JKR chat

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 92261

<justcarol67 at y...> wrote:
and the fansites getting the "one who won't return" correct--IMO 
has to be Snape (as perceived by LV at the time of the graveyard 
scene) and the coward has to be Karkaroff.
 
 
> Susan:
> Not necessarily, I don't think, Carol.  Why couldn't Snape be the 
> coward who would be punished?  This could explain why there hasn't 
> been a rift between Snape & the Malfoys.  If Lucius believed Snape 
> was the betrayer who'd left forever, he'd sever ties with Snape, 
> wouldn't he?  If, however, Lucius believed Snape was the coward 
> who'd be dealt with, this could still fit.  Sevvie goes back to 
> Voldy [he goes SOMEWHERE at the end of GoF], takes his punishment, 
> and continues on pretending to be a DE while spying for DD.  The one 
> who's left Voldy forever could then easily be Karkaroff or Bagman, 
> if in fact Bagman is a DE.
> 
> Siriusly Snapey Susan

Carol:
I don't think Snape has ever behaved in a cowardly manner, and LV
probably knows him well enough to understand that. Look at his
attempts to prevent Quirrell from getting the sorceror's stone, for
example. Whether LV suspected that snape knew Quirrell's true motives
or not ("where his loyalties lie"), he had to be aware of Snape's
attempts to stop Quirrell. No, Snape can't be mistaken for a coward
even by his enemies. LV knows he's at Hogwarts and knows he didn't flee.

Karkaroff, OTOH, got out of Azkaban by ratting on other DEs, notably
Rookwood, who was arrested because of him and undoubtedly would quite
happily punish him. Karkaroff has a reason to flee and LV, knowing him
and his reasons, has no doubt that he has fled.

I don't think Lucius Malfoy believes Snape has left forever, nor would
he think that Snape is a coward. IMO Snape simply explained to him
that he couldn't apparate from Hogwarts or arouse DD's Suspicions by
leaving the Tri-Wizard Tournament to appear in the graveyard, and
Malfoy passed that explanation on to LV, who was either persuaded or
pretended to be persuaded because he thought that continued
communication between Snape and Malfoy could be useful. Snape, being
Snape, could probably persuade them both.

But whether or not LV was later persuaded that Snape had legitimate
reasons for not being in the graveyard, I think that when the words
were spoken, "the one who has left us forever" referred to Snape and
"the coward" referred to Karkaroff. I can't read it any other way. 


Carol 

P.S. As an afterthought, LV could well have *known* that Karkaroff had
fled Hogwarts, as Crouch!Moody seems to have communicated with him by
owl. (That's how LV knew that Crouch, Sr., was dead.) So it seems to
me quite likely that he knew exactly why neither Snape nor Karkaroff
was present--one was a coward who rightly feared retribution from the
DEs he had betrayed, the other had renounced his DE principles forever
and remained at Hogwarts. (Snape has probably persuaded him otherwise
now, via Malfoy, but IMO LV perceived both Snape and Karkaroff
correctly in the graveyard.) C.