2xSnape,

[catherine at cator-manor.demon.co.uk]

No: HPFGUIDX 22922

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., pigwidgeon37 at y... wrote:
> Second Snape- problem: Are we really sure that JKR isn't 
deliberately 
> misleading us, making us believe that the DE who has left V. 
forever 
> is Snape and the one too coward to return is Karkaroff? Snape has 
> turned his back on Voldemort well before V.'s downfall so why would 
> V. say "one I *believe* has left me forever"? It's absolutely clear 
> he has left. Couldn't this statement point in a different 
direction, 
> namely that the coward is Karkaroff, but the one who has left is 
> somebody we either don't know or don't yet know as a DE? And Snape 
> would simply not be mentioned? 
> 
> Susanna (*very* curious to read your opinions!)

I've mentioned this before and met with a flood of responses which 
didn't agree with me.  I always thought that Karkaroff was the one 
who had left forever, and that Snape was the coward - my canonical 
reason is this:

In GoF, Barty Crouch-as-Moody has Harry in his office, and is talking 
about Karkaroff, when Harry says that he thinks that he is the DE 
working secretly for Voldemort.  Barty Crouch's response:
"Karkaroff fled tonight when he felt the Dark Mark burn upon his 
arm.  He betrayed too many fairthful supporters of the Dark Lord to 
wish to meet them...but I doubt he will get far.  The Dark Lord has 
ways of tracking his enemies."

I always felt that this tied in very neatly with the fact that 
Voldemort says of the one who has left forever "he will be killed of 
course."

Of course, it could go either way, but it is possible that Voldemort 
thinks Snape is too cowardly, not only to return, but because he is 
afraid of Dumbledore.  

One thing about all this which I find quite ambiguous about all of 
this is Snape's relationship with Crouch-as-Moody.  Is Moody so evil 
to Snape because he believes that he has betrayed Voldemort and is 
working for Dumbledore, or because he despises all the DEs who 
managed to worm their way out of Azkaban?  He could be lumping Snape 
with Lucius Malfoy et al.

I'm quite glad this debate has opened again - I still find something 
else to think about each time!

Catherine