Does LV know it was Snape who sent the Order to the MoM? (Was: Snape the Coward?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 92770

Carol wrote:
<snip> Dumbledore wasn't at Hogwarts and couldn't have known that
Harry was heading for the MoM unless someone told him, and who else
could it be besides Snape? <snip>
> 
Max responded:
> Kreacher.  OotP (p.830-831 US Edition): "All agreed to go to your
[Harry's] aid at once.  Professor Snape requested that Sirius remain
behind, as he needed someone at headquarters to tell me [Dumbledore]
what had happened, for I was due there at any moment. . . But Sirius
did not wish to remain behind while the others went to search for you.
He delegated to Kreacher the task of telling me what happened."
> 

Carol again:
Dumbledore is "due there at any moment" because Snape contacted him
before he contacted the Order. How else would DD have known to go to
Grimmauld Place and how else would Snape know he was going? But my
point is that LV and Malfoy *knew* that DD was not at Hogwarts and
therefore could not have known about Harry going to the MoM if Snape
hadn't contacted either him or the Order or both. There was no one
else at Hogwarts who could have done it. 

The fact that the task of filling in Dumbledore after he reached
headquarters was relegated to Kreacher is irrelevant here, because LV
and Malfoy aren't going to blame *him* for betraying them. It was
Snape who originally informed Dumbledore and Snape who sent the Order
to the MoM, and both LV and the imprisoned Malfoy are likely to figure
that out. Again, who else could it have been? Not Kreacher, who wasn't
at Hogwarts and only did as Sirius ordered *after* Snape had informed
Sirius what Harry was up to. If LV finds a way to question Kreacher
(using Narcissa or Bellatrix), Kreacher will be innocent from their
perspective. But Snape won't be, because unless Sirius's orders to say
nothing about the Order still apply after Sirius's death, Kreacher is
going to tell all he knows. 

Carol wrote:
<snip>
I think Snape's cover is finally blown... <snip> I don't see 
how even Snape can wiggle out of this clear instance of being on the
side of the Order. Can you think of a lie that could excuse him or 
someone else he could blame without betraying the Order? Could he 
somehow pin it on the conveniently dead Sirius? I don't think so.
<snip>
> 
Max responded:
But I think he can. Imo, it's more likely that Malfoy would just
assume Sirius had somehow forced Kreacher to admit what he had done -
ie. going to the Malfoys and then lying to Harry, letting him assume
that Sirius had gone to the DoM. With Harry gone missing, the Order
would then naturally assume he had gone after Sirius at the DoM.  
 
And Snape remains blameless.


Carol again:


Sorry. I don't follow. How would the Order have known that Harry was
missing (and heading for the MoM) if Snape hadn't told them? They
weren't at Hogwarts and neither was Dumbledore. And how would LV know
that Harry had talked to Kreacher if, as you said in a part of the
post that I snipped, Kreacher had no way of contacting Malfoy?

Let's think this through. LV knows that his false message has finally
gotten through to Harry because he's invading Harry's mind. But he
can't "read" Harry's mind thought by thought; he can only *feel* what
Harry is feeling. LV doesn't know that Harry has tried to communicate
with Kreacher or that Harry isn't alone or even that he's riding a
Thestral; he only senses that Harry is on his way to the MoM to rescue
Sirius and that it's time to send in the DEs to wait for him. LV also
doesn't know that Harry has informed Snape about "Padfoot" being in
trouble or that Snape has gone to look for him and has contacted the
Order or that Dumbledore is coming. All he knows is that Harry is
coming and the DEs are ready for him--or so he thinks.

It's only when LV senses that the prophecy has been broken that he
risks everything to apparate into the atrium of the MoM, where he's
forced to fight the newly arrived Dumbledore. Bellatrix will tell him
what happened in the battle, but LV (with her help) will have to
figure out how the Order and Dumbledore knew to go there. Malfoy, in
prison, already knows the events in the MoM, but he, too, will be
thinking about the Order and Dumbledore. And IMO, they will both
arrive at the same conclusion. Only one person could have known that
they were trying to steal the prophecy AND that Harry had gone to save
Sirius. So I ask again, who could it be but Snape and what lie can he
possibly tell to get out of this one? IMO, he'd better stay at
Hogwarts (or wherever DD goes in Summer) because with all his
intelligence and all his skills, he's not safe anywhere else.

Carol