Look, Apparently It’s Harry Potter Week And We’re All Going To Be Okay With That

In sharp contrast to our man Draco of the last two days, I present to you one of the many, many reasons that Snape is a jerk:

See, unlike Draco, Snape is now what we call a ‘legal adult’. Wait, there’s a quote from the queen herself about this…

Yes, Draco is approaching maturity in the later books. He’s not unproblematic. Acknowledged.

But Snape has been a fully-fledged adult for several decades, and unlike Draco, who, as an adult, tries to redress some of the wrongs that were done and refuses to become his father, Snape wallows in an obsessive, jealous, possessive relational state to a woman who is dead, and expresses himself almost exclusively through verbal and emotional abuse and bullying.

Draco is jealous of Harry, and acts like a jerk to Harry, Ron and Hermione because of it.

Snape is jealous of James, and mercilessly bullies an entire house of children because of it.

There is no evidence of a change of heart or morality from him; he is true neutral through and through in that his only morality is his own desires, with no consideration for objective good or evil or the repercussions on anyone else.

Draco commits immoral acts, but comes to realise that they are immoral, and even if he never stopped doing them, even if there was no hint of actionable change, there is, at least, evidence that he was cognisant of the evilness of his actions, and some sense of ‘I really genuinely wish I didn’t have to do this and I feel regret for my actions’ (hence the moniker, The Boy Who Had No Choice). He, ultimately, could not kill Dumbledore, even though it would have given him everything he wanted: power, fame, and his parents’ approval.

Snape, on the other hand, could easily kill Dumbledore, because he’d rationalised it away as the “actions necessary” to protect the memory of Lily–a woman who never loved him romantically, over whom he had no claim, and from whom he cannot just grow up and move on.

And more to the point, he’s a fecking teacher. He has a moral responsibility for the welfare of the children in his care. And he abused that power, that responsibility, and those children.

Snape is just as much of a ‘whiny white boy’ as Draco. But there is no way he deserves forgiveness.

(Which, of course, is part of the miraculous heroism of Harry’s character, that he is able to forgive–not forget, but forgive, there’s a crucial difference–Snape, and feel pity for him. Wait, there’s a quote for that too…