Trusting Snape, betrayal and the motives of Dumbledore

[Alia]

No: HPFGUIDX 55353

Devika wrote:

> I think that Dumbledore is right in trusting Snape, though.  


I agree, for what it's worth. I think Dumbledore has *very good* 
reason to trust Severus completely. I hope we will find out what it 
is by the end of the canon series. I do believe that Severus truly is 
on their side and may well die for his found loyalty - it might be 
him seeking penance, redemption... I'm not sure.


>There 
> seems to be some compelling and convincing reason for this, 
although 
> we don't know what it is.  In fact, the reason is so interesting 
that 
> even Harry asked Dumbledore what it was.  And this is *Harry,* who 
> asks so few questions that many readers (myself included) are 
> incredibly frustrated at his apparent lack of interest in so many 
> interesting things (about his parents, for instance).   A lot of 
the 
> questions on our list of 50+ questions that we want answered are 
> things that Harry could find out easily by asking someone like 
> Sirius.  


I think that it's taken Harry this long in the magical world where he 
has experienced some happiness - some sense of control over his own 
life - some sense that he might just be as valuable as a human being 
as those around him to learn *how* to allow himself to be truly 
curious, much less actually ask an authority figure for help or 
information. Remember, he didn't have that with the Dursleys. In PS 
doesn't he say that the most important lesson he learned early on 
with the Dursleys was 'Ask no questions'...?

Those budding beliefs may well be shaken by the events ending in the 
rise of Voldie. A teacher he'd allowed himself to trust betrayed 
him... a guest student (Krum) seemed to have done the same during the 
event... his best friend - his first ever friend betrayed him earlier 
in the year... Fudge betrayed him... In a way Dumbledore betrayed him 
by not recognising that his friend Moody wasn't Moody... In a way 
Sirius betrayed him by not being able to stay...

He's never experienced anything in his life before Hogwarts and since 
his parents deaths that gave him any reason to trust *any* authority 
figures. And see what happens when he starts to overcome this 
training - Dumbledore won't tell him the answers that, if anyone 
deserves to know it's Harry (when he refuses to answer Harry's 
questions at the end of PS) and worse, all the betrayals mentioned 
above that occured in his fourth year.


But I digress.  My point is that, although we don't know for 
> sure, it seems as though Dumbledore has a very good reason for 
> trusting Snape.  And, considering Dumbledore's track record, I find 
> it hard to believe that he can be wrong when he actually has some 
> kind of hard evidence.  
> 
> Of course, like I said, there's no canon evidence to back this up 
> either way.  However, JKR did say somewhere that Harry would ask 
more 
> questions in OoP.  So the question remaining for us is this:  can 
we 
> wait 68 more days??  
> 

Yes, and didn't I read somewhere that JKR has said that one of the 
things Harry has yet to understand is that Dumbledore *isn't* 
perfect. But how...? Dumbledore seems too aware of what else is going 
on in the castle to have missed Moody being a fraud, the owl leading 
him away in PS as being fake, or any of the other things you'd think 
he should have known about... Is he setting Harry up? Not because he 
want's him hurt or killed - not because he's evil... but maybe he's 
trying to 'toughen' Harry up a bit, magically... carefully guide him 
into these situations so he'll be ready for the final showdown with 
Voldie...?


Just an odd set of thoughts from a newbie to your list.

Humbly offered,
Alia