A Rather Disturbing Snape Idea

[Jo Ann]

No: HPFGUIDX 98855

Had a rather morbid thought last night.  (Okay, a REALLY morbid 
thought.  You have been warned.)  :)

An awful lot of speculating has been done as to why Snape behaves the 
way he does, why he hates Harry so much, whether he's really a good 
guy or a bad guy, and when JKR plans to clue us in on it all.

At the risk of being stoned by an angry mob...what if she doesn't?

In all honesty, I wouldn't defend this as a serious prediction, if 
only because I don't want to see it happen.  And I'm not sure it's 
the kind of topic JKR would want to touch on, though I'm not sure 
it's one she would refuse to, either.

But if she decided to be particularly evil, or just wanted to shock 
everyone with a twist ending to his story...once the life debt is 
paid, the spying done, the Order of Merlin awarded...everything all 
wound up neat and tidy, no unfinished business to attend...I could 
see the guy found dead at his desk one morning, with empty bottles of 
Old Ogden's and some painless, lethal poison next to him.

What makes me think of this?  It's just the way certain facts play 
together.  Particularly JKR's statement that she's "stunned" that 
someone saw a redemptive pattern to the character.  I'm also thinking 
of DD's remark, that some wounds are too deep for healing, and of the 
kind of life that Snape seems to lead--no matter how you slice him, 
he looks like one miserable sod!  But it would be so ironic if his 
major issue with Harry is that he can't end his own life until he has 
saved Harry's.

And I can just imagine someone asking DD at the funeral, "So was he 
really one of us?" and DD saying sadly, "I believe he was--but I've 
never been completely sure, and now we'll never know."

Wouldn't that be the ultimate Snapish insult--taking his motives to 
the grave with him, just to spite everyone?  Even us?  :)

[Raises tiny little umbrella]  Let the hurling of boulders commence!  
But no anvils, please.

Jo Ann