*Warning: This can be seen as a rant, a polemic, or a disputation. Please take your pick.*

A little lengthy, so behind the LJ cut for those of you who couldn't give a toss about Severus Snape.

Severus Snape, a deeply horrible person.

Despite the fact that I can see that saying this is going to make me somewhat unpopular in some quarters, it was reading one too many apologists for Severus Snape that finally made me snap. Someone implied that Harry sees Snape from a skewed perspective, based mainly on the fact that Snape 'won't cut him any slack'. I have no problem with agreeing that Harry sees Snape from a very skewed perspective, and I blame Snape entirely for that fact, but do the words cut him any slack in any way describe the appalling behaviour that Snape indulges in towards Harry?

I probably don’t need to say this after that introduction, but I’ll be completely honest and say that while I find Snape a fascinating character I completely and utterly detest him. Mind you, even his creator calls him "a deeply horrible person", which is not exactly a vote of confidence in the character is it?

So, let’s just take a moment and think about Snape and his prejudicial, spiteful and, in my mind, unforgivable behaviour towards Harry. Putting it bluntly, Snape is an adult while Harry is a child. The responsibility is therefore on Snape to behave in a manner appropriate to an adult dealing with a child and a teacher dealing with a student. Yet time and time again we see him acting like a vengeful and malignant bastard in respect not only to Harry, but also to Harry’s housemates, particularly the terrified and inoffensive Neville Longbottom. You have to wonder how he would have treated Harry had he been sorted, by the Sorting Hat’s first choice, into Slytherin since he blatantly favours the students from his House as opposed to McGonagall who treats her Gryffindors as severely, if not more severely, than she does students from the other three Houses!

As an aside, I note that as a parent of a teenager I also have to ask what the hell Dumbledore is thinking of in permitting Snape to act in such a damaging and reprehensible manner towards impressionable young children? If my child ever reported a fraction of the verbal abuse that Snape dishes out on a daily basis to me, I’d be at the Head teacher’s office before you could say 'apparate' demanding that he be sacked!

Right, after having taken care of my parental duties I'll return to my argument. *g*

I have also seen it suggested that Snape is bitter and jealous of Harry because he did nothing to deserve his fame as the Boy Who Lived, while Snape was the one who betrayed friends, risked life and limb, etc. in fighting Voldemort. Let's look at this statement a little closer shall we. Snape chose to become a Death Eater in the first instance, he then, for a reason that has never been disclosed to us, chose to change sides and 'betray' his friends. Harry, on the other hand, did not choose to have his parents killed or to become famous for surviving the Killing Curse. If Snape is bitter that is his problem and the results of his own choices, it is certainly not the fault of Harry.

I have also seen it suggested that Snape is bitter towards Harry because he feels he has to do whatever is necessary to protect the boy even at the expense of his own Slytherin students. This ignores the fact that Snape has a duty of care to all his students, Slytherin or otherwise, and I fail to see why protecting Harry would automatically place any student in peril. It also ignores the fact that Harry has never asked for, wanted or expected Snape to do anything to help or protect him, and would probably be horrified at the thought of having to feel beholden to him.

This has been followed by suggestion that he is bitter because as a known Death Easter, exposed and denounced by Karkaroff at his trial, but with his loyalty vouched for by Dumbledore yet playing a dangerous game as a double agent he cannot provide the Slytherin children with the guide and counselling that they need to make them see the error of their ways. I would argue that this is not his responsibility anyway. The school's responsibility is to educate and the teachers's personal responsibility is to lead by example. Snape's blatant favouritism coupled with his unerring viciousness towards the student's of other houses, particularly Gryffindor, does little to convince any Slytherin that tolerance and cooperation will be rewarded. While any suggestion that he must specifically behave like this towards Harry to convince Voldemort and the Death Eaters of his true loyalty really doesn't wash. It was Lucius Malfoy himself that advised Draco to make friends with Harry and not to show his dislike too obviously, advice Draco chooses to ignore rather spectacularly. So if a Death Easter can advice his son to remain impartial, one would assume that a supposed reformed Death Eater would be friendly toward Harry, or at the least ignore him and treat him no differently that the other students.

The biggest justification given for Snape's behaviour towards Harry is the appalling way that James Potter and his fellow Marauders treated him. That he was treated terribly is not in dispute, however, since Harry never had the opportunity to learn from his father, trying to blame him for his father's sins is nonsensical and ignorant, and Snape has never struck me as ignorant. In fact I find it somewhat ironic that he shows so much favour to Draco who acts exactly like the spoilt, obnoxious brat he accuses Harry of being, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Snape has Dumbledore's confidence, and it wouldn't take too much effort on his part for him to discover the truth about Harry and the way he was, and continues to be, treated while living with the Dursleys. It appears to me that he just doesn't want to deal with any facts that could challenge his worldview.

In Snape's favour (and you don't want to know how hard it is for me to say those three words), he has protected Harry and his friends despite the possible threat to his own life. He continues to spy for Dumbledore risking his life on a regular basis, and, as I’ve said before, he appears to be trusted implicitly by Dumbledore, and is part of the inner circle of people who make up the Order of the Phoenix.

I wait with anticipation for the next books to see if we get a greater understanding of both what motivates and has created the character of Severus Snape, but it's going to take something very remarkable for me to ever forgive or excuse his objectionable behaviour to the orphaned, innocent, naïve and bewildered eleven year old Harry, and his continued bigoted and spiteful attitude towards him ever since.

Next: Do those people who insist on declaiming that Dumbledore favours Harry and the Gryffindors while being prejudicial towards the Slytherins, ever take time out of their anti Harry/Gryffindor/Dumbledore - Pro Slytherin rants to realise that the books are called Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone etc. specifically because they are about Harry, his friends and his adventures? Unsurprisingly we never see Dumbledore or the other teachers interacting intimately (or positively) with the Slytherins, or indeed with any of the other Houses because the books are all from Harry's point of view! Oh, and lets remember that Harry and his friends get rewarded for acts of outstanding heroism, rather than high kicks. Perhaps when Draco gets off his arse and does something courageous, instead of his usual malicious and spiteful, yet doesn’t get rewarded by Dumbledore then I'll accept the accusation of favouritism.

Today's Bushism:

It is clear our nation is reliant on big foreign oil. More and more of our imports come from overseas - George W Bush