[HPforGrownups] TBAY: Assassin!Snape and Karkaroff's Big Mistake

[eloiseherisson at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 46970

Plagiarism notice!

I should just like to point out that Pip suggested exactly the idea that I 
outline below in greater detail, in the wee small hours when I was tucked up 
in bed. I wrote the bones of this yesterday and fleshed it out this morning, 
not realising from the title that Pip's post (Re: MAGIC DISHWASHER 
explanation) was anything to do with this thread. So that's why she doesn't 
appear in the below. Sorry, Pip! It's just a case of great minds (and am I 
glad I'm not completely out on a limb here!)
.......................

The night wore on. Cindy was defending her theory that Snape could prove his 
'loyalty' to Dumbledore by killing Karkaroff with Dumbledore's collusion.

> "And that makes a big difference.  Look at it this way.  If Snape 
> approaches Voldemort and does his very best song and dance to deny 
> being Dumbledore's spy, it might work.  It also might *not* work.  
> And if it doesn't work, then Snape isn't getting out of Voldemort's 
> lair alive, is he?  So is there anyone in this room who is 100% sure 
> that if Snape showed up, Voldemort would definitely let him live?"
> 
> No one stirred or met Cindy's gaze.
> 
> "Didn't think so.  Dumbledore's not completely sure, either.  If 
> there's one thing you can count on from an Evil Overlord, it's 
> unpredictability.  So when Dumbledore authorized Snape to kill 
> Karkaroff to save Snape's hide, Dumbledore is doing the right 
> thing.  Karkaroff is a dead man anyway.  At least this way, 
> Karkaroff's death will accomplish two positive things –- the 
> infiltration of Voldemort's inner circle and the survival of Severus 
> Snape.  Forced to choose between Snape's life or Karkaroff's, 
> Dumbledore will pick Snape every time."
> 
> 

"Ye-es, put like that, I can see your point, but Snape's best song and dance 
is very good, isn't it?" said Eloise, adjusting her robes over her cabaret 
outfit, easing herself slowly into a seat unnacountably left vacant and 
thereby accidently jogging Cindy's elbow and spilling her drink.

Cindy glared at her. "Drink?" she asked picking up the brandy bottle.
"Oh no...thank you...it's alright," said Eloise, drawing a hip flask out of 
her robes. "I've always found the brandy in here didn't agree with me 
somehow. Don't know why. Must ask George about it. I've even wondered if 
someone's been spiking it before now.
"But look. Do we have to get so fixated on Karkaroff?"

"Everyone else is quite happy with Karkaroff."

"Not quite everyone. Pippin! Remind us what you said, will you?"

Appearing suddenly at the table again, still sipping
casually from a glass of mysterious red liquid, Pippin obliged.

"Yes, Snape will be sent to assassinate someone, but I don't believe
it will be Karkaroff. Instead, Karkaroff will be captured, and MacNair
will get to kill him in some nasty, messy and, er, interesting way.
Snape will have to watch, helpless, while his old pal (lover?)
Karkaroff screams and begs him to help, and Harry gets to see it all
via Scar-o-Vision.
<>
"But what has Voldemort got now
that can compare with the live-in snack bar they've got at Azkaban?
Why should the D-men think Voldemort can deliver, that he's stronger
than the Ministry? Why indeed, unless he delivers to them the one
thing that the Ministry has so far failed to provide...their lawful
prey, the one prisoner who got away."

Pippin paused for dramatic emphasis. "Snape is going after Sirius,"
she said.

"I think you might be right, Pippin. Although then again, I have some 
misgivings.
But let me expound......."

Eloise ignored the shuffling but couldn't help noticing the fact that 
everyone was now looking fixedly into their glasses. She looked into her own, 
remarking that single malt with a dash of water was remarkably similar in 
colour to pale tea with no milk, regained her composure and launched herself 
on the assembled company.

"Imagine I'm Voldemort.......OK, don't imagine *that* vividly," she said, as 
several chairs were pushed away from the table.

"Well... if *I* were Voldemort and this fellow Snape came worming his way 
back, claiming he's never left me and I wanted him to prove his loyalty...... 
would I send him after Karkaroff? What would that prove? Only that Snape was 
willing to kill a man against whom I could only expect him to hold a grudge. 
Only that he would kill a man whom some of you agree even Dumbledore might 
regard as disposable. It would not prove that his loyalty to me at all and 
the fact that Dumbledore has been brought into the scheme rather proves it, I 
think. 

"Nah...Voldemort isn't going to be convinced by his killing Karkaroff. Not 
unless he *was* well known for being the DE who kept his hands clean. But 
even his first kill on Voldemort's orders? Would that specifically prove 
*loyalty*? I don't see it. Snape's playing for high stakes and Voldemort 
knows it. If he doubts him, suspects he's been planted by Dumbledore, he 
might very well expect him to consent to almost *anything* in order to prove 
his loyalty. *Almost*, Wendy. No, I don't even want to *think* about it. In 
fact, I especially don't want to think about it.

"But, Snape has a pretty big. if dangerous, hand to play when you think about 
it, doesn't he?"

"How d'ya mean?"

"Here I am  (I'm still Voldemort) with a guy who claims he's a double agent, 
sitting right there in prime position *at Hogwarts*. Why send him off after 
Karkaroff, when there are bigger fish to fry? And if I'm Snape, well, I have 
big things to offer, although getting out of paying them might be difficult.

"Now Voldemort could do the old 'loyal servant at Hogwarts' thing again and 
try to inveigle Severus into some convoluted, cock-eyed scheme to deliver 
Harry into his hands again. But Voldemort already has Harry's blood. Why risk 
tangling with him again, without ridding him of his protector first? 

" 'Deliver the head of Albus Dumbledore on a plate, Severus and I will know 
that you have truly returned to me.' "

"Oops. How do we get out of this one?

"Maybe Severus won't *have* to do the heinous deed to prove himself to 
Voldemort. What if he just takes the credit?

"Well, of course, dear old Albus is getting on a bit and beginning to look a 
bit scruffy round the edges, not unlike Fawkes before his burning. In fact 
I'm almost inclined to wonder whether under normal circumstances, Dumbledore, 
for whom death is only the next great adventure, wouldn't be saying, 'I 
really should get on with it, I've been looking terrible for ages.' Only, of 
course, he's a bit busy grooming Harry for his destiny and it's been a bit 
inconvenient just to pop his clogs.

"But wait. We're at the pivotal point of the series. Sometime Harry is going 
to have to take over his own destiny without Dumbledore's help. Yes, I know 
it's all been said before. What if Dumbledore, who knows he is at the end of 
his life and who has by sometime late in OoP told Harry everything that he 
needs to tell him, willingly sacrifices himself in such a manner that Snape 
is able to pretend to Voldemort that he was the agent of his death?

"Or I suppose he might just fake his death, but I'd want a body myself. Of 
course, Voldemort might not have read Snow White.....

"But I have another scenario, that I favour even more. More pathos. Perhaps 
it even Bangs," Cindy regarded Eloise with a look of deep scepticism. "Well, 
it might give a little 'pop', you never know.  

"As some of you will know, I regard Dumbledore's, 'I would trust Hagrid with 
my life' to be a portent of things to come. 

"How about this. Dumbledore *does* trust Hagrid with his life and Hagrid does 
what Hagrid does - he fluffs it. Dumbledore dies. Hagrid is distraught. There 
is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth and Snape steps in both to 
protect Hagrid from the wrath of the WW and to take credit for the deed 
himself, (it's an 'accident' of course - even Voldemort can't expect Snape to 
go round openly murdering the most respected wizard of the age, which would 
be a bit self-defeating, really) thus simultaneously satisfying Voldemort and 
becoming deeply unpopular with the MoM, ordinary wizarding folks and three 
quarters of the school (maybe even McGonagall turning her back on him) though 
a hero to the Malfoys and the rest of the Slytherins.

"Although I suppose he *could* pretend he'd murdered him outright. After all, 
he probably wouldn't have to spend long in Azkaban before Voldemort released 
all the prisoners and it would be fantastic cover, wouldn't it?

"So there we would have the proof of Snape's loyalty and the terrible death 
all rolled into one neat package, with dear Severus' integrity still intact. 

"Or then there's the Sirius variant. But again, I just wonder, however much 
Voldemort might want to get his hands on Sirius, how much it would speak of 
Snape's loyalty. I mean Pettigrew was in the Shrieking Shack, wasn't he. He 
must have noticed that there was still no love lost between Snape and Sirius. 
I don't think that in Voldemort's position I would accept Snape killing a man 
I know he loathes as proof of loyalty, deeply conflicted as he might be."

Eloise stood up.
"I'm sorry, I've got to get out of this costume, it's killing me."

"I've got just the thing!" said Cindy, handing her a Rookwood thong.

"Oh, thanks!" replied Eloise, pulling a B.A.B.E.M.E.I.S.T.E.R. tee shirt out 
of an inner pocket. Eileen rolled her eyes skywards and shook her head sadly.

"Hey, Eloise, I remember you were very skeptical when I
first mentioned I had a crush on Rookwood." 

"Yes, well, he just seemed a bit insubstantial. You know, no dialogue - even 
Avery over there has dialogue - and not even a glimpse of him and besides, I 
find having crushes on more than three fictional characters at once a little 
time-consuming. Let me get changed and then I have to take Diana to task."
.................................

Returning to the table, Eloise had Diana in tow.
"Now, Diana, what have you been saying? Judy seems to think you've been nasty 
about Snape, that you said he *enjoyed* torturing people, that he was *evil*"

"I think I just said that he's be rather good at the torture thing," she 
said. Well, he would wouldn't he? OK he was a *psychological* torturer, if 
you prefer. He still is, for that matter. But I didn't say he was *evil*. 
Promise."

"The problem is, Diana that you don't have a straightforward view of the 
nature of how good and evil are played out in the Potterverse and it causes 
confusion."

"It does?"

"It does. You see, you stipulate that Snape did not convert from being an 
evil person to being a virtuous person, either as a result of a catalytic 
event, or over time. You state that at the time of joining Lord Voldemort, 
Snape embraced Voldemort's own doctrine that there was no such thing as good 
and evil. He was therefore operating in a world where morality didn't exist, 
where it held no meaning. In a sense he was innocent, in the same way child 
can be held innocent of acts whose morality they are too young to understand.

"Now wait a minute........He was an adult, not a child, you say. Sure he was. 
But we don't have to look too far to see examples of people whose world view 
is radically different from ours committing acts which from our POV are 
obviously evil, but which from theirs are a moral duty. 

"Now Voldemort peddles and even more dangerous philosophy: that there is *no* 
morality; that self-interest and the quest for power are all that matter. 
Severus must have known this. He must have accepted it to have become a DE, 
just as Quirrell later accepted it. I believe that he accepted this as a 
working philosophy and thereby was, at the time, protected from the horrific 
reality of what he witnessed and did. And it's no more than thousands of 
other people have done; people who to their families and friends are 
perfectly nice, kind and loving, but people who have been ideologically 
persuaded that another particular group of people are subhuman, that it is 
their duty to wipe tham out, that their suffering is irrelevant.

"And Snape, much as it pains me to admit it, isn't, apparently, a terribly 
nice, kind, loving person. I'm afraid that I *can* see him joining in. With 
Elkins, I think that unfortunately he *does* have a taste for that sort of 
thing, although I'm not sure whether he actually enjoys it or whether it 
isn't more of a reflex. But for some reason, he began to question Voldemort's 
philosophy. Maybe he twigged that Voldemort was the only one who *really* 
benefitted, that even if he sought power for himself, he would always be 
controlled by Voldemort. I don't know. But I believe it is the rejection of 
Voldemort's amorality and the embracing of morality that made him start to 
view what he was doing as wrong and led to his changing sides.

"So I don't believe he was evil. I believe he did evil things out of a 
mistaken belief in a false philosophy. He was taken in by evil, if you like."

Diana shook her blonde curls and took out a bottle of nail varnish to touch 
up her nails.

"I never knew I was so complex," she said.

"No, Diana," said Eloise with a sigh. "You keep you complexities well 
hidden."

Eloise

Hypothetic Alley:

http://www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/faq/hypotheticalley.html

Inish Alley:

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