Snape: the Riddle... (LONG)

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 135948

Sigune:

Narcissa so beautiful, so blonde and so alone is desperate.
[snip]
It is just that he has allowed himself to be
seduced by the admittedly formidable combined forces of the Black
sisters, which wouldn't have worked with *me* - I'm impervious to
female charm :o).

houyhnhnm:

I find it hard to believe that Severus Snape is susceptible to female
charm, either.  His actions toward Narcissa struck me as more cold and
manipulative than sympathetic.

"He looked away from the sight of her tears as though they were
indecent ...."

"Snape stooped, seized her by the arms, lifted her up, and steered her
back onto the sofa.  He then poured her more wine and forced the glass
into her hand.

"'Narcissa, that's enough ....'"

Narcissa may be playing the beautiful damsel in distress, but the only
thing she is working with Snape is his desire for information.  I'm in
two minds as to whether Narcissa is deliberately setting a trap or
whether Snape's life of lies has simply caught up with him and he is
trapped in his own web.

Still, there is obviously a long established "friend of the family"
relationship between Severus and Narcissa.  The Malfoys are probably
the closest thing to "friends" that Snape has ever had.  I couldn't
help wondering how many of those black and brown leather bound books
were bought with Malfoy gold.

Great point about the Unbreakable Vow as a narrative device.

Potioncat:

He gazes at DD. DD who had just told Draco that Draco is dependent on
his mercies. DD who would rather sacrifice himself at this point than
lose Snape and Draco. (Snape I can understand, DD's concern for Draco
is more merciful than I can imagine.)

DD would save himself over Snape if he was well and able to continue
the fight but he seems to be near death. If Snape dies, so does DD. I
think there is some communication between DD and Snape at this point.
***DD sacrifices himself just like Ron did in the chess game. Just as
Ron tells Harry and Hermione what moves they must make after the
Knight is taken, I think DD has told Snape to make certain moves
after the Rook( castle) is taken***

houyhnhnm:

Good point.  I think Ron's actions in PS/SS do foreshadow Dumbledore's
on the tower.  As much as I agree with those who don't feel that
either Snape's or Dumbledore's characters are consistant with a full
and open disclosure about the Unbreakable Vow (though there is an
*awful lot* we don't know about their relationship), for me, it all
comes down to Dumbledore's "Severus ... please".  Since I can't
believe Dumbledore would plead for his life, the only other
explanation is that by this time, Dumbledore knows and has extracted a
promise from Snape to step in if Draco appears to be succeeding.

It's not that I imagine they sit down and have a calm discussion in
which Dumbledore says, "You made an Unbreakable Vow to kill me?  No
problem.  Go ahead and do it."  More likely that Dumbledore is playing
for time.  He is an old, old man who feels his own death approaching.
 He has been weakened by the battle with Voldemort and badly injured
in the destruction of the ring horcrux.  He could easily die before
Draco ever gets close to succeeding. He wants to teach Harry as much
as he can, find out as much as possible about the horcruxes, AND foil
Voldemort's scheme to use Draco to assassinate him.

As to why he would save Draco, I don't think the magical power of love
resides so much in the worthiness of the object as in the intention of
the giver.  Voldemort could not bear to possess Harry because of
Harry's love for Sirius.  How much worse to have his plan to hit the
evil trifecta (kill Dumbledore, punish Lucius Malfoy, punish Snape)
foiled by Dumbledore's willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice.

As to why he would save Snape, I think Harry is going to need the
prince in his battle against Voldemort, as unlikely as it seems now,
that Harry could ever accept such help.