TBAY: MD and theories/A new room

[annemehr <annemehr@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 49178




Annemehr sighed happily as she looked around her new room.  Oooooh, 
this is going to be *so* much fun!  She finished putting her clothes 
away, and then pulled out one of her favorite posters - it was Arthur 
Weasley, on a late-night raid.  In one hand, he held a biting teacup 
which was securely covered by a tiny muzzle.  In the other hand, he 
held a piece of parchment, on which was clearly visible a list of 
names followed by items of a dark nature such as one might find down 
Knockturn Alley, and not many of them of Muggle origin, either.  Now, 
what would he be doing with *that*, hmmm?  Not that there was much 
canon for this poster
yet.  Still, the poster did seem to suit the 
room beautifully


Annemehr turned back to the chalkboard that Melody had pulled out of a 
drawer (making a mental note to check the other drawers for 
interesting Safe House items).  Definitely some things to think about, 
but it was getting very late.  After getting her PJ's on, she took it 
into bed to mull over, but fell asleep almost immediately.
_________________________________________________________________

Annemehr woke to find the sunlight streaming across her face - lovely! 
 East windows!  She wondered as she went downstairs, what to have for 
breakfast.  Tea and biscuits?  Or coffee and donuts?  She settled on 
coffee and biscuits, and entered the kitchen to find Pip and Squeeky 
already there.

"Good morning, you two," she said to them, but her eyes were glued to 
the dishwasher, already purring efficiently although there can't have 
been many dirty dishes yet, so early in the day.  "Is this thing ever 
off?" she wondered, half to herself.

"Nope," said Pip, who watched in amusement as Annemehr looked through 
six or seven cupboards trying to find the coffee cups which were 
hanging neatly on their holder right next to the coffee-maker.  "So, 
tell me - why Snape, eh?"

"What?" said Annemehr, looking startled.

"You know.  Eloise's question yesterday.  "PoA p. 154 Ch. 10 UK 
hardback. Pettigrew is mentioned, and what's  said about him? 
'Pettigrew. That fat little boy who was always 
tagging around after them [James and Lupin] at Hogwarts?' It's not 
even one of the teachers who says this; it's Madame Rosmerta, who only 
ever saw the Hogwarts kids at weekends. *Any* student,teacher, or 
someone vaguely connected with Hogwarts could have told Voldemort that 
Pettigrew liked to hang around with the big boys."

"Well, sure," said Annemehr, catching on.  "But Snape was a DE, and he 
lived seven years at Hogwarts with them while they were all students. 
 He would have had some insight into their group dynamics, twisted by 
bitterness though it might have been.  Couldn't you just see 
Voldemort, discussing his intention of killing the Potters with a 
selection of his DE's, Snape among them?  And Snape says, 'Master, I 
know of a weakness we could exploit.  One of their friends, Peter 
Pettigrew, was always hanging around them because he thought they were 
so clever.  He always liked to be around wizards who were more 
powerful than he was.  Well, Master, you are *much* more powerful
'  
Well, you can imagine how that might go."

"Makes sense," said Pip, moving away from in front of the doughnuts as 
Melody came in, looking hungry.  "But there were other DE's who were 
at Hogwarts when Snape was.  Sirius mentions a whole gang of 
Slytherins Snape ran with, who nearly all turned out to be DE's.  Any 
of them might just as well have done it."

"Oh, is this about the Evil Snape theory?" says Melody.  "Didn't 
Annemehr say she came up with this as one possible interpretation of 
the SS scene?  She doesn't mean this theory is proven, it's only one 
of three ways she found to look at things.  And it would be logical 
that DE!Snape might have put Voldemort onto Pettigrew."  She smiled at 
Annemehr encouragingly.  There seemed to be a lot of encouraging 
smiles around here lately


Annemehr continues: 
                      Not long after this, Snape left to spy for 
Dumbledore.  As Snape obviously never told Dumbledore that Pettigrew 
was now working for Voldemort, this has to be an Evil Double-Agent 
Snape Theory.   

                     "Well," said Pip thoughtfully. "It's consistent 
with canon if you can explain why EvilDoubleAgent!Snape mutters a 
countercurse to save Harry in PS/SS, directly against Quirrelmort's 
curse."

Annemehr considers the point.  "What if Voldemort hadn't revealed 
himself to Snape in PS/SS?  He may not have felt quite sure of Snape 
anymore at this point since Snape had spent the last ten years with 
Dumbledore.  And Snape isn't ready to leave his nice, secure place 
with Dumbledore because he's still "in situ." If Voldemort is ever 
defeated or never returns, Snape at least has some kind of place in 
the world.  And if Voldemort ever does return, then Snape remains in 
a *very* valuable position.  Either way, he can't afford to take any 
risks with it." said Annemehr.

"But," puts in Melody, "If Snape is evil, why didn't he go for the 
philosopher's stone himself instead of defending it for Dumbledore?"

"Ah," said Pip, "what if he did try to get it, and he just never 
figured out how to get it out of the mirror?
 >                    "But there's the problem of the Shrieking Shack 
as well. Why is Snape so keen to save Harry, in the face of 
Voldemort' obvious desire (in PS/SS and as Tom Riddle in CoS) to 
kill the little brat? In fact, why doesn't EvilDoubleAgent!Snape 
just kill the lot of them? He's going into a situation where there's 
a known escaped murderer and a werewolf who hasn't taken his potion. 
It's the perfect explanation for as many dead bodies as he likes and 
a quick memory charm on anyone he actually doesn't want to kill."

"Ummmm," said Annemehr.  "Because he wants Harry to have a life-debt 
to a Death Eater?"  Howls of outrage assail her ears as she ducks a 
soapy frying pan which is swung in her general direction, in jest and 
at a safe distance from her head.  She pauses to wonder why it is not 
in the dishwasher


Annemehr gets serious again:
"Actually, Snape only followed Lupin to the SS without yet knowing 
what he was up to.  In the invisibility cloak, he sizes up the 
situation, and sees that Pettigrew is about to be revealed.  He has to 
derail this and decides to take Sirius and Lupin to Dumbledore and 
accuse them, thereby getting them out of his way - who would believe 
them?  And now Lupin will show himself to be on the 'murderer' Sirius' 
side!  Snape stops discussion about rats because he is doing his best 
to protect Pettigrew from discovery in order to protect his own skin. 
He knows if Pettigrew is captured, he will sing like a canary."

>                     "Plus," says the Pipsqueak, "my problem with 
Dumbledore *not* knowing about Pettigrew is that in                   
   http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/39662
I argue that Dumbledore, as well as Snape, is directing the 
discussion in the Hospital away from rats [PoA p.286 Ch.21 UK 
hardback]. Dumbledore does it twice, in fact, in less than half a 
page of text. He interrupts Snape, and he gets Fudge, Snape and 
Poppy Pomfrey out of the room when Snape's reduced to screaming at 
Hermione to shut her up. [for full argument see #39662, link above]."

                     Annemehr gulps, but continues gamely on:
"I think that could be accounted for by a general desire to shut 
everyone up and get them out of there so he can send Harry and 
Hermione on their mission to rescue Sirius.  After all, they are quite 
short on time.  I looked at the quotes again:

'I suppose he's told you the same fairy tale he's planted in Potter's 
mind?' spat Snape.  'Something about a rat, and Pettigrew being alive 
-'
'That, indeed, is Black's story,' said Dumbledore, surveying Snape 
closely through his half-moon spectacles.

"Yes, Dumbledore cuts him off, he's cutting everybody off, but that 
may just be because time is pressing.  Incidentally, this would also 
be my interpretation in the straight reading (non-MD with Snape on 
Dumbledore's side).  And," continues Annemehr, "Dumbledore is 
surveying Snape closely because (in non-MD theories) he's just found 
out that Snape, too, has already heard this version of events and is 
still doing all he can to get Sirius's soul sucked out by dementors, 
still without a trial!  And after Snape finally leaves, and Harry and 
Hermione launch into a flood of explanations which, it is true, 
contain a reference to a rat, he cuts them off to explain to them that 
there is nothing he can do - they need more *time*."

Pipsqueak begins to look as if she's wondering how they got a new 
resident in the Safe House who, on her first morning there, is 
actually arguing *against* the MAGIC DISHWASHER.  Well, not against it 
exactly, but juggling it with two other incompatible theories.  Oh, 
well, at least she's arguing canon points


Melody leans comfortably against the dishwasher and asks,  "Well, now, 
how about Professor Lupin?  Are you comfortable with his role in the 
MD theory?"

Annemehr supresses a shudder.  "Um, canon-wise, yes.  My heart's 
desire is that Lupin is good and that Dumbledore trusts him.  The 
'Lupin is Ever So Evil' theory that Pip put me on to is SO horrible 
and SO logical
"  She runs a hand through her hair.  "Just how dark is 
all this going to get, anyway?  But I can take the 'Dumbledore doesn't 
know if he can trust Lupin either' version much more easily - that 
MD!Dumbledore wants to have all three surviving Marauders under his 
eye at once, because he can't be sure of any of them.  As long as we 
can believe Lupin has Dumbledore's full trust by the end of GoF when 
he sends Sirius to lie low at his place after alerting the 'old 
crowd.'

>                     Pip grins. 
                     "Well, as I said when I opened this place up, 
back in 
                     
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/40421

The Safe House is open to all spying and/or conspiracy theorists, 
whether or not they decide to wash their own dishes. I think anyone 
with a theory that Lucius Malfoy has secretly taken over St. Mungo's 
and is using it to hold inconvenient witnesses incommunicado is 
pretty far along the 'secret conspiracy of DE's to take over the WW' 
route.

Would you like to be the madwoman in the attic? "

 Annemehr laughed.  "You know, I think I like the room that Melody 
offered me much better - I think I will just stay there!"

"Oh, good, I hoped you would like it," said Melody.  "Feel free to 
change it around or whatever to suit yourself!  And, maybe you would 
like to join our cheerleading squad, if you haven't settled on MAGIC 
DISHWASHER as your only theory yet."

"Thanks," replied Annemehr.  She glanced at herself in the hall 
mirror.  "Uh, I don't think I would look right in the little skirt, 
but
maybe I could just hold a megaphone or something?"

Melody suppressed a giggle and changed the subject.  "How are you 
coming on with your Longbottom conspiracy theory?"

"Well, not much farther yet.  I figure Frank was tortured for 
information, and when that was seen not to be working, the DE's 
tortured his wife in front of him to make him talk.  I don't think she 
really would have known anything, though the DE's may have thought 
there was a chance she did, and wouldn't leave any stone unturned.  In 
fact, we don't even know whether Frank knew where Voldemort was hiding 
- the whole thing might have been for nothing!  Why they need to be 
silenced and yet still kept alive, I still have very little idea
 I 
guess it's just one of those situations where you know something 
smells fishy, but you don't know what yet.

"But I've just decided something about my Shrieking Shack theories.  I 
resolve to pick one, before Hurricane Jo arrives at the bay!  I figure 
I've got some time, as it hasn't even reached Publisher's Island yet. 
 Anyone heard a weather forcast lately?"

Annemehr
Who very definitely believes in Spymaster!Dumbledore, just not sure 
that the Shrieking Shack episode was orchestrated by him