More Snape conundrums...

[mkaliz]

No: HPFGUIDX 71896

Allie asked:
 
> - Why is he SO SURPRISED to hear Harry say Lucius Malfoy was at the 
> graveyard at the end of GoF?  Presumably, they were death eaters 
> together back in the day, so shouldn't he have known that?

There are several possibilities. In the text, it says that "Snape made
a sudden movement" when Harry tells Fudge that Lucius was at the
graveyard. If he had been at the graveyard, his reaction might not
have been surprise, but instead alarm that Harry recognized him also
and was going to say his name. Alternately, he might have believed
that Lucius had truly given up his DE ways and was therefore surprised
that he'd shown up for the summons. Personally, I lean towards the
first theory.

> - Similarly, WHY is he still friends with Lucius?

They were apparently friends during their school days, why wouldn't
they necessarily still keep in contact and be friends into adulthood?
Especially if they both shared political sentiments. Also, if Snape is
truly a spy, then it would be in the best interest of the Order for
him to maintain ties to Lucius. Either way, their seemingly good
relationship now implies to me that Lucius probably didn't know about
Snape's role as double agent during Voldemort's first rise. Unless
Lucius too is playing a complicated game.

> - Why did he give Umbridge any Veritaserum in OoP?  He says to her 
> at the end of the book something like, "I gave you my last bottle to 
> interrogate Potter."  But he should have known that she would ask 
> Harry about Sirius, or Dumbledore, or anything else related to the 
> Order, and not wanted her to find out!  Unless he gave her something 
> that wasn't *really* Veritaserum the first time and turned her down 
> flat the 2nd time she asked for it.

He did give her fake Veritaserum. Dumbledore confirms this at the end
of the book.

> - After he saw it in Harry's mind during Occlumency, shouldn't he 
> have told Dumbledore that Harry saw the Department of Mysteries in 
> his dream so that they could have warned Harry not to go there?

When Snape discovered that Harry had been dreaming about the DoM, he
did inform Dumbledore of that fact. Dumbledore mentions that when he
tells Harry about the prophecy.

> - How can he possibly be spying on Voldemort again?  In the 
> graveyard scene, when V is going around his circle of Death Eaters 
> and saying who is missing, he says something like, "One too cowardly 
> to return, he will be punished" - presumably Karkaroff- "and here is 
> one I fear who has left me forever, he will of course be killed"- so 
> if he means Snape, which I think he must, then he knows Snape has 
> left him- so is he just biding his time? Is he feeding Snape false 
> information as Snape is trying to spy?

It's not clear, to me at least, that Voldemort named *all* of the
Death Eaters who were either present or missing at the graveyard.
There are several Death Eaters who, like the LeStranges, were
incarcerated in Azkaban during GoF but who were not mentioned
explicitly by name. Therefore, it's possible that Snape was there in
the graveyard but Voldemort did not name him. 

Snape could have easily been "in two places at once" (both in the
graveyard and also at Hogwarts) by means of Dumbledore's time turner. 

> - After everything that happened in GoF, why does he STILL HATE 
> HARRY so much?

If he really believes that Harry is just like James, it could be a
simple matter of transferance. Hate the son for the sins of the
father, so to speak. Alternately, if part of is role as spy is to
maintain good ties with Slytherin parents--many of who were/are Death
Eaters--then maintaining a healthy antagonism towards Harry and his
friends makes good strategic sense. The two possibilities aren't
mutually exclusive! <g>

> - Is Snape going to die to save Harry? (I know other people have 
> asked this question, but my opinion is YES.)

No idea, but personally, I would be very surprised if Snape were to
die at the end of the series.

> - Wouldn't it be the biggest surprise of all if Dumbledore had been 
> wrong about Snape all this time, and he IS really trying to open 
> Harry's mind more for Voldemort to read it, etc.?

I think that it's possible (although unlikely) that Snape really *is*
a DE sympathizer and may end up really being "evil". 

However, I don't believe that Snape was trying to open Harry's mind
for Voldemort. Snape had no way of knowing that Harry wasn't reporting
directly back to a variety of people in the Order (McGonagall, Lupin,
Black, Dumbledore, etc.) regarding the progress/contents of or
concerns about his Occlumency lessons. Having the success of his plan
depend solely upon hoping that Harry doesn't say anything would be
quite risky, imo. 

If we're going to attribute nefarious motives to Snape, I think it
would be more likely that he poisoned Sirius with a Confusing or
Befuddlement Draught in order to make him reckless. <eg>

--kai