional roles are consistantly switched. Harry is the one showing all the restraint, and capping his anger. Harry is the one who throws off all the insults and continues to do the best he can in life. Harry is the one who endures all the unfairness without speaking out, or resorting to violence.
The last argument I'll touch on is Harry's disobedience. Snapeologists claim that Snape thinks that Harry is an arrogant disobediant brat, who thinks rules are beneath him, and is favored by all the teachers. The fact that Harry sometimes does break the rules, he feels, proves him right. He then, (they claim) has free reign to break him of these bad habits.
We'll start with the arrogance.
I personally don't see this trait in Harry. The very fact that he bends under all the insults that Snape throws his way, not to mention the ones he endures from Malfoy, shows that he is a very humble person. He has never stood up to grab attention, though he has stood up for the truth and what's right. In fact every scene where he is singled out shows that he consciously tries to avoid the attention and is extremely uncomfortable when he is in the spotlight, beating a hasty retreat as quickly as he can get out of it.
At times he has held back from turning to others for help, or telling others what he knows. I don't see this as arrogance as much as fear. He has been downtrodden all his life at the Dursley's. The first rule, if you'll remember, was "Don't ask questions" He cannot ever turn to the Dursley's for help with a problem he has, and the consistantly tell him how abnormal and rotten he is.
Should he have confided in Dumbledore during CS and other times when he had the express opportunity to do so? Maybe. Would you have though? Harry has not seen any good examples of authority thus far in his life. Except Dumbledore. He half blames himself, and the majority of the school blames him for what's happening. He's confused and he doesn't understand what's going on, or why he's hearing voices. His friends are telling him that it's bad. He's broken some rules already to try and figure this out, and he knows he'll be in trouble if that's discovered. Suddenly Dumbledore, the headmaster is asking him if he'd like to tell him anything. What was he supposed to say? He was twelve, and scared, and upset, and not likely to admit these feelings to his close friends, let alone the headmaster, and his mentor.
Secondly, the rules. Harry does break rules. I would like for you to point out one person who has not broken a single rule in their life. You will not be able to find one. Does that mean we all deserve to be put down and abused? No. Harry takes his punishments for the rules that he breaks, and he does so without complaining. In SS he specifically mentions that he felt he deserved the detention he got and was properly ashamed of himself for interfering. Albeit, that I didn't think that he deserved quite so harsh a punishment (from McGonagall his own head of house at that) for helping Hagrid. His motives were pure, even if his method was flawed.
The rule breaking that infuriates most people is the fact that he went to Hogsmeade illegally in his third year, and didn't get punished for it. In fact it's that latter part that seems to make them angry, not the fact that he broke the rules in the first place.
Well, boys will be boys. Sometimes we overlook things in order to give ourselves pleasure. Harry learned his lesson here. Lupin gave him more to think about than all of Snapes insults did. And he tells us that he felt worse then, than he ever did in Snapes office. So, I ask, what's more important? That he learn the lesson? Or that he be humiliated for breaking a rule?
Harry's rule breaking in general is part of a greater purpose. He's a bigger picture person. He sees stopping Voldemort as more important than breaking a curfew. He sees saving his friends as more important than staying in a dorm for his own safety. He sees helping an innocent man as more important than revenge. He sees telling the truth as more important than being ridiculed. He consistantly puts his life on the line for everyone else's safety, and puts others before himself. He's got the gist of right and wrong. He consistantly chooses good over evil. And he still pays for it.
Lastly, the favoritism.
I see where some of this is valid. Fudge is willing to overlook a broken Ministry rule for Harry, simply because he is Harry. However, IMO it only makes up for his second year in which he was falsely accused of doing magic anyway.
Many people say Dumbledore favors Harry. I don't believe so. He loves him. He tries to give him the tools he's going to need in the future. He believes him and believes in him. But he does not favor him. He is fair in his treatment of the students. Despite the seeming win of Slytherin in SS, Gryffindor actually won that competition fair and square. Harry was only one of several students that won the points at the end. Points that were EARNED, and in Harry's and Ron's cases, earned in blood.
In CS Dumbledore eats his words and doesn't expell Harry when he said at the beginning he would if Harry broke more rules. He didn't ignore Harry's misbehavior at the first, and DID in fact threaten him with expulsion. But how can you expell someone after they have singlehandedly saved the school, and killed a monster which had been a problem for decades, even centuries? Even if they did break some rules to do it. Who else there was even trying? Dumbledore didn't expell Harry, but neither did he expell Ron. He wouldn't have expelled Draco Malfoy had it been him that saved the school. This cannot be favoritism then if any student would be treated the same.
PA is a special case in that it's Dumbledore who suggests ever so slyly that Harry break the rules. But Dumbledore is not doing this to give Harry pleasure. He is doing this to save an innocent life. Several even. He did not choose Harry and Sirius over Snape. And I'm sure that he wouldn't begrudge Snape an Order of Merlin should he truly earn one. But Snape was sacrificing a life in order to satisfy his own purposes. Dumbledore chose the right path, not the easy one.
GF again shows no favoritism to Harry. He knows Harry is not lying when he said he didn't put his name in the Goblet. Why should he punish Harry for something beyond his control? The incidents he endures are punishment enough. Dumbledore also does not give Harry any help in the tournament. There is no favoritism here. He's worried, yes, but again, he loves Harry. And he's working to stop Voldmeort, and Voldemort returns.
OP gives us the clearest example of Harry's equality among students. Dumbledore does nothing to help him with Umbridge. He does nothing to help him with Snape. He does nothing to help him with Quidditch. He does nothing to help with DA until it comes to a head in his office. And then he does it as much to help the other students as Harry. He uses the opportunity to leave and attend to the Order and the overall battle against Voldemort, not as a treat for Harry. He forces Harry to study with Snape for his greater plan. One that uses Harry for murder. I do not see that as favoritism at all.
The other teachers do not favor Harry either. They require him to turn in the same amount of work as everyone else. He preforms well in his classes, so they do nothing to him. In fact, when he isn't up to his own standards, they give him extra homework. They take points off him when he misbehaves. And I don't see anyone mollycoddling him between classes. McGonagall as his head of house would be the most obvious, and yet she is the most strict with him (fairly) and takes exhorbitant amounts of points from him when he gets her dander raised. The only time she let him off the hook is when he broke the flying rule, and she got him on the Quidditch team. Yet, Malfoy who broke the rule first, and stole Neville's remembrall, recieved no punishment either.
All in all I'd have to say that Harry had it as rough as anyone, and even more so since he was well known.
Let's suppose for a moment that Harry were arrogant and favored, and thought rules beneath him. Does even that give Snape the right to treat him as he does?
I don't think so.
Snape goes beyond boundaries. We're not talking about detentions, or points here. We're talking constant emotional abuse. We're talking ruining a young man's life and future. We're talking the stuff that drives many teenagers to suicide. Every hope and dream of Harry's, Snape tries to crush. He goes after all of Harry's sanctuaries.
Firstly, Quidditch. Harry feels the only natural thing he has is flying. He is good at something, finally, and enjoys it. Snape is always trying to get him off the Gryffindor team. Harry has done nothing to warrant this punishment, yet Snape seems bent on giving it to him. Why should Snape care if Harry gets to play? Because it's a pleasure and he wants to take it away. He can use the fact that he is head of Slytherin House as cover, feigning interest in giving his own team the advantage. He suggests again and again that Harry should be banned. He finally got his wish in OP, and I wonder how he'll handle it next year should Dumbledore allow him back on.
Harry's friends mean a great deal to him. Snape is constantly making thier lives hell too. He targets Hermione especially, and why should he since she's one of the best students in school? He does it because he gets the pleasure out of belittling all those around him, but also because he knows it hurts Harry. It really does make you wonder whose side Snape is really on, since his two most common victims are Harry and Neville. The two boys the prophecy could've fit.
Harry's dad had been his ideal for much of his life. Snape hated James. That's fine, he had every right to do so. However....Harry did not know his father. He wasn't raised on humerous bedtime stories of "hang the Snape upside-down" He had no knowledge of their relationship at all. And if James wasn't perfect, did Harry really need to hear about his father's sins all the time? I'm not talking about the Pensieve scene, which was Harry's own doing, though I doubt he would've done it had he not heard Snape harp on about the arrogance of his father in the first place. All those times he put James down in front of Harry is what I'm referring to. Inexcusable. Harry wasn't coming in his face and saying that his dad was the best and greatest. Harry wasn't talking about his dad at all. He wasn't acting in a way that suggested he needed correcting on the subject. Snape was only using it to hurt him. And once he found out it did, he continued to use it as a weapon against him.
Meanwhile Snape tries his best to help out those who give Harry a hard time. Malfoy is his most favored student. And he just happens to be Harry's worst school rival. Conincidence? Maybe, but it's a pretty stretchy one. He didn't seem to mind Umbridge as much as the rest of the school. Was he always playing a role? I don't think he would've had too many qualms about poisening Harry as he'd threatened it many times before. Let's all be thankful that Harry didn't drink whatever Umbridge gave him, fake veritiserum or not.
Just what is it about Harry that drives Snape to such vindictiveness?
I think, it's nothing about Harry. It's all about Snape.
He has never grown up and accepted his actions in life. He hates. He despises James and James' memory. He can't let that go. The fact is that everyone in life gets picked on. Everyone has rivals in school. Everyone has hard trials that they somehow get through. Most people are able to move on. Snape is not doing that.
We don't yet know what haunts him from his past with the Death Eaters, if in fact, it does haunt him. We aren't sure why he turned, or what makes Dumbledore trust him. We don't know his motives. I've always believed Snape has his reasons, for acting as he does, but I
don't believe they're all perfectly unselfish. And if his whole
treatment of Harry is part of some larger plan that Harry isn't clued
into, he shouldn't be so bitter that Harry doesn't particularly care
for him. Taken at face value, he has no reason to.
Harry is a lot more forgiving than I would be. And despite the animosity that lies between them, if it really came down to it, I believe Harry
wouldn't hesitate to save Snape again if it was needed.
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