[HPforGrownups] Re: Time-turning

[Lynx412 at AOL.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 112704

In a message dated 9/11/2004 12:39:44 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
hannahmarder at yahoo.co.uk writes:

> Hannah: Good point about him seeing time-travelled H and H with 
> Buckbeak, I'd never thought of that!  But he wouldn't have seen 
> those in the Shrieking Shack as it is out of Hogwarts grounds.  He 
> saw Lupin heading that way and realised he was probably up to 
> something he shouldn't be, and raced off in the hope of catching him 
> and Black.  
> 
> I don't think that he even considered Harry at this point, 
> especially if he had already seen him and Hermione elsewhere on the 
> map.  He had no reason to even think Harry was in need of rescue.  
> He just saw his chance to 'get' Lupin and hopefully Black.  Only 
> when he reached the shack did he find Harry there in supposed danger.
> 
> He may have wondered later how H and H had got into the shack when 
> he'd seen them elsewhere on the map a short time before, but in the 
> excitement he probably forgot all about it.
> 
> Hannah, who as a Snape fan wishes she could believe in a more noble 
> interpretation of his actions, and would be very interested to hear 
> Cheryl's theory on Snape's actions that evening.

       Actually, that comment on seeing the trio in the Shack was supposed to 
be rhetorical, since I knew the Shack was off he map. I phrased it badly and 
apologize for the confusion. 

       As for Snape's actions, my theory is based on his delay in the Shack. 
Look at when he must have arrived. Lupin has just commented that there used to 
be three unregistered Animagi at Hogwarts, black had demanded he hurry the 
explanation, Lupin says "I only know how it began..." 

       _Lupin broke off, there had been a loud creak behind him. The bedroom 
door had opened of its own accord._

       That has to be Snape entering, under Harry's invisibility cloak. He 
then sits through the explanation, right up until the Prank is mentioned. Only 
then does he step out...and then he ties up LUPIN. Not Sirius, Lupin. Snape 
then starts into an explanation of how he found them...in which he REMINDS Lupin 
that he [Lupin] hasn't taken his potion. Then he and Sirius get into it, but 
he never secures Sirius. Odd, considering how dangerous he believes Sirius to 
be, how much he hates him. He taunts Sirius, threatening to summon the 
Dementors immediately, but would he? Would Snape, cool, cautious, clever Snape, have 
risked Dumbledore's good will like that? Risked loosing DD's faith in him? Then 
there's his final fit...

       The first time I read the fit in the Hospital wing, I thought, he's 
faking it, this is out of character. I think he was laughing 
his...anatomy...off.

       I think he listened to the story and wondered, until the reminder of 
the Prank recalled to mind that Lupin hadn't taken his potion. So he secures 
Lupin and resolves to take Sirius and the group to DD. Doing so is a win-win 
scenario for Snape. If the tale is a lie, he wins over his schoolboy rivals, 
permanently, and has saved the Potter brat in a way the boy can't deny. If it's 
true, his hated rivals are safe, and owe him a debt. He's still a hero, for 
bringing them in and capturing the real villain, if the rat really is Pettigrew. 
Either way he still has DD's favor and the boy owes him a debt, canceling out 
Snapes' debt to James. 

       And, remember, Snape is a superb occulamens, who can tell when he's 
being lied to. He has to be trying to use it there, if for no other reason than 
to come up with evidence to support his side.

       Then the unforeseen...the Dementor attack. He's failed, sort of. DD 
seems to believe Sirius, but nothing can be done to save him. Snape still 
benefits, of course, but not as much as if he'd proven Sirius and Lupin liars or 
found Pettigrew. Then Sirius makes a miraculous last-miniute escape. Potter, of 
course. He knows that, but perhaps not how. He has to seem upset, so he rants. 
He then heads to the Hospital wing, too curious to let it rest. And DD tells 
him how it was done. "Unless you are suggesting that Harry and Hermione are 
able to be in two places at once". Snape glares, then storms out...he now knows 
how it was done. Hermione's time-turner. Not DD's answer. Snape only accused 
HARRY. He never mentioned Hermione. So, why did DD mention her if not to clue in 
Snape? 

       No, Snape isn't nice, but here, he was doing the right thing, in his 
own Snapely fashion.

       The Other Cheryl


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