Snape / House Elves / Harry's Relatives / Viktor / Karkaroff

[bluesqueak]

No: HPFGUIDX 39335

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "catlady_de_los_angeles" <catlady at w...> 
wrote:
> Marina Rusalka wrote about the Shrieking Shack scene:
> 
> > This is Snape at his absolute worst, the closest he comes in the 
> > books to being an out-and-out villain.
>
Catlady replied: 
> To me, the most unforgiveable thing we have been shown Snape doing 
> is in GoF, where he thwarts Harry's attempt to see Dumbledore to 
> tell him about Crouch Sr loony in the Forest. By GoF, Snape has no 
> excuse not to know that Harry only seeks to access Dumbledore's 
> office when he has very good reason, something that Dumbledore 
> would like to be informed of. In that instance, his desire to 
> thwart Harry causes him to be acting against what Dumbledore would 
> want. Some people will say that Dumbledore magically knows whoever 
> is trying to get to his office and comes out if he wants to see 
> them and that Snape was merely passing the time that Harry would  
> have been waiting for Dumbledore to arrive anyway. I say, if Snape 
> had helped Harry get to the office faster, perhaps they would have 
>caught Crouch Sr before Crouch Jr got around to killing him.

> Crouch Jr got around to killing him.

 Looking at this from the viewpoint of the 'Undercover!Snape'  theory 
(Post # 39273 ) there are some interesting pointers in this scene.

First: Snape is coming *out* of Dumbledore's office. Why is a 
Housemaster in the Headmaster's office at 9:30 at night? (Perhaps 
because Potter and Krum haven't returned with the others from the 
TriWizard Cup Briefing?) He should be preparing to check that his 
students are all in bed. A non-urgent meeting would be held after 
lights out, when Snape will have some free time.

Second: Since Snape is coming out of Dumbledore's office, he is in a 
perfect position to know if Dumbledore is coming down the stairs 
behind him. Which is implied by the very short period of 
supposed 'obstruction' before Dumbledore appears (less than half a 
page of dialogue - should run 30 seconds to a minute at most).

Third: (And most important) Snape DOESN'T delay Harry. Harry has 
failed to get into Dumbledore's office and decided to look for 
Dumbledore in the staff room. He is running there when Snape CALLS 
HIM BACK. And then spends 30 seconds or so establishing that he 
wasn't trying to be helpful, honest, look he's being ever so 
obstructive. 

Again, *if* he knows Dumbledore is right behind him then Snape has 
wasted a few seconds at most. If it is vital that Harry is convinced 
Snape hates him, then he hasn't 'wasted' any time at all - he's 
simply spent a few seconds making sure he hasn't blown his cover by 
calling Harry back.

It's Harry who later moans that 'if only Snape hadn't delayed him', 
completely forgetting that if he'd checked the staff room as planned 
the delay would have been a lot longer.

Pip