Introducing George (Was Re: Did Snape betray his friends? Round 2)

[marinafrants]

No: HPFGUIDX 34776

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "cindysphynx" <cindysphynx at h...> wrote:
> OK, now that we have met George, I suppose we have to flirt with
him, 
> seduce him, make him ours, and then . . . change him, right?  :-)

Well, you're welcome to go ahead and try... I suspect George is a
slut. <G>

> 
> ***********

> I think I go a little farther than you do, however.  I believe that 
> Snape really did believe in the "purity of blood ideal" plank of the 
> Voldemort's platform when he joined the Death Eaters, but that he 
> later learned that this was simply a smokescreen for the real
purpose 
> of Voldemort and the Death Eaters:  evil-doing for fun and profit.  
> That's the "Lies" part of the Prince of Lies theory. :-)

It's possible that Snape believed it then, but if so then he must've
dropped the belief somewhere along the way, since he shows no sign of
it now.  He never expresses any anti-Mudblood opinions, he's not any
nastier to Muggle-born students than he is to non-Slytherin
purebloods, and while finding just about every possible way to be
nasty to Hermione, he has never once brought up her Muggle heritage.
"Purity of blood" may have been another one of those things that
sounded really good at the Death Eaters Sunday Brunch, but proved a
lot less attractive in bloody practice.

> 
> I think the reason I have to dispute George's hypothesis that Snape 
> only joined the Death Eaters because of The Prank is that it
presumes 
> Snape had nowhere else to go.  He didn't have to be on Dumbledore's 
> team, and he didn't have to be on Voldemort's team.  He could have 
> done something else, I would suppose.  I figure the Prank is what 
> swayed Snape to act, but that Snape did believe in the purity of 
> blood nonsense.  
> 
> Can George address that issue?

George says:

Well, Snape is a Slytherin after all, and therefore ambitious. 
Voldemort and Dumbledore were duking it out for control of the
wizarding world.  Snape wanted to be in on the score, not to sit on
the sidelines.  Sure, joining either team brought certain risks if his
side lost -- but it also brought the chance of enjoying the spoils of
victory if his side won.  No risk, no reward -- and I've already made
my argument for Snape's bravery.
> 
> Marina again:
> 
> >I don't think
> > there was any one grand epiphany that made Snape realize, "Hey, 
> >these
> > guys are evil and must be opposed," I think it was a gradual
process
> > that eventually reached a point where he had to turn around and do
> > something, and it's at that point that he went to Dumbledore.
> 
> Aw, gee.  This appears to be where we differ.  Doesn't a drastic 
> reaction (Snape returning to Dumbledore and spying) require a very 
> serious catalyst?  How can it be that Snape just feels gradually
more 
> out of sorts until he glides over to Hogwarts and hitches his wagon 
> to Dumbledore?  Can't we work an ambush in here somewhere?  :-)  

George willing to make room for an ambush as long as it's not warm and
fuzzy.  Where would you like to put it?  Even if there was a dramatic
catalystic even somewhere, however, I still believe that Snape's
disenchantment with the DE's began before then.  He didn't just wake
up in the morning thinking that Voldemort is the bee's knees and then
-- pow! something happens and suddenly he decides Voldemort is evil
scum.


> Marina again:
> 
> > So that's George.  Under George, the GoF mission is not a problem:
> > Snape opposed the DEs fifteen years ago because he thought they
were
> > scum.  He opposes them now because he still thinks so.  
> 
> Yes, that's true.  George has the advantage of not having a post-GOF 
> mission problem.  He does, however, carry the baggage of requiring 
> Snape to be rather clueless of what he was getting into when he 
> joined Voldemort the first time.  That doesn't sound like Snape.

Oh, I don't think Snape was clueless.  I think Snape knew,
intellectually, exactly what the DEs were up to, and he thought it was
okay by him.  But when faced with the visceral reality of torture and
murder, rather than just reading about it in Daily Propher headlines,
he found that it wasn't as okay as he thought it was.

Marina
rusalka at ix.netcom.com