Why Snape may know what he knows WAS Re: The Gleam Revisited

[bluesqueak]

No: HPFGUIDX 45134

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Grey Wolf" <greywolf1 at j...> wrote:
<Snip>
> Now, the other two players. Snape seems to have all the 
> information Dumbledore has, even though prudence would probably 
> drive *me* to withold any information that is not vital to 
Snape's  
> job. The fact is,of course, that Snape seems to be the wild-card 
>(aka Joker) in  Dumbledore's deck: he's the one that's thrown into 
>the danger without  full information on what he's going to face, 
>and is expected to come up  with a way to do it. Some points in 
the  
>Shack Scene seem to point out, however, that Snape's ideas doesn't 
> always coincide with Dumbledore's (especially in what Sirius 
> Black's inocence is concerned), 

This is one of the major differences between Voldemort and 
Dumbledore, I think. Voldemort has followers, Dumbledore has 
*allies*. Allies occasionally disagree with each other. Followers 
are not *allowed* to disagree with their leader.

> and as I've mentioned, it is 
> possible that Dumbledore has not informed him of details that do  
> not affect him, but in general lines he seems to know as much as   
> Dumbleodre does.
> 
Agreed. (Well, I would, wouldn't I [grin])
I can come up with several theories as to *why* Snape seems to know 
as much as Dumbledore in a lot of cases. 

One possiblility is that Snape's primary job is the protection of 
Harry Potter and we're being fooled again by seeing things from 
Harry's point of view - Snape *appears* to have all the information 
because he does have a need-to-know for all information likely to 
affect Harry. Snape might be much less well informed on who the MoM 
DE sympathisers are.

Second possibility (and the most likely) is that Snape is fulfilling 
the 'Head of Intelligence' role; with Dumbledore running the grand 
strategy. If this is the case, Snape *will* know almost as much as 
Dumbledore. 

Snape is in a good position to be Head of Intelligence. He's a 
poacher turned gamekeeper[1] who knows from experience how DE's 
think, he's a Slytherin who has known many DE's from their 
childhoods at school, he is the teacher and head of house of many of 
their children (and we all know how much information about their 
parents children innocently reveal). 

[This would also explain the canon points that Snape rarely goes 
outside, hardly ever attends quidditch matches and is very bad 
tempered - he's a man with two demanding full time jobs and 
absolutely *no* spare time.]

The final possibility is that the MAGIC DISHWASHER plan involves a 
99% certainty that Dumbledore will die before it comes to fruition.

 This is a real possibility, I think. Voldemort does not understand 
love, he does not understand sacrifice, and he would not understand 
a plan in which his most powerful enemy would deliberately sacrifice 
himself. Voldemort would destroy the entire world before he would 
give up his own life.

In which case, Dumbledore will be planning for his own death and 
must leave someone behind capable of carrying on the plan. Snape may 
be that person - he knows more than need-to-know because he's is 
Dumbledore's understudy. 

While Dumbledore is alive, Snape is expendable - Dumbledore can 
always train someone else. What *is* important is that (except in 
emergencies like the end of GoF Ch.35 ) Snape and Dumbledore never 
risk themselves *at the same time*. This would explain why 
Dumbledore tackles Quirrelmort at the end of PS/SS and Snape is 
conspicuous by his absence; why Snape tackles Black/Lupin/Pettigrew 
in the Shrieking Shack [PoA]and Dumbledore is then conspicuously 
absent.

The three roles are not incompatible. Snape may actually be Head of 
Intelligence, Harry's main protector *and* understudying 
Dumbledore ... and if you burn through yet another cauldron, 
Longbottom, then the stress really will get too much for me and I 
will *disembowel* that toad of yours in front of the entire class! 
;-)
<Snip>
> 
> Some people have objected to MAGIC DISHWASHER by saying that Harry 
>is  not important enough. Apart from the fact that that is  
> metathinking,which I do not approve, and which MAGIC DISHWASHER is 
> certainly NOT built upon, Harry is not important so far because 
he  
> has not reached an age were he can cope with this sort of 
> situation. I'd imagine that, as the trio gets older, they will be 
> inroduced to the world were information and strategy rules over 
> magic and raw force (and THEN Ron is going to be more useful 
>than "the hero's sidekick" position he know  has).
> 
<Snip>

Agreed. Metathinking says that Harry is the hero of the books. But 
MAGIC DISHWASHER is a theory based on the story so far, and so far 
Harry is not yet 15... Dumbledore is aware that Harry Potter is 
inevitably locked into the fight against Voldemort, has been since 
he became 'the boy who lived', but he is *not* trying to turn him 
into a minature general[2]. 

Instead Dumbledore's trying to let Harry fight the fights he's 
capable of fighting, and that Harry *wants* to fight, while still 
letting him have some kind of childhood. Harry has the right to 
judge the man who betrayed his parents to their deaths [PoA]; he 
doesn't need to know about the behind-the-scenes planning it took to 
get him to that point [see post # 39662], or that the judgement he 
has a right to make will have longer-term consequences. He is a 
child who should still be learning how to make moral choices; not an 
adult who may have to make grey, political ones.

Pip!Squeak

[1] Poacher turned gamekeeper: British proverb. A poacher is someone 
who steals deer, rabbits, grouse etc from someone elses land, a 
gamekeeper the person who tries to stop him.

[2]if you want a story about a child being forced into becoming the 
general who wins the war, read *Ender's Game* by Orson Scott Card. 
It's very good.