TBAY: Assassin!Snape Meets Saboteur!Snape (WAS Saboteur!Snape's Next Mission)

[charisjulia]

No: HPFGUIDX 46944



Charis was staring gloomily at her drink. "Hmph," she thought huffily 
to herself. "I thought I made myself perfectly clear to Cindy before. 
Hang it all, I * did* make myself perfectly clear. I told her what I 
thought of that ridiculous idea of having Dumbledore send Snape off 
to— to---" -- Charis could barely bring herself to even * think* the 
word – " to * assassinate* people and yet, look! Here she is still 
cockily leaning against the bar, trying to make herself look ohhh—so—
superior—and—worldly and *still * insisting on making the two of them 
out to be . . .  to be * murderers*!."
"Ha!" thinks Charis grouchily and wrinkles her nose against the 
stench of vodka reeking from the Captain. "Worldly my foot! I mean, 
presumably she can make some sense out of that twisted little world 
she lives in in her * mind*, but she definitely doesn't know anything 
about the Potterverse!"


Cindy was smugly stirring her B—52. 

>"See, Charis, you, uh . . . you don't 
>defeat Grindewald without breaking a few *heads,* you know."

Charis brought her drink down on the counter with a splash and a 
smash and turned round to glare resolutely at Cindy. "And why not if 
I may ask? Since we know that Dumbledore went through the whole of 
Vold War I without resorting to his Dark Powers and yet * still* was 
the only wizard that Voldemort feared, why then should we assume that 
he could not defeat Grindewald too – who was, after all, less 
powerful— without resorting to bland murder?"


Cindy, obviously and irritatingly unperturbed, shrugged. OK, that was 
fine with her then. Charis could have her good and moral Dumbledore 
if she must. What did Cindy care? After all, there were still the 
Assassin! variants to bring out. And no less than three of them 
either: 

> First, there is the 'Karkaroff's Head On A 
>Stake' variant. Snape and Dumbledore have hatched a can't-miss plan 
>to absolutely insure Snape's welcome back into the DE fold. Snape 
>apparates straight to Voldemort's lair clutching two things in his 
>slimy hands to prove his loyalty beyond question -– Karkaroff's wand 
>and Karkaroff's *head.*"
>
>There was an icy silence as the patrons sat motionless. "BANG!" 
>whispered George, his blue eyes wide and staring somewhere in the 
>distance.
>
>"But as you point out, Charis, that is awfully mean for Dumbledore 
>and Snape to just hunt Karkaroff down like a dog in the street and 
>then up and kill the poor man in cold blood like that. I mean 
>*Whoa!*
>
>"So let's consider the next variant -– Snape doesn't kill Karkaroff 
>himself. I mean, where's the fun in that? No, instead there's 
>the 'Bring Him In Alive' variant. Snape apprehends Karkaroff and 
>brings him to Voldemort alive -- furs and all. Snape is able to 
>prove his loyalty to Voldemort without getting any, er, blood on his 
>hands, so to speak. Now, if Karkaroff had his choice, he would 
>probably prefer that Snape go with 'Karkaroff's Head On A Stake,' 
>frankly. 'Cause you *know* what Karkaroff's fate is under 'Bring 
>Him In Alive.' Let's just say that there will be a great lot of 
>screaming, begging, weeping and sniveling and leave it at that. 
>It's Bangy -- if you, uh, like that sort of thing.


"But," Cindy glanced up at Charis, "I can see that you, err, 
apparently * don't*. So, err," – Cindy's was just beginning to get 
slightly worried now—- "let's just move on to the last variant shall 
we?


>the traditional 'The Devil Made Me Do It' variant. 
>Snape goes to Voldemort, who sends him after Karkaroff *or else,* so 
>Snape –- deeply conflicted and racked with guilt -– does what he 
>must do." 

"Oh, yeah," Charis smirked gleefully. "Yeah, that would be one great 
plan of Snape and Dumbledore's wouldn't it? I can just imagine the 
intent, meticulous, ingenious scheming:
"So, Severus, here's what you do: if Voldemort ever manages to come 
back to power, your first step is just to apparate right back at his 
side. Got it? Right—ho! Now, next, you wait for Voldemort's reaction, 
ok? If Voldemort happens to have some poor wretch he wants to off, 
then, no problem and you're in business! If not, well, errr, tough 
luck, mate . . ." 


"You see," Charis continued, "If Snape returns to Voldemort without 
anything to offer, well, that's just suicidal. But if he on the other 
hand * expects* to be asked to kill Karkaroff, or any Karkaroff for 
that matter, then, well, that's no better really than any of your 
other scenarios, Cindy. He's still accepting murder as a possible 
consequence of his actions. He still has the intent (even if it is of 
a lesser degree) to assassinate. And," she finishes off firmly, "I 
still don't like it."


"Besides, there's still one more problem with this whole Assassin!
Snape theory." Charis touched Cindy softly on the shoulder and lifted 
finger to her lips. "Here, shhh, be quiet a minute. . ." Charis 
pointed to the other side of the Tavern where two young women were 
bending slightly over a mountain of loose parchment roles and empty, 
discharged ink—pots. A wisp of ruffled, fly—away hair was just barely 
visible over the top. "There. Listen to that:"


Elkins, in message 35196:

>The suggestion that Snape left the DEs because when it came right
>down to it, he lacked a taste for torture or murder, for example, has
>always left me a bit cold because in my reading of Snape, of *course*
>he has a taste for it. A taste for it is *exactly* what he's got.
>His taste for it...well, that's sort of his problem, isn't it?

And then in post 35360:

>As I see it, Snape is somebody who works very hard at trying to do
>the right thing, trying not to descend into whatever it is that he
>fears that he once was.


"There," Charis turned back to Cindy. "D'you hear that? D' you know 
what that means? Forget about Dumbledore and Dumbledore's scruples! 
Snape won't kill Karkaroff because Snape has a moral code of his own 
you know. And I have a feeling that Snape's moral code, at least 
where he himself is concerned, might very well be actually quite a 
lot stricter than Dumbledore's. Snape can never, ever, commit cold—
blooded murder again, because Snape will never, ever permit himself 
to do so. He's afraid of that slippery slope. He's afraid he's going 
to lose his grip. He's afraid he'd fall back, back into old habits, 
old addictions, old pleasures not so easily forgotten. He's afraid of 
himself."


"Oh, he might allow himself the odd act of physical violence now and 
again when circumstances demand it. But * only* when circumstances * 
demand* it. Only when it is *no less than absolutely necessary*. And 
never, ever, ever premeditated. 


"You see, Cindy, the problem with this Assassin! plan is that it 
ruins all my Snape for me. It makes murder something too easy for him 
and therefore minimises the psychological effect his decision to 
leave the DEs and accept a new set of principles had on him. Assassin!
Snape doesn't appear to have any qualms at all at the idea of murder, 
but I can't read Snape like that. My Snape would have qualms. My 
Snape would * made* himself have qualms!"


"And that's why I'm really getting into this idea of having Snape be 
in charge of taking over Azkaban. Besides the parallelism with 
Hagrid's task which the text itself suggests and which is as a 
literary motif is always sure to appeal to my tidy little mind, it 
forces Snape to come face to face with the reality of what he was and 
what he would be now had he not repented in time. His own old 
schoolfriends --- broken, ravaged, half—mad we are told by a decade 
and a half in the wizarding prison --- would bring that reality home 
to him with a very nasty jolt."


*             *             *

Derannimer wrote:

>I think that, in order to become a Death Eater, you have to bind 
>yourself to Lord Voldemort, in an arrangement whereby he gives you 
>nifty extra powers, and you give him *you*: your service, possibly 
>your powers to some degree (which could only add to his strength), 
>and, naturally (this is a "deal with the devil", after all) your 
>actual soul. This is a "binding magical contract;" it cannot be 
>broken, no matter how much you repent, no matter how badly you want 
>to renege--you keep your nifty powers, and Lord Voldemort keeps your 
>soul. Your body, and your intellect, and (obviously) your will can 
go 
>on their merry way, but some fairly substantial part of you splits 
>off from the rest and stays with Voldemort.


Derannimer trails off nervously. Charis Julia is standing stock still 
in front of her, her mouth gaping in a rather inelegant fashion. 
Finally she finds her voice. "Ooooh," she breaths softly, "oooh, 
my. . . oh, my, this is good, this is very good . . . This is --- " 
Charis whips smartly around and hold a hand up to the bartender. "Oy, 
George, get the girl a drink! Proto boy!" Charis turns back to 
Derannimer, a wide smile flashing happily. "It's on me."


"Phew, did you pull me out of a jam Derannimer! Quite a tight spot 
I'd found myself in there for a moment!"


Amanda wrote:

>"By the way, whoever thinks that Severus Snape would be able to cast 
a
>Patronus is deluded. He is clearly a powerful wizard, despite his 
disdain
>for "wand-waving," but given his past, I strongly doubt that he has 
too many
>memories or thoughts of happiness upon which to draw. Even if he 
*can*
>manage one, it certainly won't be strong enough to fend off the 
assembled
>presence of all of Azkaban's dementors." 


"Boy, did beads of sweat start running down my forehead when I read 
that! Good point, very good point. . . Not that is matters anymore." 
Charis thumps Derannimer appreciatively on the back. " Deal with the 
Devil. . . oooh, yes, this is sooo right! That's why 
Dumbledore "must" ask Snape to do this. . . that's why Snape's the 
only one who could ever take on this job, the only hope Dumbledore's 
side has of ridding Azkaban of it's present guards without Fudge's 
consent. Oh, I'll gladly sacrifice a few Dementor torturing Snape 
scenes for this . . . after all as I said before simply seeing his 
old comrades is likely going to be a harrowing enough experience for 
Snape. Oh, yes, yes,  this is good, Derannimer! Refill?"

*      *       *

One small last matter: 


Acire wrote :


>What I meant was, you said that Dumbledore immediately 
>tackles the two points he tried to make to Fudge: send envoys to the 
>giants, and get the Dementors out of Azkaban. Well, if Snape was 
>indeed supposed to get Dementors out of Azkaban, or prepare for it, 
>why does Dumbledore send him off right away, and wait a week to send 
>of Hagrid? Both people in question are teachers at the school, yet 
>Dumbledore waits a week to send one off, and sends the other off 
>right away, both to do things that he said are extremely important 
>to accomplish before V-Mort beats them to it. 
>Anyway, that was the point *I* was trying to make.

Ah, right, now I see what you mean! Sorry, didn't quite get it 
before. 


Well, what I would point out now is that Dumbledore called Hagrid 
(and M.Maxime if she would consent to come) to his office and 
presumably saw them both right after he left the hospital wing. Which 
was right after he dispatched Snape. You yourself pointed out that we 
have no indication that Potion classes are cancelled at all in the 
week that followed, so Snape must still have been at Hogwarts. In 
other words what I am suggesting here is that after Fudge's refusal 
to deal with the situation himself, Dumbledore set out preparing to 
sort out these two problems, attending to the more pressing one first 
(by speaking first to Snape) and only then turning to the one of the 
Giants (by sending for Hagrid and M. Maxime). When do Snape and 
Hagrid actually leave Hogwarts for some field work? Well, Canon seems 
to indicate that they both waited till at least the end of term. 


And then there's that comment of Dumbledore's in "The Parting of the 
Ways": (sorry, quoting from memory here again.) "Fudge's attitude, 
though not unexpected, changes everything." This I read as 
meaning "makes everything much harder" and indeed we can suppose that 
it very likely will. Take the matter of the Giants for example: 
Dumbledore can send his own envoys if he wants and I believe he does. 
But the importance of the gesture is very much diminished by the lack 
of official MoM authorisation. Dumbledore can promise his own support 
but he is in no position to "extend the hand of friendship" of the 
whole wizarding world. He is not after all their representative. 
Fudge is. 


Similarly, if Dumbledore really does mean to do anything about the 
Dementors he is very much restricted by the opposition of the 
Minister of Magic. And in this case the restriction is more evident 
in that it necessitates postponing an action what D. obviously 
considers very urgent. He can't do anything about the Dementors 
untill the rest of the wizarding world can be brought to see the 
necessity of the measure. Otherwise there would just be panic. 

In other words, there's no hurry.

Charis Julia.


PS. Eileen wrote: 

>"Julia Charis!" cries Eileen. "Long time, no see! We've been 
bemoaning
>your disapearance for a while.

As I explained to Eileen off list I've recently moved country, which 
is the reason I couldn't do more that lurk for quite some while. It's 
good to be back!