Snape: the Riddle... (LONG)

[kiricat4001]

No: HPFGUIDX 135903

"severelysigune" <severelysigune at y...> wrote:

<massive snip>
> There is no way he can extricate himself from this mess. From now 
on, 
> it is either his life or Dumbledore's. This is the point at which
> my 
> conjectures differ from those I have read so far. The Snape 
> apologists whose theories I have read assume that after the 
> catastrophic Vow he hastens to Dumbledore in order to inform him 
of 
> what happened. I don't. I think Snape did not tell Dumbledore the 
> whole truth of what happened that night – because he doesn't
> dare to. 
> He is ashamed of having been tricked like a novice. He has made an 
> elementary mistake; and where in canon have we ever caught Snape 
> admitting a mistake? Dumbledore, yes. Sirius, yes. Remus, yes. 
Snape? 
> No way. He makes errors and he is aware of them, but he does not 
> admit them. He tries to solve his problems on his own, in silence. 
So 
> he does what he is good at: the telling of partial truths. He 
informs 
> Dumbledore of the assassination plot and of the fact that he has 
made 
> a Vow to protect Draco, but he never mentions the full pledge. 
Only 
> he, Narcissa and Bellatrix (and Peter?) know of that.

Marianne:
First let me say that this theory all holds together for me.  I'm 
not comfortable with ESE!Snape, but neither am I comfortable with 
the standard "he's not nice, but he's good" Snape, either.  This 
theory works in character traits and flaws that ring true for me. It 
makes Snape more believable, and more sympathetic, that he was 
caught in this bind, and perhaps was desperately trying to figure 
out a way to avoid any of the three dying (himself, Draco or DD), 
but still could never bring himself to come clean to DD.

I also like that this version of Narcissa is not simply the weepy 
damsel in distress, but a more manipulative, calculating woman.  
Sure, she plays the part well, like some character out of a romance 
novel, but, geez, she's married to a DE, she's got to know something 
of what those folks do, she has no problem with the thought of 
Dumbledore being murdered, as long as it's not her kid who has to 
run the risk of doing the dirty deed.  So, I don't find her to be a 
particularly sympathetic character.  

<another massive snip>

Sigune:
By the time Snape reaches Dumbledore, the old man is one 
> inch away from death and surrounded by Death Eaters to boot. To 
make 
> things worse, Draco Malfoy is there too, so the scene is fully set 
> for the accomplishment of Dumbledore's murder. Snape is trapped.
> 
> What is Snape to do? He didn't know about the Death Eaters, who 
now 
> make four very unwanted witnesses. There is neither the time nor 
the 
> occasion to heal Dumbledore, and there is that infernal nuisance, 
the 
> Unbreakable Vow. Snape does some quick thinking and sees that 
there 
> are two options. 
> 
> 1) He openly declares his allegiance to Dumbledore. This means 
that 
> he has to put up a fight against four skilled Death Eaters plus 
> Draco. Assuming that he can defeat them, 
> - Draco's mission fails and the brat is killed by the Dark Lord in 
> punishment.
> - Snape himself dies too, because he has failed to honour his 
> Unbreakable Vow.
> - There is no chance of saving Dumbledore, who is too far gone to 
> begin with, and who is going to heal him if Snape is dead?
> 
> Result: the Order is one leader and one spy short and a young life 
is 
> destroyed in a pointless battle. But at least Harry will be 
convinced 
> that Snape, God rest his soul, was on the side of the angels after 
> all.
> 
> 2) He kills Dumbledore. This means that
> - He saves Draco's life, because the mission has been successful 
even 
> if not carried out by Draco and the Dark Lord cannot be all that 
> displeased. On top of that, Draco isn't a murderer at sixteen.
> - He saves his own life because he honours his Vow.
> - He extremely convincingly maintains his cover as a spy.
> 
> Result: By sacrificing the already lost life of a dying 150-year-
old 
> wizard, he saves a sixteen-year-old (buying him time to think 
things 
> over), himself, and safeguards one of the Order's most significant 
> pawns in the coming confrontation with the Dark Lord. Drawback is 
> that nobody trusts him anymore; but judging by people's reactions, 
> nobody except Dumbledore and Hagrid did trust him to begin with.

Marianne:
I think the one thing that bothers me with the scenario is that 
Snape has to have realized that it would eventually come down to 
someone dying.  Do you think he was trying throughout the year to 
somehow come up with a counter-plan that would keep the 3 of them 
alive (Snape, Draco, DD)? Or are you saying that Snape knew 
eventually he'd be faced with a horrible situation and that then 
he'd make what he considered the best choice at the time?

Sigune: 
> The look Snape and Dumbledore exchange on the battlement is to me 
the 
> most chilling moment of Half-Blood Prince. If my assumption is 
> correct and Snape has kept the third clause of the Unbreakable Vow 
> from Dumbledore, then those few seconds are even more heart-
breaking 
> than I found them at first sight. When Dumbledore whispers
> "Severus 
 
> please 
" he is not pleading for his life, because he is not
> afraid 
> to die; neither is he asking Snape to kill him as arranged, 
because 
> there was no such arrangement. What he means is, "please
> don't tell 
> me I was wrong about you all the time – that I have confided in
> you 
> when you were not worthy of my faith – that I have defended you 
> against others when they were right in their suspicions."
> Snape's 
> revulsion is the result of his hurt pride, as he realises even 
> Dumbledore doubts his allegiance at that moment. No doubt it 
helped 
> him perform a convincing Killing Curse.

Marianne: 
And that's been my interpretation of DD's words - that he believed, 
at least for a moment, that he had been wrong about Snape. Maybe 
there was some Legilimens going on between the two, as some have 
theorized, and DD was then able to see the situation Snape had been 
in all year and quite possibly recognize that the best choice was 
for Snape to save Draco by killing DD. But, I wonder, if that was 
indeed the case, if there was not some residual thought in DD's 
brain of "Severus, if only you had trusted me enough to tell me the 
whole story of the Unbreakable Vow..."