Snape Spies Again / Chat / who said Sorry? /advantage of Animagery

Sat Jan 18 11:29:48 UTC 2003

No: HPFGUIDX 50034

Jean wrote:

<< If Snape *does* return as a spy in the following three books, then 
JKR is going to have to do a lot of explaining (at some point in the 
last books) about how exactly that was possible. >>

CHOP. That's the acronym for Cranium of Headmaster On a Platter, 
which is the theory recently proposed, that Dumbledore and Snape long 
ago agreed on a plan in which Snape will persuade Voldemort that his 
loyalty is to Voldemort, not Dumbledore, by 'giving Voldemort 
Dumbledore's head on a platter'. The beheading is not necessarily 
literal; I think it more likely that Snape will bring Dumbledore to 
Voldemort alive but under the Full-Body-Bind, so Voldemort can gloat 
over him before killing him. Dumbledore is cool with this scheme (he 
thought it up), as he is old and tired and eager to go on to 'the 
next great adventure', but Snape is NOT cool with it. Dumbledore is 
Snape's father-figure and apparently the only person he loves and 
Snape does not want Dumbledore to die at all and leave him, but 
even less does he want Dumbledore to die at his hands. It got worse 
when a thing in Elkins's dissertation on the Bartemii gave me the 
horrible realization that Voldemort will require Snape to *prove* his 
loyalty to Voldemort by seriously torturing Dumbledore as Voldemort 
watches. I suppose Voldemort demands only efficiency of his torturers 
(sadistic glee is not *required*), but that requires one Hell of an 
acting performance from Snape, to conceal the tears in his eyes...

Syd teachgeni:

<<Also, I would like to be able to access chat but for some reason I 
seem unable to do this - perhaps someone more knowledgeable would 
tell me the secret <g> >>

Are you able to get into a Yahoo!Chat chatroom? From the Y!group 
group home page, click on "Chat" on the lefthand side (worst), or on 
Y!Messenger there is a toolbar icon of a couple of talk balloons for 
"join a chat", or use Cheetah Chat (best) ... once you're in any 
Y!Chatroom, type /join HP:1 to get to OUR chatroom. Ask for help on 
OT during Sunday afternoon -- around noon Pacific or 8pm Greenwich 
time ... 

Kristen:

<< I have a question though. If real wizards don't apologize, then 
who does JKR's original book 5 teaser refer to? To refresh your 
memories: "thirty-eight chapters... might change... longest volume... 
Ron... broom... sacked... house- elf... new...  teacher... dies... 
sorry" >>

I felt that the word "sorry" in that snip is JKR speaking. Something 
along the lines of "The new book is thirty-eight chapters. That might 
change, but it is the longest volume so far. In it, Ron complains 
about his shoddy broom and wishes Snape would be sacked, but joins 
Hermione's crusade for house-elf liberation. There is a new Defense 
Against Dark Arts teacher. And a beloved character dies. I really am 
sorry if there are young readers traumatized by the death, but evil 
really is evil." Or maybe "I'm sorry if you feel cheated because this 
teaser leaves you still guessing."  

Torsten:

<< The only advantage of animagi is apparently that they don't need a 
wand and/or spell to change. >>

No, a bigger advantage of Animagi is that they keep their minds. 
That's in QTTA, at the very beginning of the first chapter: "No spell 
yet devised enables wizards to fly unaided in human form. Those few 
Animagi who transform into winged creatures may enjoy flight, but 
they are a rarity. The witch or wizard who finds him- or herself 
transfigured into a bat may take to the air, but, having a bat's 
brain, they are sure to forget where they want to go the moment they 
take flight." The contrast is made between the Transfigured mage who 
has only a bat's brain in the third sentence and the Animagus who is 
a rarity in the second sentence.