[HPforGrownups] TBAY - Snape the Killer

[wynnde1 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 46879

Slumping onto the nearest barstool, Wendy puts her face in her hands for just 
a moment. "Golly," she mutters under her breath, "I'm not sure I should be 
here. I thought I'd be safe enough, but now I'm not so sure. I mean, I didn't 
come here for *this*!" 

She looks up, glancing around quickly. "Geez," she thinks. "Did I actually 
just say 'golly' out loud? I sure hope no one heard that. They'll all think 
I'm hopelessly goofy! And I do so want to make a good first impression."

Sitting up straight, she smiles hopefully at the rather sexy bartender, and 
then gives her attention back to Eileen.

"You see," Wendy says, thoughtfully, "I came in here tonight feeling very 
secure in my view of Snape. Oh sure, I don't claim to *know* exactly what 
happened in his childhood, or anything like that. But I felt like I really 
had a good understanding of what makes him tick. But now I'm not so sure. I'm 
feeling a bit confused, really. I've got all sorts of voices in my head, all 
competing for my attention. Oh wait, I'm not supposed to admit that, even in 
the Wizarding World, am I?"

Wendy notices a few of the other patrons in the bar moving ever so slightly 
away from her. She shrugs, and continues, "On the one hand, I really want to 
keep refuting this whole Snape As Killer thing. But there is something very 
compelling about the evidence that Elkins pulled out, as well. So I'm going 
to try and muddle through this, and hope that you can make some sense of it. 
After all, you did say you thought the list could do with another debate 
about all this, right?"

Eileen nods, and sits down on a nearby barstool, motioning to George to bring 
another drink. She has the feeling this may be a long night. This new kid 
looked fairly normal when she first came in, but now she actually looks a bit 
dishevelled and, well, manic.

"By the way," Wendy says suddenly, "Did you *really* want to be a Wendy when 
you were young? I've always rather disliked being named after that annoying 
twit in Peter Pan. But, I guess it's not really all that bad." She shakes her 
head, as if to clear it, and continues, "Now, on to more important matters . 
. . "

"Okay. First this Snape is a Killer thing. As morbidly attractive as I find 
this idea, I still have a wee problem with it - well, a couple of wee 
problems, but I'll start with just one. If Snape had really been gung-ho for 
Voldemort, would Dumbledore have allowed him to teach at Hogwarts all these 
years? After all, Sirius says in GoF that he doubts Dumbledore would have 
hired an ex-Death Eater. Well, obviously Sirius was wrong about that, but 
just how far wrong could he have been? Honestly, do you see Dumbledore 
allowing someone who truly had the sort of propensity for evil that we've 
seen in, for example, Malfoy . . ." Wendy glances in Avery's direction, then 
turns away from him and lowers her voice before finishing, "Or Avery? Would 
he have hired either of them as Hogwart's professors if they'd repented? I 
just don't think so."

"So how to explain why Death Eater Snape could have Dumbledore's trust. And 
tie it all in to Cindy's theory about Snape assassinating Karkaroff. Okay, 
I've got a new idea here. (Well, it's probably not *new* exactly, but it's 
the first time I've thought of it, anyway). I'm willing to ditch my theory 
that Snape's first murder in the service of Voldemort upset him so much he 
switched sides. Maybe Snape really never did kill ANYONE as a Death Eater." 
Wendy notices Avery glaring at her, a muscle above his right eye twitching 
alarmingly. Pretending not to see this, she takes a deep breath and 
continues, "So we have Snape with a clean slate, murder-wise anyway. So if 
Snape really does end up assassinating Karkaroff, wouldn't it be, well, 
ironic, or at least interesting or something, if the first murder he ever 
commits is in the service of DUMBLEDORE, and not Voldemort? Does that bang? I 
can't tell. I'm just too confused right now."

Eileen still looks a bit sceptical. "But Wendy, I told you I 
> think it really cheapens Snape's redemption story to say he never was as 
> horrible as those others."

"But that's my point," Wendy says, a bit breathlessly. "It doesn't cheapen 
the redemption if he's not yet actually *done* the thing for which he needs 
to be redeemed! At this point, canonically, we know of *nothing* concrete 
that Snape has done which would necessitate a redemption, do we? Yes, he was 
a Death Eater, but we have no details of crimes he committed. We've got LOADS 
more dirt on Sirius Black, for example. We know of a very specific awful 
thing he did." Wendy looks around nervously, ready to run if a pack of rabid 
Siruis "Prank" Apologists show up with wands drawn. "Why, for all we know, 
Snape only joined Voldemort specifically to be Dumbledore's spy. I don't 
happen to believe this, but I can't think of any canon which disproves this." 
Wendy glances around the pub, challenging anyone to disagree with her.

Eileen nods thoughtfully, and no one else says anything either, but Wendy's 
not sure if that's just because no one else is actually paying her any 
attention. "Perhaps it's time to move things along," she thinks. 

She clears her throat and continues, "Elkins had some interesting things to 
say. Quoting from past posts." She looks at Elkins, who is once again 
engrossed in her work. But Wendy's come to far to give up now, so she walks 
over to where Elkins is sitting. 

"Excuse me," she asks, her voice sounding more timid than she intended.

Without looking up, Elkins says, "Can I help you?"

"Erm, yes, actually. I was hoping you would remind us of some of what you 
quoted  earlier about Snape?"

Taking a *very* deep breath, Elkins stops writing. "Which parts? Let's see, I 
remember the post about how w
> e hear a great deal about Rowling's statement of intent to show how 
> genuinely *bad* evil is in these books, and I laud that sentiment. But evil 
> is also *complicated,* and there are times when I find myself wishing that 
> Rowling would run a little further with that particular ball.
> 
> "As far as Snape specifically, I said that I tend to see him as someone 
> whose *impulses* all lead him in one unerring direction -- but in a 
> direction that he has chosen to reject on abstract and purely philosophical 
> grounds. In other words, I see him as a Dark Wizard. In instinct. In 
> impulse. In inclination. To some extent, perhaps even in essence."

"Yes, that's the stuff *exactly*," Wendy gushes. She puts on what she hopes 
is her most charming smile. "Thanks so much!" Elkins shakes her head and goes 
back to writing. 

Wendy turns back to Eileen, looking somewhat pale but rather excited, too. 
"Okay. I'm really thinking about this one. I could *perhaps* be converted to 
this school of thought about Snape. But I'm not converted *yet*. If you 
really want me to buy into this, I'm going to need some more evidence. After 
all, it pretty much blows away my whole concept of the man I love most in the 
whole Potterverse." Eileen becomes a bit alarmed as Wendy continues, 
muttering mostly to herself, "But heck, if I become disolutioned about Snape, 
I've always got Remus to fall back upon. Unless he turns out to be evil. 
Well, I suppose I could just decide to be evil, too. And if I do *that* then 
it's open season on Lucius. Oh YES!" 

Wendy looks up suddenly, and smiles nervously. "Erm, nevermind all that. Not 
important." She smiles brightly. "Snape. Yes, Snape. He does seem to enjoy 
the petty cruelties he perpetrates against Harry and Co. But I've always 
looked at this issue from the other way 'round . . . Let's assume that our 
view of Snape as a recovering Death Eater is based on what we perceive as his 
cruelty to others. But is there some eternal law of the universe that says 
that cruel equals evil? Are there not charming villains? Or people who are 
nasty who, although unpleasant to be around, are in reality harmless or even 
benevolent? I always sort of thought that this was the point JKR was making - 
Snape isn't meant to prove that evil is complicated, but that *good* is 
complicated, too. We shouldn't assume someone is evil just because they 
aren't nice or pretty or use proper hygiene. Of course, I guess the fact that 
Snape really was a Death Eater could possibly be used as proof that Snape 
was, at some point, evil." Wendy's lips twist into something that might pass 
for a smile. "Or maybe not . . .

"You see, I have this whole scenario in mind as to why Snape joined the Death 
Eaters in the first place. And some of it is a bit, er, *adult* in nature. 
Which makes me wonder what this sort of backstory would be doing in books 
which are shelved in the children's section, but that's not my problem. 
Without going into all the gory details, let's just say that Snape was, for 
whatever reason, in the market for a substitute father figure and was 
therefore susceptible to Voldemort's charisma. And Voldemort, if we give him 
credit for being a *real* evil overlord, and not just a plot device, might 
have been inclined to take advantage of young Severus in a very specific way. 
Please don't tell me I have to actually speak aloud what I'm getting at. 
Sure, Severus knew a lot of curses but that doesn't mean he was particularly 
worldly. And he must have looked up to Voldemort in some way in order to have 
chosen to join him. Would teenage Snape have had the ability to defend 
himself against the certiainly very forceful attentions of this older man?"

Wendy's eyes are definitely glittering now, as she continues, "Actually, this 
fits in perfectly with something I overheard from another conversation." She 
gets up from the stool, hurries across the room and comes back with another 
woman in tow. This woman smiles gamely, but looks a bit uncertain about 
having been dragged across the room. 

"Your name is Snapefan Judy, right?" Wendy asks. The woman nods, and opens 
her mouth to speak, but before she can get a word out, Wendy interrupts, "You 
were talking about the one big problem with the whole 'Snape is Returning to 
Voldemort to be a Spy' scenario. What was it you were saying?"

Finally given a chance to speak, Snape fan Judy clears her throat and begins, 
"I was saying that the big problem is 'Why in the world would Voldemort take 
Snape
back, after Snape went over to Dumbledore's side?' "

"Right!" Wendy says excitedly. "And then you said something about Voldemort 
wanting to trust Snape . . ."

"Erm, yes," Judy continues, "Well, Voldemort doesn't want to believe that 
Snape actually was spying on him. It's well known that Snape was a 
double-agent by the end of VoldeWar I.  But, that still leaves Voldemort with 
the question of whose side
Snape was *really* on. So, which will Voldemort believe?  Remember, we're 
talking about *Voldemort* here. "Evil Overlord" Voldemort.  "I'm the greatest 
wizard
ever" Voldemort. "Phoenix Tears, I forgot" Voldemort.  He's going to go with 
choice B.  Voldemort will think that Snape was really on his side all along, 
and pulled the wool over the eyes of "that fool" Dumbledore."

"That's right," Wendy says. "But maybe it's all more *personal* than that. 
Maybe Voldemort has a vested interest in wanting to believe Snape couldn't 
have betrayed him because Snape was always one of his very *favourites*. I 
won't go so far as to credit Voldemort with actual feelings of love, but 
maybe as close to that as an Evil Overlord can get. He's just *fond* of Snape 
in a very particular way and would do just about anything to believe that 
Snape couldn't possibly have betrayed him.

"Okay. I realise this is a bit, erm, *darker* than is maybe plausible. And 
probably not something JKR would actually *write*. But that's not the point. 
It works, doesn't it? It gives us a credible reason for Snape joining 
Voldemort in the first place which doesn't involve him being just plain old 
evil. Plus, it give us a reason to believe that Snape returning to Voldemort 
wouldn't just be a suicide mission."

Wendy sits back on her barstool. "Well?" she says to Eileen, "What do you 
think?" Turning to George, she says confidently, "Bloody Mary, please. Which 
reminds me, did I mention that I think it's highly likely that Snape might 
just possibly be a vampire?"


Wendy
(Who was dead chuffed to find herself in Eileen's TBAY post, and was inspired 
to try one of her own.) :-)


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