r/harrypotter

Trying to figure out Snape’s real values. 👀

Snape doesn’t face any negative consequences from Lily when being hostile to her son, because she’s dead. Would he act differently if she was alive?

The hypotheticals below forces him into a dilemma: - respect Lily and treat Harry right,
- or treat Harry wrong and disrespect Lily.

Note: Of course we need to pretend that Lily don’t mind seeing Snape, and that Snape is oblivious to the fact that she’s changed her mind on that point. Otherwise he’d be in a position to take advantage of her, and that’s not the goal to find out here.

————

Hypothetical 1:

Lily is alive, Harry is 10 years old living with her. James is not present. Somehow, Snape is hanging out with Lily on the regular. How do you think Snape would treat Harry?

a) Be hostile to Harry like usual in front of Lily
b) Be hostile to Harry behind Lily’s back
c) Be neutral to Harry strategically to win Lily’s respect
d) Be neutral to Harry out of respect for Lily

————-

Hypothetical 2:

Snape is teaching 11 year old Harry at Hogwarts. Lily is alive. How do you think Snape would treat Harry?

a) Be hostile to Harry out of spite like usual
b) Be neutral to Harry strategically to gain Lily’s trust and respect
c) Be neutral to Harry out of pure respect for Lily

————

Question:

If Lily was alive with a 10 year old Harry on her side, James is not present, do you think Snape would ever even take the opportunity to hang out with Lily?

Yes or no?

If not, what would be his reason not to hang out with Lily?

a) He couldn’t stand Harry
b) He wouldn’t be able to refrain himself from being hostile to Harry — which he doesn’t want Lily to experience
c) He’s not interested for other reasons (what reasons?)

I have several but this one speaks loudest to me today.

The house of Hufflepuff, so most people believe that hufflepuff is the house that you get when you dont fit into the other three and there fore matters least.I see it the other way around. I believe Hufflepuff is the house that matters most. I believe taht Hufflepuff is the house that houses students that embody all the traits of all the houses. Bravery, cunning, intelligence being the big three. We have seen some very amazing people come out of Hufflepuff. I dont feel is just for those they arent sorted in the big three i feel its very those that truly embody what it is to magical.

I’m rereading the books right now and I swear I completely missed how great McGonagall is the first time.

When I was younger she was basically just “the strict teacher.” If she showed up, somebody was probably getting told off and that was pretty much how I saw her.

But reading the books again now, I keep noticing little things she does and I’m like wait... she’s actually great.

I’m on Order of the Phoenix right now and watching her deal with Umbridge is honestly one of my favorite parts. She’s not even trying to pretend she likes her. She just stays professional and keeps doing her job while clearly being completely unimpressed.

And I forgot how funny McGonagall can be. She has these really dry little reactions that I just didn't notice when I was younger. Plus she’s strict, but you can tell she actually cares about the students. She isn’t just strict for the sake of being strict.

I think getting older changed how I read her. Now I’m sitting here thinking she must have needed SO much patience to deal with Hogwarts every day.

Did anyone else have a character they liked way more when they reread the books later?

Granted it sounds more villainous but I’ve always found it funny how his real name sounded more “Harry Potter”.

I'm doing a reread of CoS, and just got to the part where Lockhart admits that he didn't actually do the things he said he did in his books. That what he actually does is find those who did them, interview them thoroughly, and then wipe their memories so he can take credit for their actions. But, more than the heroes are involved in these stories. He is always claiming to be saving some villages or something. How does he handle the people who were in need of rescuing? They have to know that they weren't rescued by Lockhart. Surely he is not altering the minds of entire villages?

I'm just starting with my yearly HP book and I just wondered how hagrid knew the different locations of the Dursley's journey to the shed on the rock.

They stopped for one night in a hotel there where letters for harry but how did they knew? Harry didn't use magic so no possibility of the trace being used nor did they have a preplanned route and hagrid isn't the type of wizard blending in very well?

Harry’s Dementor Bogart created the same depression/fear effects. If he feared Basilisks and a bogart turned into one and looked at him… would it kill him? Or at the very least Petrify him?

My favorite moment throughout the series was when she showed up as ‘family’ for Harry before the last tournament in GoF. Harry wasn’t even expecting it. That scene brought a tear to my eye. She’s always treated harry as her own son for 7 years and she is my favorite character.

For context, I am 36, have read only a handful of books, but am at the end of book 5 after the series was released on audible recently.

I have such a huge respect for Neville and his growth. Fighting with Harry as they tried to escape with the prophecy and learning the clash between him and Harry being the chosen child. Learning more about his parent’s legacy and how he is growing to live up to his name.

The movie doesn’t make it as clear his background from what I remember and I am very much looking forward to reading the remaining books and hearing more about his growth as a character. It makes me wish the movies did him more justice.

I felt I owed it to him to write this as I always felt his growth in the movies was unfounded.

Theory about GoF. Fred and George are really specific on the outcome of the world cup to the point they bet everything they have, even a toy wand. How are they so confident of the outcome. This was not luck. They knew the results ahead of time. With the marauders map they saw hermione in multiple places and followed her. They caught her using the time turner and eventually snatched it. They travel 2 yrs into the future, figure out the results of a major game, the world cup, return a second after they left, replace the time turner and leave. They save every knut they can for the bet, fred and george do not seem the type to save for a rainy day. This was their chance at financial freedom and they were super secretive of it, which they have been proven to be multiple times.

TLDR: the twins stole the time turner and cheated to win the world cup bet.

Re-reading all the books and I just got to Snape's memories in the DH.

I realised while everybody talked about Harry's dad and his qualities, or in Snape's case his misgivings, hardly anyone ever told Harry anything about his mother except that he's got his mum's eyes.

The very first time Harry saw anything at all related to his mother are through Snape's eyes and his memories do show Lily as a likeable person. Snape was clearly besotted with her early on and he regretted her death greatly. But more so, Harry got to see how his mother truly was, her sweetness, kindness, concern for a friend (she asked Severus how are things at home), strong moral compass (she questioned Snape over his friends who later became Death Eaters). I find it bitter sweet that the most Harry knew about his mom was that she was a muggle who gave her life to save him until in those memories he saw so much more and came to finally understand the kind of person she must have been.

While Sirius and Lupin talked about his father's bravery and fun-loving side, popular for being a Seeker and overall well-liked, Snape showed him how caring, kind, and fair his mother was and I find it beautiful.

This is one of those strange "what if" scenarios I've been thinking about. Since Luna was kidnapped by the Death Eaters before Christmas. If she had returned home for the holidays, she likely would have continued believing it was a Crumple-Horned Snorkack horn, just as her father did. Given how dangerous Erumpent horns are, good thing she wasn't home when the Erumpent horn in Xenophilius Lovegood's house exploded, which may have even exploded sooner as she was likely to have touched it upon returning home, and the consequences might have been fatal. Ironically, does that mean the Death Eaters may have unintentionally saved her life? Or do you think Luna would have eventually discovered the horn's true nature before anything happened?