MY 3rd Scene Analysis

JKR words in green my analysis in Silver

(pg 356).Lupin's face had hardened, and there was self-disgust in his voice. "All this year, I have been battling with myself, wondering whether I should tell Dumbledore that Sirius was an Animagus. But I didn't do it. Why? Because I was too cowardly. It would have meant admitting that I'd betrayed his trust while I was at school, admitting that I'd led others along with me... and Dumbledore's trust has meant everything to me. He let me into Hogwarts as a boy, and he gave me a job when I have been shunned all my adult life, unable to find paid work because of what I am. And so I convinced myself that Sirius was getting into the school using dark arts he learned from Voldemort, that being an Animagus had nothing to do with it... so, in a way, Snape's been right about me all along."
"Snape?" said Black harshly, taking his eyes off Scabbers; for the first time in minutes and looking up at Lupin. "What's Snape got to do with it?"
"He's here, Sirius," said Lupin heavily. "He's teaching here as well."
Again, the juicy irony!!!Snape is definitely "here"- at Hogwarts, which is true for Lupin, but in the room! (He's under the Invisibility cloak, remember?) Very Cool JKR!! Very Cool indeed!
He looked up at Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Professor Snape was at school with us. He fought very hard against my appointment to the Defense Against the Dark Arts job. He has been telling Dumbledore all year that I am not to be trusted. He has his reasons... you see, Sirius here played a trick on him which nearly killed him, a trick which involved me --"
Black made a derisive noise. "It served him right," he sneered. "Sneaking around, trying to find out what we were up to... hoping he could get us expelled..."
(357)."Severus was very interested in where I went every month."(why?) Lupin told Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "We were in the same year, you know, and we -- er -- didn't like each other very much. He especially disliked James. Jealous, I think, of James's talent on the Quidditch field... anyway Snape had seen me crossing the grounds with Madam Pomfrey one evening as she led me toward the Whomping Willow to transform. Sirius thought it would be -- er -- amusing, to tell Snape all he had to do was prod the knot on the tree trunk with a long stick, and he'd be able to get in after me. Well, of course, Snape tried it --
Perhaps indicate the lengths that Snape will go for knowedge- putting himself in danger, breaking rules himself- just for his own drives! Actually, its a lot when Draco followed the Potter to Hagrid's hut to see the dragon! And didn't Mafloy get punished too? Snape was punished also- the near-death experience.
if he'd got as far as this house, he'd have met a fully grown werewolf -- but your father, who'd heard what Sirius had done, went after Snape and pulled him back, at great risk to his life... Snape glimpsed me, though, at the end of the tunnel. He was forbidden by Dumbledore to tell anybody, but from that time on he knew what I was...."
"So that's why Snape doesn't like you," said Harry slowly, "because he thought you were in on the joke?"
"That's right," sneered a cold voice from the wall behind Lupin. Severus Snape was pulling off the Invisibility Cloak, his wand pointing, directly at Lupin.

CHAPTER NINETEEN THE SERVANT OF LORD VOLDEMORT:

(358). Hermione screamed. Black leapt to his feet. Harry felt as though he'd received a huge electric shock.
"I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow," said Snape, throwing the cloak aside, careful to keep this wand pointing directly at Lupin's chest. "Very useful, Potter, I thank you...." Snape was slightly breathless, but his face was full of suppressed triumph.
"You're wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here?" he said, his eyes glittering. "I've just been to your office, Lupin. You forgot to take your potion tonight, so I took a gobletful along. And very lucky I did... lucky for me, I mean. Lying on your desk was a certain map. One glance at it told me all I needed to know. I saw you running along this passageway and out of sight."
With the 'you're wondering, perhaps,' he gets closest to a James Bond villain type. And like the James Bond villain, he wants the adversary to know his plan. Its a personal satisfaction. that's what happening here.
"Severus --" Lupin began, but Snape overrode him.
"I've told the headmaster again and again that you're helping your old friend Black into the castle, Lupin, and here's the proof.
(359).Not even I dreamed you would have the nerve to use this old place as your hideout --"
"Severus, you're making a mistake," said Lupin urgently. "You haven't heard everything -- I can explain -- Sirius is not here to kill Harry --"
Boy, wasn't Lupin just saying this to Harry a moment ago? Geez, that seems really similar. I love the irony this creates- Snape, who in the act of sneaking in, thinks he has heard everything, when in fact he has heard nothing. This causes a parallel of Harry's situation earlier in the Shrieking Shack -- he thinks he knows everything, and yet there are people who say otherwise.
"Two more for Azkaban tonight," said Snape, his eyes now gleaming fanatically. "I shall be interested to see how Dumbledore takes this.... He was quite convinced you were harmless, you know, Lupin... a tame werewolf --"
The use of 'tame' is interesting. We really don't have any damage of physical lives hurt by Lupin, except what happened with Snape. So I tend to think that he really was hurt by meeting Lupin as a werewolf, and it "killed" him.
"You fool," said Lupin softly. "Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man back inside Azkaban?"
Obviously to Snape it is.
BANG! Thin, snakelike cords burst from the end of Snape's wand and twisted themselves around Lupin's mouth, wrists, and ankles; he overbalanced and fell to the floor, unable to move. With a roar of rage, Black started toward Snape, but Snape pointed his wand straight between Black's eyes.
"Give me a reason," he whispered. "Give me a reason to do it, and I swear I will."
Question- he definitely does have a reason, but either he doubts himself, or maybe Snape doesn't think its strong enough to kill. From the 5th book, and that particularly bad memory, it is possible that Snape was so hurt that he would kill Black.
And you have to love the binding action- the way it doesn't hurt Lupin, just shuts him up. See Aunt Marge incident earlier in book, and blowing her up does the same thing- doesn't hurt her, just stops her from lying.
Black stopped dead. It would have been impossible to say which face showed more hatred. Harry stood there, paralyzed, not knowing what to do or whom to believe. He glanced around at Ron and Hermione. Ron looked just as confused as he did, still fighting to keep hold on the struggling Scabbers. Hermione, however, took an uncertain step toward Snape and said, in a very breathless voice, "Professor Snape -- it-it wouldn't hurt to hear what they've got to say, w -- would it?"
"Miss Granger, you are already facing suspension from this school," Snape spat. "You, Potter, and Weasley are out-of-bounds,
(360). in the company of a convicted murderer and a werewolf. For once in your life, hold your tongue."
"But if -- if there was a mistake --"
"KEEP QUIET, YOU STUPID GIRL!" Snape shouted, looking suddenly quite deranged. "DON'T TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" A few sparks shot out of the end of his wand, which was still pointed at Black's face. Hermione fell silent.
Its so cool! He's pushing his reality upon them- what was only just reinforced by his hiding and listening to the story- and because he has usually been the dominate figure (both being a teacher and a knowledgeable potions master) he's forcing them to take his perceptions for truth. It is so vitally important to him for them to understand. When they fight back, Snape kinda...loses it. He might be mad that after the many tactics he's used to get them to understand they still don't get it, so out of anger at their stupidity he lashes out in such an unrefined way.
"Vengeance is very sweet," Snape breathed at Black. "How I hoped I would be the one to catch you...."
"The joke's on you again, Severus," Black snarled. "As long as this boy brings his rat up to the castle" -- he jerked his head at Ron -- "I'll come quietly...."
Snape: Yes! Black realizes I'm right! (Though we know he is wrong)
"Up to the castle?" said Snape silkily. "I don't think we need to go that far. All I have to do is call the dementors once we get out of the Willow. They'll be very pleased to see you, Black... pleased enough to give you a little kiss, I daresay..."
What little color there was in Blacks face left it. "You -you've got to hear me out," he croaked. "The rat -- look at the rat --" But there was a mad glint in Snape's eyes that Harry had never seen before. He seemed beyond reason.
"Come on, all of you," he said. He clicked his fingers, and the ends of the cords that bound Lupin flew to his hands. "I'll drag the werewolf. Perhaps the dementors will have a kiss for him too -"
Before he knew what he was doing, Harry had crossed the room in three strides and blocked the door. "Get out of the way, Potter, you're in enough trouble already," snarled Snape. "If I hadn't been here to save your skin --"
Two worlds collide here- the protect-Potter-because-its-his-duty and the hate-Potter's-guts-for-some-reason-we-don't-yet. That's why we get the nice sarcasm mixed with the direct statements of "saving" Potter.
(361)."Professor Lupin could have killed me about a hundred times this year," Harry said. "I've been alone with him loads of times, having defense lessons against the dementors. If he was helping Black, why didn't he just finish me off then?"
"Don't ask me to fathom the way a werewolf's mind works," hissed Snape. "Get out of the way, Potter."
Look at this- Harry uses colloquial language- the "loads of times"- and he's logical. But Snape doesn't and he's crazy? Anything that could be said about that?
Also- look how he' says "get out of the way" compared to "get out of my way". The "get out my way" is a possible wording because this scene is all about him- he continually refers to himself for the first time in the books (what with the "me, me, me" usage). But not saying "my way" furthers the idea that he is not being selfish, it is for a greater good...the Sirius thing. It is his fanaticism to "do good" that makes him go "crazy"
"YOURE PATHETIC!" Harry yelled. "JUST BECAUSE THEY MADE A FOOL OF YOU AT SCHOOL YOU WON'T EVEN LISTEN --"
"SILENCE! I WILL NOT BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THAT!" Snape shrieked, looking madder than ever. "Like father, like son, Potter! I have just saved your neck; you should be thanking me on bended knee! You would have been well served if he'd killed you! You'd have died like your father, too arrogant to believe you might be mistaken in Black -- now get out of the way, or I will make you. GET OUT OF THE WAY, POTTER!"
One question? since he's now in DE mode, does the "he" in "if he'd killed you" refer to Lupin or Voldemort? I wouldn't be surprised, since Snape speaks in double meanings.....je ne sais pas.
Harry made up his mind in a split second. Before Snape could take even one step toward him, he had raised his wand.
"Expelliarmus!" he yelled -- except that his wasn't the only voice that shouted. There was a blast that made the door rattle on its hinges; Snape was lifted off his feet and slammed into the wall, then slid down it to the floor, a trickle of blood oozing from under his hair. He had been knocked out.
Harry looked around. Both Ron and Hermione had tried to disarm Snape at exactly the same moment. Snape's wand soared in a high arc and landed on the bed next to Crookshanks.
"You shouldn't have done that," said Black, looking at Harry. "You should have left him to me...."
(362).Harry avoided Black's eyes. He wasn't sure, even now, that he'd done the right thing.
"We attacked a teacher... We attacked a teacher..." Hermione whimpered, staring at the lifeless Snape with frightened eyes. "Oh, we're going to be in so much trouble --"
And even in the midst of doubting Snape's sanity, Hermione still is working with the paradigm of teacher= good, and as much as she hates Snape for insulting her, she admires his intelligence and logic, and what he has done with it.