Doesn't Voldemort know about Snape's loyalty?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 107364

Angie wondered:
<snip> Voldemort wouldn't have to know anything about the Order to
know that Snape was trying to prevent Quirrell from getting the Stone,
which would mean he was working  against Voldemort.  
>  
> Potioncat responded:
But LV did not reveal himself to anyone.  Quirrell hadn't been a 
DE, he had been "recruited" more recently.  If Snape suspected 
something, he most likely made it appear that he wanted the stone 
for himself. I doubt that between Snape and Quirrell the LV-DD 
situation even came up.
> 
> SSSusan added:
Yes, I think Potioncat is right.  Whatever Snape knew or suspected, 
really, he could have just been attempting to stop some evil 
*individual* wizard who wanted to attain immortal life.  Since Voldy 
hadn't been seen or heard from for 12 years, Snape could **easily** 
plead "How could I have known??" if he'd been confronted by Voldy 
later.  

Carol responds:

First, my apologies for not going up thread but my time is limited, so
If I'm duplicating anyone, it's not intentional. 

First, I think Snape did know that he was opposing Voldemort. True, he
couldn't have known that Voldemort was inside Quirrell's head, but he
may have suspected that Quirrell was somehow connected with Voldemort
(a tingling in the Dark Mark when he was near him?) He wouldn't have
been stupid enough to voice his suspicions openly, but I think that he
did have them. 

Given Snape's gift for occlumency (and basic Slytherin deception?),
it's possible that SSS is right about his ability to convince LV (via
Malfoy?) that he was opposing Quirrell as "an individual evil
wizard"--IOW opposing Quirrell but not opposing Voldemort. But I don't
think that's the case. IMO, Snape's remark to Quirrell about "where
your loyalties lie" told Quirrell (and therefore Voldemort) that
Snape's loyalty lay with Dumbledore--and therefore with Dumbledore's
most feared enemy, if not in direct opposition to Voldemort himself.
That would undermine his assertion that he was opposing Quirrell *as*
Quirrell. And Voldemort isn't known for making generous assumptions,
such as, "If you're not directly opposing me, you must be on my side."
So I agree with Angie that the Quirrell incident at least aroused LV's
suspicions about Snape. That, combined with Snape's absence from the
graveyard in GoF, would be enough to make Voldemort believe *at that
time* that Snape had left him forever. (And, IMO, he would have been
right.)

But I think that between his gift for occlumency and his native
cunning, Snape somehow convinced Voldemort (probably via Malfoy) that
he's still a loyal DE (or maybe LV just found the Snape/Malfoy
connection useful and delayed trying to kill Snape for that reason).
How Snape is going to work with the DEs now that Malfoy is in Azkaban
is another question, especially if Voldemort suspects that Snape was
connected with the Order's arrival in the MoM in addition to his
previous acts of disloyalty.

I also agree with Angie that Voldemort wouldn't have to know anything
about the Order to know (or suspect) that Snape was working against
him in SS/PS. In fact, the Order wasn't even revived until the end of
GoF when Dumbledore sent Sirius to round up Arabella Figg and
Mundungus Fletcher and "all the old gang" (quoting from memory). In
SS/PS, CoS, PoA, and most of GoF, Snape is Dumbledore's agent and
righthand man, and he may also be working with McGonagall and the
other heads of houses, but the Order itself (of which he was not an
original member) is still dormant at that point.

Carol, who will be in San Diego and away from her computer for the
next three days and is trying (futilely) to catch up on posting
tonight so if this post is incoherent or unconvincing, forgive me!