SYOS!Snape?

[Bex]

No: HPFGUIDX 115108


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" 
<justcarol67 at y...> wrote:
> 
> Yb wrote:
> > I am also leaning towards not an evil!Snape, but a SYOS!Snape 
> > (Save Your Own Skin). He is a Slytherin, and ol' Phineas told us 
> > that that's a trademark Slytherin trait. I wouldn't be surprised 
> > that if push came to shove, Snape would haul buns and leave the 
> > good guys in the lurch. So maybe DD's 
> > trust isn't misplaced, but he's betting a lot of the ranch on a 
> > Slytherin's sense of altruism/take-one-for-the-team.

Carol responded:
> If that were the case, wouldn't Snape have left Hogwarts after 
> Harry returned from the graveyard with Cedric's body, fleeing like 
> the cowardly Karkaroff? ("Flee, then! Flee. I will remain at 
> Hogwarts.") Karkaroff fled (so did Ludo Bagman, for different 
> reasons), but Snape kept his word and remained at Dumbledore's 
> side, going into unknown danger at Dumbledore's request at the end 
> of GoF--after courageously revealing to Fudge that he was a former 
> DE. Surely if Snape intended to desert Dumbledore to save his own 
> skin, he would have done so by now. And his life is really in 
> jeopardy now, or will be if Voldemort finds out that he sent the 
> Order to the MoM.

Yb again:
Thanks for responding to my post Carol! Well, let me point out that 
we don't know /exactly/ what Snape has been up to for the past year. 
Granted it is probably dangerous, but who really knows? (JKR, Grrrr.)
Perhaps Snape is remaining at Hogwarts as a favor to DD, or 
something of that nature. Or maybe, Snape's SYOS colors won't kick 
in until he's in the heat of battle, like he has to run into a 
battle scene to save Harry or something. I am almost certain that 
Snape's "moment of truth" (when we see if Snape is a "true" 
Slytherin, or if Phineas was wrong about them in general) will 
concern Harry, and perhaps his safety.

I lean towards Snape feeling he owes DD this much, and he feels he's 
not in mortal peril at the moment. With Occlumency, a good alibi, 
some nice double-crossing techniques, and a good position to hear 
things in the order and Hogwarts, LV may be reconsidering that he-
will-be-killed statement (if Snape is the one who has left him 
forever). But if I'm right, and Phineas is right, when we see 
Snape's life on the line, when he has to choose between saving 
himself or getting hurt/killed for those around him, we'll see him 
make the /easy/ choice, not the /right/ one.

Or maybe, just maybe, I'm completely wrong. I can handle that. 

C'mon book 6, I need confirmation of my views!

~Yb, who has realized that typing and eating yogurt t the same time 
is futile, and as such will stop typing for a while.