Snape vs. Neville, Dumbledore, Harry

[marinafrants]

No: HPFGUIDX 35478

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "finwitch" <finwitch at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "marinafrants" <rusalka at i...> wrote:
> > 
> > Nope, the timing doesn't work on that one.  The Longbottoms were
> > tortured *after* Voldemort's defeat.  That was why the Lestranges 
> went
> > after them in the firstplace -- they thought the Longbottoms had 
> some
> > information on LV's whereabouts.
> 
> Yes, afterwards - but before Snape knew he was *defeated*, not just 
> away.

The wizarding world knew that VL was defeated within a day of its
happening; there are victory celebrations going on all over England in
the first chapter of PS/SS, even as Dumbledore and McGonnagal are
delivering baby Harry (freshly fetched by Hagrid from the ruins of the
Potters' house) to the Dursleys' door.

The attack on the Longbottoms took place considerably later, at a time
when everyone believed that such things couldn't happen anymore --
that's part of what made it so horrible.


> 
> >  But Snape turned double-agent before
> > Voldemort's fall; Dumbledore makes a point of emphasizing that in 
> the
> > Pensieve scene.
> 
> "I vouch for him" - it doesn't have to mean double-agent - only that 
> Dumbledore guarantees him. On the moment - nothing of the past. What 
> other things is there to implicate he's a spy? The trial, of course, 
> taking place after his confession to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore doesn't just vouch for him; he specifically states that
snape became a spy before Voldemort's downfall, "at great personal
risk".  This is what differentiates Snape from all the other DE's who
switched sides (or pretended to) only when it was safe, to save their
own skins.  Snape defected at a time when VL was at full power and
even appeared to be winning the war.

Marina
rusalka at ix.netcom.com