#I don't think he “manipulated” Severus into Order just so we're clear

[danadiadea]

Also the scene after Potters died and Severus is absolutely crushed in Albus' office is kinda cruel. Not only "and what use would that be to anyone", but also the guilt-tripping and "you remember Lily Evans' eyes, don't you". And then saying that succumbing to these manipulations and agreeing to Albus' terms is "the best of" Severus. Yes, it's good that Severus got the opportunity to redeem himself and deal with his guilt. It's important for Albus to keep his spy very loyal, I get it. But it's a very unsympathetic way to ensure he is hooked. Snape would've likely stayed on the Order side anyway, and you felt the need to be so intense and cold when he's mourning the closest person he ever had? The one YOU promised to protect in exchange for "everything" but couldn't?

This and calling Severus "disgusting" and overall being uncharacteristically harsh in the hilltop scene (and even later sometimes, like accusing Severus of watching people die to paint Harry's death as "just another one" for Severus) both pursue the same goal. Not just recruit Snape – but make him as emotionally obliged to be useful for the Order as possible. Use his guilt, his blame and his self-hatred to reduce the chance of Snape's return to Voldemort to zero. The worse Snape feels at the moment of maximal emotional vulnerability, the more effective he will be. The goal itself is fair, but the method leaves a mark on the already unhealthy (not without Albus' fault) Severus' psyche that goes beyond the boundaries of war. So of course Albus believed in Severus' change of heart. He put a lot of effort into cementing it. So he can be 100% sure that even when Severus is "angry, mutinous" and hates that Albus doesn't fully trust him or asks unimaginable of him, he still complies.

I don't think Albus is that guilty for not punishing them for SWM or for the bulling overall (murder attempt aside since Remus is his unattended project) though, because people who punish students for behaving badly are generally teachers. Minerva who? Horace where? Albus could have interfered if he wanted to, but honestly I'm more pissed at Minerva for that.

As an Albus fan, I have to tell this.

His treatment of Tom is like a B- at least, but his treatment of Severus. It's incredibly fucked up.

I think the author didn't really think it straight, but ok, not everything can function like a clockwork.

Worst things Albus ever did to Severus, which eclipse every thing he may have done to Tom:

- not punishing the bullies who sexually assaulted him

- not punishing the bullies who tried to kill him.

- forbidding him to tell anyone about it

- insulting the one man who is willing to betray LV. His moral outrage is understandable, but wtf, if Severus got fed up in that moment nothing would have worked out

- told Harry a very skewed perspective of the feud between James and Severus. Also what the fuck. Did Albus really believe that Severus hated James because he saved his life (???) instead of sexually abusing him? Severus himself has the lucidity to understand that James did it to save himself and his friends. (I can buy that James is ideologically against murder, no problem about it. He just sees nothing wrong with sexual assault.) This is so fucked up I can only think it as a narrative device to lead the reader to the shocking plot twist.

Like. If Tom was sexually assaulted and got victim of a murder attempt and Albus did absolutely nothing (other than forcing him to shut up about it), people would say LV's hate of Albus was completely understandable. And they would not be wrong.

Especially because Albus got to force Severus to stay silent because he was a poor half-blood with nothing to his name. Just like Tom was.

To offer some kinder perspective, Albus also really believed in Severus ' change of heart and got him the possibility to redeem himself. Also, he was the person he trusted the most in his fight against LV. So yeah.