Snape's Predicament

[ashley1591284 at cs.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 1251

In a message dated 9/9/00 3:22:43 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
HPforGrownups at egroups.com writes:

<< Anyway, I was reading book one again and thought about Professor 
 Snape.  Quirrell ( who has Voldemort in back of his head) tells Harry 
 that Snape was preventing him from finding the Sorcerer's Stone and 
 knocking Harry off the broomstick in the Quidditch match.  Since 
 Voldemort hears this conversation between Quirrell and Harry, he must 
 know that Snape is no longer a loyal Death Eater. >>

But wouldn't he have known that Snape was no longer a loyal Death Eater 
before that?  I mean, he must've found out that Snape had redeemed himself 
and was now working for Dumbledore early on.  And he obviously knew that 
Snape was trying to prevent Quirrel from retrieving the sorcerer's stone.  I 
don't see how Snape could feign ongoing loyalty to Voldemort after all that.  
So I think it's pretty unlikely that Dumbledore sent him back to Voldemort 
and the Death Eaters, lest that be a suicide mission.  But then again, JKR is 
absolutely wonderful at working out plot twists and details, so I'm confident 
that she could make it work.  It'll be interesting to see how it all plays 
out.