TBAY: Saboteur!Snape

[susannahlm]

No: HPFGUIDX 47045

Diana was beginning to regret her stint tending bar. Oh sure, at 
first it had been a great deal of fun--soft job, free drinks, a 
chance to listen to all those weird (and decidedly Un-Georgian) 
theories. But then the Tavern got more *crowded*, and the theorists 
got *louder*, and then they had all gone outside to shoot off their 
*can(n)ons*, and they were back inside now, but the windows were all 
open to try and keep the place cool, it was getting so *hot* in here, 
and so there was *cannon smoke* coming in through the windows, and 
she was getting a *headache*, and--

The Tavern door burst open and a man flung himself inside, banging 
the door shut behind himself so hard that a single pane of glass 
shattered and tinkled to the ground. He wore sleek silver furs to 
match his graying hair, but his furs were heavily soiled and his hair 
was oddly disheveled. He looked like he hadn't slept well in weeks. 
He groped for the deadbolt, flipped it to the locked position, and 
turned to the business of extinguishing the torches that provided the 
only light.  

Diana shrieked and whirled round at the sound of the breaking glass. 
She took one look at the man and walked straight past him, out the 
door, into the rain and the wind. A Death Eater, in her brother's 
bar. She didn't care how awful the weather was, she was going right 
back to her castle, and it would take a lot to make her leave it.   
Inside the Tavern, however, things continued pretty much as usual. 
There had been the briefest of pauses, during which it seemed that 
Karkaroff's melodramatic entrance might disrupt the party--but 
Captain Cindy had immediately swooped down upon him and dragged him 
off, that she might discuss his imminent demise with him. The rest of 
the room resumed their conversations, although in the dark until 
George relit all the torches. 
  
Cindy guided Karkaroff to her table, bought him a drink, and sat down 
to resume the argument she'd been conducting with Derannimer and 
Charis Julia.  

"Now look," began Captain Cindy. "Let's get something straight here. 
You ladies seem to be suggesting that if JKR strongly implies that 
something's going to happen, then it's not going to happen. 

"I think there's a problem with approaching the fine art of canon 
predictions in that fashion. For instance, the author strongly 
implies that Hagrid will go on a mission with the Giants, right? 
She also strongly implies that Sirius will go to Lupin. Are you two 
saying that that won't happen in OoP because it is too obvious?"  

"No but--" says Derannimer.

"No, if the author hints strongly at something in the books about 
developments in a future book, she tends to be true to her word. 
PoA is a perfect example of this. 'The Dark Lord will rise again 
with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than he ever 
was.' And that is exactly what happened in GoF, right?"

"Yes but--" says Charis Julia. 

"JKR doesn't mind telling us what will happen from one book to the 
next, but she is quite sneaky about never telling us *how* it will 
happen. So the smart money says that Hagrid will go on some sort of 
mission to the Giants, that Sirius will round up the old crowd and 
Snape will spy for Voldemort. The--"  

"CAPTAIN!" Derannimer yells. Cindy blinks. "What?" she asks. "How can 
you possibly disagree with what I said? Every word of it is the 
truth. Sometimes, JKR does let us know what she's going to do. There 
is simply no way that you can argue with that."    

"Yes, but *look*," protests Derannimer. "Your examples won't *work*." 
Cindy's eyes narrow slightly. Derannimer is glad that she is on the 
other side of the table. Cindy could still throw a bottle at her, but 
she could still duck. "What do you *mean*, my examples won't work," 
asks Cindy, fingers unconciously stroking the handle of a thankfully 
absent Big Paddle.    

Derannimer isn't entirely sure why she's still talking, but she 
continues anyway. 

"In the Trelawny example and the old crowd example, JKR 
doesn't "hint" at what's going to happen--she *tells us* what's going 
to happen; or rather she has Dumbledore tell us. She has Dumbledore 
refer to Professor Trelawny's prediction as a real one, she has 
Dumbledore give Sirius his orders. There is absolutely no question at 
all that Dumbledore is right about Trelawny--why would he be? 
presumably he would recognize the description of a real Trelawny 
Trance, since she's had one before--and absolutely no question at all 
that Sirius is going where Dumbledore tells him to go--not unless 
you're suggesting RankInsubordination!Sirius, anyway. Neither of 
those events is a *mystery*, unlike Snape's task. That *is* a 
mystery. And while JKR may sometimes *tell us what's going to 
happen*, she very rarely *hints that obviously at the solution to a 
*mystery**."  

"Two." Cindy spoke very quietly. 

"What?" said Derannimer, trying not to blink. Cindy's eyes were 
boring into hers. It was exactly like trying to stare down a 
hippogriff. Derannimer tried hard not to blink.  

"Two examples. What about the third? What about Hagrid?" 

Derannimer winced. She had sort of been hoping not to have to go 
there. "Um," she said. "Well, yes.  

"I agree, the third one is harder--" 

"Ha!" said Cindy. 

"--but it's not impossible. You basically said that the obvious 
nature of Hagrid's mission proves that Snape could be a spy. 
Well. . . 

"Yeah. Snape could be a spy. I concede the point."  

"Ha HA!" said Cindy.

Derannimer glared briefly at her. Then she abruptly smiled and 
resumed speaking, in a suddenly very sweet voice.  

"But I never meant that Snape couldn't be a spy. I simply meant that 
there is no Bang with Snape the Spy. After all. . . 

"Yes, there could be a great deal of violence and angst and such with 
Snape the Spy. But no more than with Snape the Saboteur. And you 
still have not addressed the fact that 95% of readers, no matter how 
casaul or even lazy, already believe in Snape the Spy. It can't Bang; 
it's too well established."  

There is a very slight frown on Cindy's face. Her forehead has 
wrinkled, as if in concentration. 

"Sounds familiar, doesn't it?" asks Derannimer quietly. 

>*No way* is Cindy going for any of those alternative Memory Charm 
>theories because. . .  they are all sizzle and no Bang. No 
>Bang at all. Lots of allegations of corruption and collusion and 
>such, that's true, but no more so than in MATCHINGARMCHAIR. 

>In the final analysis, though, we're talking about that same old 
>Traditional Memory Charm that 90% of readers worked out on their 
>own. Nothing can change the fact that, no matter how much you dress 
>up those Traditional Memory Charm theories, *there's no potential 
>Bangy plot twist with Memory Charm Neville because we've all been 
>ready for it since the end of GoF.* 

[message 38921, italics in the last sentence mine.]

"I know it's not really *that strong* of an argument, but hey; good 
enough for you, good enough for me."  

Derannimer (who thinks that Saboteur!Snape needs a good acronym, and 
would like to officially request one, as long as Charis Julia (who he 
belongs to, after all) has no objection)