Snapedom

Just jumping in briefly to point out something about Harry's failure to cruciate (what a word!) Severus. So many of us had assumed that Severus was protecting Harry by keeping him from throwing an Unforgivable. But, Rowling tells us, we were wrong. Snape was not protecting Harry by blocking the curse; he was merely mocking him. And, in DH, she goes out of her way to prove Severus wrong as often as she can. This, IMHO, is why Harry gets to cruciate Amycus. She has to show that he does have the nerve and the ability. Because torture isn't really wrong when the good guys do it.

But there is another thing. We don't know that Harry couldn't have tortured Snape, because Snape blocked the curse. We do know he couldn't torture Bellatrix effectively, but we don't actually know that Harry couldn't torture Snape, because the boy never gets the chance to try. What we learn in that scene - what I learned, anyway - is that Snape is an awe-inspiring fighter with tremendous self-control. And I'm sure that's not the lesson Rowling intended to impart. Thus the corrective above, because, as I said, in the end Snape must not be allowed to be right about anything. Ugh!

But you, and Terri, are absolutely right about the consistent pattern here. It's very strange - a combination of vindictiveness and passivity that make both almost more repellent, IMHO.