sistermagpie | Make Room for Daddy Snape

I still have yet to receive my book. So this post may be filled with things that are off, or I may miss completely obvious things that have to do with the subject. It's very hard for me to write about Snape without going over stuff again, and without knowing some of the basic facts we're intentionally not told. Anyway, still, it came into my head so I'm throwing it out. I did that post about Father Figures and Draco, and I couldn't help but think about how fabulous it is from the other side for

Oh, Snape. Poor Snape. Of everyone in canon he's the one that seems to hate children the most. How did he end up with not one, but two sons? Well, the same way for both, in a way. Snape had a hand in James' Potter's death, but Harry's mother's need to protect him kept the baby alive to arrive in Snape's class 11 years later. Same year as Draco also arrived, all ready to imprint on his Potions instructor. In fifth year Lucius Malfoy removes himself from the equation, and Narcissa Malfoy kneeled before him with distasteful tears. Snape now has two fatherless boys to bring up in a dangerous world.

And I do think "father" is the right word.

mistful pointed out in her brilliant review that while Dumbledore is crap as a headmaster, he knows how to mentor both Harry and Draco when Draco finally scales to the epic level. It's not Dumbledore who's the father here, it's Snape. The guy Harry has railed against for years, who criticizes and protects. Snape hates Harry but, according to DD, he doesn't "want him dead." Of course all Snape theories have to find a way to work depending on where Snape eventually turns out to end up, but it does seem that Snape has an interest in keeping Harry alive while he's at Hogwarts. It may not be the loving bond one would want from a parent, but he does seem to be in the reluctant position of having to depend on Harry's survival for something, giving him an active interest in his well-being even as he can't stand him personally. For whatever reason, Snape tries to mould Harry's character.

Draco, otoh, may be something completely different; a personal interest he thought had little value--or at least not value enough to risk much for. Pre-HBP everyone wondered about the possibility of Draco finding out Snape was on Harry's side and hating him for it, and assumed Snape was willing to take that risk. Well, a lot of people assumed that Snape was just playing Draco anyway, and many fics had him openly say that he really didn't like Malfoy, but HBP shows something else going on. Snape may not like children in general, but of the two he's been saddled with Malfoy's his favorite and Harry's the unwanted one. (Ooh, that's so Jacob-Have-I-Loved!)

In fact, it's perfect given Snape's standing as a double agent because whatever side he's on, he's playing at being a father to a boy. He's trying to raise Harry to be a good member of the Order to defeat Voldemort. Meanwhile, he's trying to raise Draco to be a good Death Eater to help Voldemort win. It's literally like his double life has brought him a set of twins to raise in his own image. Unfortunately for Snape, it's working, isn't it?

I can't help but shake my head at poor Snape's position, because teenaged boys are a bitch, aren't they? And his are just running amuck. Although Draco is technically older by a few weeks (barely a difference--they might as well be twins, really) Harry develops faster with Draco a step behind. In OotP Snape and Harry's relationship hits new highs or new lows depending on your pov (either way we get Harry on all fours in Snape's office). Their forced Occlumency lessons are painful to both. As much as I feel for Harry in them, I can now see Snape's pov when it comes to Harry and Occlumency.

If one could associate a particular magical skill with a house Gryffindor's might be flying, and Slytherin's would definitely be Occlumency. Snape is skilled at it. Draco's a natural. Harry has stopped having visions of Voldemort because the Dark Lord is using it when Harry could not. Harry's right in HBP, of course, that the Prince is a much better teacher than Snape. If you're going to have to have Snape as a teacher, you'd better hope you're somewhat skilled in the subject. We've seen what he does to Neville in Potions, and that's how he handles Harry in Occlumency. He claims Harry isn't even trying with Occlumency and he's somewhat correct in that we know Harry isn't working hard, but I think it's more than that. I think for most Slytherins (and for me too, I must admit), hiding your feelings is a natural instinct. So to Snape, Harry may almost appear to be making an effort to be transparent--he can't understand why Harry just. can't. do. it. (Meanwhile, Occlumency is apparently so OOC for Harry that when he does try it in the Common Room Hermione always interrupts to ask him what's wrong.)

In fact, the principles of Occlumency seem to be Snape's final piece of advice to Harry--keep your mouth shut and your mind closed. The one thing we hear of him teaching in DADA is wordless spells. It's all about covering yourself up, not letting anyone know what you're doing before you do it, being invisible to the eye--ironic, given that Harry's first big mistake of the year is to try and fail to sneak into the Slytherin carriage, while Malfoy tries and succeeds to make it look like he hasn't noticed. Harry never does Occlumency that we see, iirc. The one time he fights back against Snape he does it by throwing up a shield charm, a totally different thing. With Malfoy I think we're shown Snape trying and being unable to break through his defenses.

Snape and Harry seem just so different on the surface that they can't get along (obviously they're really alike in other ways), but in the past two years Harry's still managed to break through Snape's defenses. In sneaking into the Pensieve and reading his old textbook Harry sees the vulnerable, teen!Snape underneath. This Snape is on the same level as Harry. The father is brought down to his level.

Of course, up until the fifth book Snape has Sirius to deal with as well, Harry's other father figure. Sirius is everything Snape is not: handsome, fun, cool, loving. Where Snape is always criticizing Harry and yelling at him to work at something, Sirius would love nothing more than for Harry to hang out with him. But here's the thing, Sirius is also rather stuck in adolescence in terms of his goals for Harry. Most significantly, Sirius dies. Snape was the father figure strong enough to survive and to take all of Harry's blame for the situation even though honestly, even if Snape is still a DE, he really can't be blamed for Sirius' death. That's the thing about Dad, though. He doesn't care if you hate him, he's not going away.

So Snape's already got a difficult teenager to work with in Book V who's getting more cheeky and confident in Book VI (Everyone together: "There's no need to call me 'sir,' professor.") But this year the second son's running amuck too! Previously, and certainly in Book V, Snape could always depend on Draco's unquestioning support in whatever he did in class. He thinks Snape would make a great headmaster. He never has to be told to call Snape "sir." He laughs at whatever joke Snape makes about Harry. He's the good son, the one like Snape. Now, this year, all that changes. Draco isn't openly defiant to Snape in class but he's not his little cheerleader either. When they're alone he's rude and openly challenging Snape's position. He's not even helping Snape win the House Cup. He's ignoring Snape's summons to his office. (Can't you just see Snape being first confused and then furious having to deal with that? It's so teenager! Discipline isn't working!)

When Filch drags Malfoy into Slughorn's party, Harry notices Malfoy looking unhappy at the prospect of having to stay, proving his story about gatecrashing was a lie. He also notices Snape looking "angry and afraid." I can't claim to know exactly what Snape is feeling there and why, but "angry and afraid" sounds very much like a parental expression when faced with a child up to dangerous things. I admit when I read the book it never even occurred to me Snape didn't know what he was agreeing to with his vow, mostly because it seemed so obvious to me what he was being ordered to do I assumed Snape must know too. But whether or not he knows what he's trying to help Draco with, he knows he's trying to help him with something and Draco's fighting him at every turn. What's more he's proving *able* to fight him in ways he never was--just as Snape was frustrated with Harry's inability to learn Occlumency when it seemed so important to them all, now he's equally frustrated by Draco's ability when it’s equally important to his well-being. Oh for the days he could have just reached into Draco's mind and seen everything there, or Draco would be happy to chatter on to someone who would listen!

But then, isn't that just the perfect teenaged metaphor? Harry's got the mood swings and blasts Snape off his feet with bursts of wandless magic, Draco's sullen and uncommunicative under a cloak of Occlumency.

In the end Snape appears to claim the favored son and run (throwing words of guidance to the son left behind), but I think his status with both of them has been equally destroyed. Both Harry and Draco have reason to hate him for killing Dumbledore. He's probably still worried about both boys' Occlumency skills. If he's honestly warning Harry about learning to keep his mind and mouth shut he's got to worry about Harry blowing it by not listening to him. Meanwhile he's on the run with the kid whose emotions he *can't* completely read, and the ways he and Draco were alike are now presenting a problem. They're two people capable of hiding their true thoughts from the other, with good reason not to trust each other (remember Snape wasn't even present during Draco's final confession). Usually Harry would be the wizard to worry about but when it comes to this issue, Draco's the more formidable.

This is a reason I can't help but hope for the two boys to possibly act as go-betweens for the other. When I think of two boys with the same almost-father I can't help but think of the Black boys as well--who both possibly also stand as alternate father figures in their way. Sirius was Harry's godfather, and is related to Draco, and Draco and Regulus have a lot in common. But Sirius and Regulus died without perhaps ever knowing each other, and they fascinate me. (In fact, I almost did a post about how I liked to think of them being a bit East of Eden in my mind, but I held off for the new canon.)

Finally, I wanted to end with what I think is the most striking Father Figure moment for Snape in the book. Despite his ultimate importance to the plot, Snape doesn't get a lot of page time with the students. We know he argued with Dumbledore and we see him with the Black sisters, but it's not like we see tons of scenes with Harry or with Draco. At the end of OotP, if we remember, he stops a confrontation between the two at the school. Having now read HBP that scene takes on a different feeling for me, from Snape's pov, because I can't help but think of how much it's like the kind of thing a parent would have to deal with. He walks in to find the bigger kid (magically speaking) with his wand pulled on the smaller one, cockily trying to figure out what to hex him with. Snape punishes him, taking his favorite's side. McGonagall comes in with comfortingly mundane advice: you boys should be out in the sunshine.

In HBP we get a different version of that scene when Snape bursts into the bathroom to late to stop hexes from being thrown. He finds Harry hovering over Draco, wand in hand, covered in Draco's blood while Draco bleeds to death on the floor. Snape, in an uncharacteristically nurturing moment--well, I can quote this bit because

ptyx did earlier and it really is intense:

The door banged open behind Harry and he looked up, terrified: Snape had burst into the room, his face livid. Pushing Harry roughly aside, he knelt over Malfoy, drew his wand, and traced it over the deep wounds Harry's curse had made, muttering an incantation that sounded almost like song. The flow of blood seemed to ease; Snape wiped the residue from Malfoy's face and repeated his spell. Now the wounds seemed to be knitting.

Harry was still watching, horrified by what he had done, barely aware that he too was soaked in blood and water. Moaning Myrtle was still sobbing and wailing overhead. When Snape had performed his counter curse for the third time, he half-lifted Malfoy into a standing position.

"You need the hospital wing. There may be a certain amount of scarring, but if you take dittany immediately we might avoid even that.. . . Come...."

He supported Malfoy across the bathroom, turning at the door to say in a voice of cold fury, "And you, Potter . . . You wait here for me."

As

ptyx pointed out, Snape's healing spell is a lot like the phoenix and a lot like a lullaby. His reaction here, if never elsewhere, seems pretty much standard for a responsible parent. He heals the boy who's hurt and coldly orders the other to stay put.

It's also, of course, surprisingly gentle for Snape. Despite arguing with him all year he seems primarily concerned with healing Draco, and Draco quietly submits to being helped. And yes, I will point out that the whole scene has a nice birthing-quality to it as well, with Harry and Draco covered in "blood and water."

The thing about this scene that makes it even more powerful, though, is that you have to remember what did this to Draco. Snape immediately recognizes that this is his spell. He made it up. At the end of the book Snape expresses fury at the idea of Harry using his own spell against him, just as James did. Had Snape walked into the bathroom to find Draco dangling upside-down he might have simply been furious. But I can't help but wonder just what he felt seeing *this* spell used by Harry on Draco and almost killing him. It seems like a big theme of HBP that people come up with things that get turned against them and the people they love, and it seems like usually the maliciousness of the original intent gets magnified. Hermione's coin idea, for instance, helps Draco in his plan, but it's not bad in itself. Ditto the Peruvian Darkness Powder, I think--helpful, but that's it. The twins' prank with the cabinet was maliciously intended and became more so as time went on--this is the key to letting the DEs into Hogwarts. Sectusempra is one of the most violent, painful spells we've seen so far. Snape intended to use it on his enemies, and we see him slash James' face with it once. It comes back at him far more horrifically; not only almost killing someone, but almost killing someone he cares about. I might also add Snape has somewhat encouraged animosity between Harry and Draco; he perhaps just always assumed he'd be there to make sure nothing too bad happened as a result. Re-reading Harry's cocky claim to be "deciding which curse to use on Malfoy" at the end of OotP now, one can't help but think just what curse he'll decide to use on Malfoy a year later.

And I have to admit, I hope there is a certain amount of scarring.

Current Mood: anxious

Tags:

Page 1 of 2 << [1] [2] >>

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Date: 2005-07-21 09:26 pm (UTC)

From:

Drops of blood under the tongue

Links

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags