The aftermath. What a day/night.

For when you're done reading the book.



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First of all, yes, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was full of teen drama, who didn't see that coming. They are only 16 after all. :: shrugs :: Whatever. It had its comic uses. But filler mostly.

The spoiler Robin had seen on the internet. She never told me what it was and I never saw it on the net (I didn't want to either), but by the end of chapter 2, I had guessed what that spoiler had been and guessed correctly. I knew there wasn't any chance that it would get turned around by the end of the book, but I figure there's only two ways out of this.

1) Dumbledore was no fool and had this planned all along with Snape to do a super duper double cross when the time was right. (I seriously doubt this)

2) Snape's always been a bastard, but probably feels a little sad at what he had to do. If this is the case, there'll probably be some kind of quick and sacrificial redemption in the next book that saves the day and kills him. Or maybe Harry will get some balls and pull an unforgivable on him. (Nah, Harry's too much of a goody goody)

And yes, I'm sorry, but I'm siding with the good guys on this one. If it hadn't been for Dumbledore, I might be more sympathetic towards Snape, but not anymore. Even Dumbledore makes mistakes. One as huge as trusting Snape all this time? I don't really think that matters anymore, but Dumbledore always had some extra reason up his sleeve. I expect there's more we don't know yet.

I think the reason I really can't give Snape any slack here, (and believe me, I tried) is that he just seems so damn petty. Currently, his reasons for betrayl of Dumbledore and siding with the Voldemort are that he hated James and didn't want to be killed. There'd better be more than that. There is yet one way that Snape can regain my favor as a cool character. Snape has to be the main man now. He can take Dumbledore's place or Voldemort's place. I don't care which one. Good or evil is kind of beside the point in this one. He took some huge chances, has been biding his time for ages, and certainly seems more intelligent than Voldemort, a.k.a. Mr. I'm-not-human-cause-they-suck-and-now-I'm-going-to-kill-everything-raaaaagh! Voldemort looks impressive, sounds impressive, and acts impressive but he's just an angry kid isn't he? Snape's better than that. He's got to be.

I really want Snape to be the saving grace for this story. I'd rather avoid Snape and Potter coming to terms. That's just out of the question now. They've chosen sides and made their bets. All the pieces are in position. Voldemort's orchestrated it, but I just keep getting the feeling that Snape's outsmarted him somehow. Outsmarted everyone and for his own purposes. Which for me would lead to a much more satisfying ending than, "Snape was really a bad guy and got what was coming to him," or "Snape was actually a good guy in the end and saved the day." Uh-uh. He's too smart for that. And if he actually thinks that this blood feud stuff is important, I may for the first time get angry at a book series for not meeting my expectations. He's got to be better than that.

Well, maybe I'm not siding with the good guys after all. Here's the upshot.
If Snape = stupid and petty I'm with the good guys.
If Snape = fooled everyone (good guys and bad guys alike) and has something bigger planned than blood line purgings and the culling of non-magic folk, then I am Snape's man through and through.

To J.K.,
If you actually manage to do justice to the characters and the world you've created, you win my eternal support. I honestly don't expect you to. Love is not restricted to those who shun evil and champion good. Surprise me.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnd... The illustrator continues to insist that Snape has facial hair. It doesn't ever say anything about that in the books does it? I sure don't remember anything like that.