[HPforGrownups] New Snape/Vodemort Musings

[Amanda Geist]

No: HPFGUIDX 47107

Jazzmyn theorized:

> Now, we all know that Snape was a spy, plus Voldemort may have figured
> this out via Turban/Voldemort or Crouch Trial, but when he turned spy,
> was he still 'Snape'?  Could he in fact be returning to spying as
> 'someone else'?
>
> What do you mean, you ask?
>
> Okay, Snape is a GREAT potions master.  We see a lot of use of Polyjuice
> potions, with even Dumbledore fooled by it.  So, what happens if he is a
> DE who is is 'someone else' to Voldemort?  Perhaps masquarading as
> someone else who was killed or disappeared?  I for one don't believe
> that Voldemort can read minds, just body language perhaps. Mayeb he can
> just smell fear.. Snape is very good at masking his feelings when he
> wants to and could be able to pull it off, you know.

It's a possibility. But I don't think so, for two reasons.

1. Snape, if he had used this particular ruse in the past, would not have
been so dumbstruck when it was revealed to be Crouch, Jr.'s method. Nor
would Dumbledore, whom I believe knows all the intricate details of Snape's
spying.
Part of the surprise there was that nobody suspected it, which I find hard
to justify if it were a tried and true method of Snape's.

2. Polyjuice Potion lasts for one hour. All Voldemort would have to do is
lock any new volunteers (or old ones) up for two, keep someone waiting in
the anteroom too long, or talk for longer than an hour without allowing
potty breaks, and the cover is blown.

Nor do I think Snape will use Polyjuice when (okay, *if*, to be entirely
canon accurate) he returns to Voldemort. The whole Polyjuice scenario as
used by Barty Crouch was a plan *of* Voldemort's. He knows this particular
method inside-out, and likely will be on the watch for it. It *is*
ridiculously easy to test for.

And I, for one, do not believe that Voldemort can detect all lies. I think
*he* probably thinks he can, the egotist, but the fact of the matter is that
no matter how good a diplomat/spy you are, you cannot avoid uttering the
occasional untruth, and Snape survived as a spy in Voldemort's camp,
undetected. He would have had no use being a spy if he were not close to
Voldemort, who would therefore have *had* to be fooled at least once.

So.

~Amanda, who really, seriously meant that offer of Bertie Botts Beans to the
entire list if either an unregistered animagus or Polyjuice potion is a
major plot element in book 5