Harry's detention

[kashlie]

Harry thought Snape may have been keeping him later at detention to keep him from Ginny - something about what a pity it was to be inside on such lovely days and missing the opportunities offered - but what if he was in fact keeping him from Dumbledore?
DD had to let Snape keep Harry because of the Sectumsempra thing, but the more he was in detention, the less chances DD had of getting information to Harry.

[Snuffles]

wow. I never thought about it that way before.
When i read it, i only thought that Snape was only trying to mock Harry, knowing there was a quidditch tryouts going on at the time. Your explanation makes sense. But what sort of information was Snape trying to stop DD from giving to Harry? Didn't Dumbledore give Harry all the information he knew?

[Alz]

Wow, nice thinking!
Snape was determined Harry would serve out those weekly detentions wasnt he?
But then - just to play the usual to and fro - didnt Dumbledore pospone a Snape detention for Harry so he could have their meeting?
Harry got detention right at the start of the year (the famous 'you dont need to call me Sir' comment :D :D :D ) and Dumbledore made Snape change it and Harry served it the week after.
I think the appointments were just that - it wasnt a casual stroll up affair.

[kashlie]

i thought about the first one too, but the offence wasn't all that serious, and it may have only been then that Snape realised what Dumbledore wanted with Harry - or guessed what he might want.
When he got the chance to give Harry more detentions, it was because of the Sectumsempra. Now, Snape may have wanted to find out where Harry found sectumsempra (my other theory is he tried legilimency on Harry, but Harry was unknowingly blocking him). Dumbledore may have instructed Snape to not try it too, which aroused Snape's curiosity even further. He knows anything between Dumbledore and Harry requiring private meetings is most likely about the Dark Lord.

[Alz]

Not serious?
He slashed Draco!
I would call that pretty serious :p

I think Snape knew by that time that Harry had his book - I mean not often we have heard sectumsempra being called about.
I think it is more like your first point - to keep Harry in his sight during free time more than trying to figure out if Harry had his book ... I think he was pretty sure.