Mind-linked!Snape (Part IV: TBAY conclusion)

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 116373


(Continued from post 116371. Numbers in square brackets refer to notes
and canon points in the end of the post)


The Mind-Linked!Snape Mk.1 was now almost at the harbor. At the helm
was Captain Neri, and on the deck nearby Faith was sitting in a beach
chair, still wearing the life belt over her schoolgirl uniform.

"Set a course to the Royal George, please," she said. "I think I'll
need a drink when this inspection is over".

"WHEN it's over?" said Neri, raising his brows. "I'm finished. What is
your verdict?"

"Well," pondered Faith, "it's really A Nice Theory, I Think. However,
Each Supposition Is Strained."

"OK, OK, never mind that," said Neri in irritation. "It IS sea-worthy,
isn't it?"

"It has good structural integrity," allowed Faith. "A few can(n)ons,
not too many crazy premises, several big mysteries nicely explained,
interesting speculations here and there, and," she added, "no new
ESEs. I'm inclined to let you pass for this reason alone. However, we
now arrive at the last part of the inspection, and that's where most
vessels fail."

"Oh? What part is that?" Asked Captain Neri a bit nervously.

"Watertightness," said Faith. 

"Watertightness?" Repeated Neri.

"You know, checking for leaks, cracks. One hole in your logic can get
you deeply in trouble. Not to mention deeply in murky water."

"We didn't notice any holes," said Neri and shot another quick look
down the engine room. Yes, the ship-elf must have forgotten to wipe
its floor after washing it. And he had used far too many buckets, too.
"I'm sure there are some small leaks here and there, but nothing that
can't be plugged."

"Well, lets start with the way Snape spies on Voldemort. You've said
he does it through the link, but there are some clues in canon that
Snape is in good terms with the Malfoys. Why does he need to be nice
to the them at all?"

"Oh, that," said Neri. "Yes, actually I've recently theorized about
the Malfoy connection myself
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Hogs_Head/message/2772 ), and I'd hate
to throw that theory away, but in fact the canon for Snape spying
through the Malfoys is pretty thin. There's of course the fact that
Snape favors the Slytherins in general and Draco in particular.
There's the "Malfoy's lapdog" accusation by Sirius, and there's
Umbridge saying to Snape that "Lucius Malfoy always speaks most highly
of you". That's about all, I believe. This tells us that Snape is
indeed in good terms with Lucius, but it's still difficult to see how
he convinced Voldy to take him back. It's hard to believe that even
Voldemort is THAT stupid. The mind link assumption solves this nicely,
since it enables Snape to spy even without Voldemort taking him back.
I have two optional explanations for the Malfoy connection. One is
that Snape's relations with the Malfoys really exist, but they serve
JKR as a big red herring, intended to make us all think in terms of
conventional spying and draw our attention away from the REAL
solution. The other explanation is more complex: perhaps Snape indeed
does part of his spying in the conventional way, but he uses the mind
link to make Voldy believe him. For example, imagine Snape sitting in
his locked office, emptying his mind of all emotion, opening the link
and waiting very, VERY quietly. Some of Voldy's thoughts might drift
by and find their way through the link. Here is one thought: "Snape is
the one who had left me forever; he would be killed". Very, VERY
quietly, Snape places the tip his wand to his head, withdraws this
thought and places it in the Pensieve. Q.E.D."

Faith gave a groan and rolled her eyes. "You are certainly creative."
She gazed thoughtfully at the now nearer shore. George could be seen
setting some tables outside the Royal George. "I'll let you get away
with this one too. There is a potentially bigger hole in this vessel."

"There is?" Asked Neri and slipped another uncomfortable look down the
engine room. The water level in there was definitely higher. In fact
Neri thought he could see a small crack in the engine room's floor.
The crack was thin and elongated, and had a jagged shape. Actually, it
looked a bit like a lightning bolt. "What is it?"

"The scar," said Faith. "According to your theory, the scar is only
the mark where the AK had rebounded. It is not the mind link. The mind
link was created by Voldemort BEFORE the AK."

"Oh, I see what your problem is," said Neri, relieved. "This indeed
might look, superficially, like a problem with my reasoning. We have
many instances in canon of strong emotions and visions passing through
the mind link, and we are almost always told that Harry's scar hurts.
Here are some exemplary cases from OotP." Neri waved his wand at the
main sail, where the word appeared:

----------------------------
OotP, Ch. 22:
At once, Harry's scar burned white-hot, as though the old wound had
burst open again — and unbidden, unwanted, but terrifyingly strong,
there rose within Harry a hatred so powerful he felt, for that
instant, he would like nothing better than to strike — to bite — to
sink his fangs into the man before him — 

OotP, Ch. 24:
He opened his eyes and, as he did so, he became aware that the wild
laughter was coming out of his own mouth. The moment he realised this,
it died away; Harry lay panting on the floor, staring up at the
ceiling, the scar on his forehead throbbing horribly. Ron was bending
over him, looking very worried.
"What happened?" he said.
"I... dunno..." Harry gasped, sitting up again. 'He's really happy...
really happy..."

OotP, Ch. 26: 
Ron wrenched the hangings apart and Harry stared up at him in the
moonlight, flat on his back, his scar searing with pain. Ron looked as
though he had just been getting ready for bed; one arm was out of his
robes.
"Has someone been attacked again?" asked Ron, pulling Harry roughly to
his feet. "Is it Dad? Is it that snake?"
"No — everyone's fine — " gasped Harry, whose forehead felt as though
it were on fire. 'Well... Avery isn't... he's in trouble... he gave
him the wrong information... Voldemort's really angry..."

OotP, Ch. 31:
"Undoubtedly I shall in the end," said the cold voice. "But you will
fetch it for me first, Black . . . you think you have felt pain thus
far? Think again . . . we have hours ahead of us and nobody to hear
you scream . . ."
But somebody screamed as Voldemort lowered his wand again; somebody
yelled and fell sideways off a hot desk on to the cold stone floor;
Harry awoke as he hit the ground, still yelling, his scar on fire, as
the Great Hall erupted all around him.

----------------------------

"This canon makes it very obvious, or so it seems, that the scar IS
the mind link," continued Neri, "and therefore Snape can't be mind
linked, because he doesn't have a scar. But think about it for a
minute. Baby Harry lies on his back in his cradle when Voldemort is
bent over him. Where would Voldemort place the mind link? On the
baby's forehead, of course. Then he discovers that he can't use Harry
as his host, and he has to get rid of him. So where does he AK him? On
the forehead, right over the mind link. So in all these times when
Harry thinks he feels his scar hurting, it is actually NOT the scar
that hurts, but the mind link right beneath it. How would Harry know
the difference?"

"Hmm," said Faith. "So you are saying that the scar is..."

"Just a scar. Just the mark where the AK had rebounded," Said Neri,
and then gave an evil grin. "Or rather, it is much MORE than a scar:
it is a misdirection. JKR repeatedly tells us that Harry has a scar on
his forehead, and she repeatedly tells us how the scar hurts when
Harry is mind linked with Voldy, and Harry is the only one around with
a scar on his forehead. So why would we ever suspect that other people
might also be mind-linked with the Dark Lord? The scar is JKR's finest
peace of misdirection."       

"What an intriguing idea," said Faith. "Could all the cases of the
scar hurting be one big red herring?"

"Why not?" Asked Neri. "It would be JKR's style, wouldn't it?"

"Yes, it would," said Faith, watching pensively the now very near dock
of the Royal George. "It certainly would. However, I believe there is
one piece of canon... can I have this wand for a moment, please? Thank
you." Faith waved Neri's wand towards the main sail and the words
appeared:

------------------------------------------
GoF, Ch. 30:
"D'you - d'you know why my scar's hurting me?"
Dumbledore looked very intently at Harry for a moment, and then said,
"I have a theory, no more than that... It is my belief that your scar
hurts both when Lord Voldemort is near you, and when he is feeling a
particularly strong surge of hatred."
"But... why?"
"Because you and he are connected by the curse that failed," said
Dumbledore. "That is no ordinary scar."
-------------------------------------------

"So it is the CURSE that connects them," Said Faith, returning Neri
his wand. "It means that the mind link must be caused by the CURSE.
And DD should know if, as you claim, Snape told him everything about
the mind link".

"Er..." Said Neri, "you have a point there, but..." There was a noise
of rushing water from the engine room. The lightning bolt crack was
getting longer... and wider...

"And this means," added Faith, "that Snape is NOT mind linked, because
he doesn't have a scar on his head, as far as we know, and Neville
doesn't either."

"Well..." Neri tried to think but the noise of water rushing into the
engine room became louder, drowning his thoughts.

"Oh, excellent, we're there!" said Faith as the ship just made it to
the dock with a gentle bump. She rose out of the beach chair and
discarded her life belt. "And there's George coming to meet us. Good,
I really need a drink. Now, I wonder if Nora's here..."  

"But... wait just a moment!" Neri jumped down into the engine room and
landed splashing in knee-high water. The lightning bolt crack was
quite wide now, and the water was rising quickly. There must be a way
to plug it! Think-think-think... He felt Mind-Linked!Snape Mk.1
slowly, very slowly sinking under his feet. Outside on the deck he
could hear Faith saying: "Hello George, nice to see you. Could you
kindly give me a hand and help me ashore? These high heels, you
know... Oh, GEORGE, that was really gallant of you, thank you!"

"Wait!" called Neri desperately. He was now in murky water up to his
waist. "It's just a crack! I can fix that! I'm sure there's an
explanation! Someway around it! It's only ONE sentence! You don't
discard a beautiful theory because of one sentence! Dumbledore's a
darn liar!! Even the MDDT said so!!!" The water was now up to his
chest. He climbed to the sloping deck again, dripping water. Faith and
George were already on their way to the Royal George. "WAIT!"

Faith half-turned back. "Oh, Captain Neri, thank you for that
afternoon cruise. It was most... interesting. And about the
inspection," she gave a two seconds appraising look to the
Mind-Linked!Snape Mk.1, which was now in water up to deck level.
"After giving the matter my full consideration I'm sorry to say that
your ship is not sea-worthy. But I'll be glad to inspect Mk.2,
whenever you are ready. Bye!" 


Neri