Snape's predicament: The DADA jinx and the Unbreakable Vow

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 136474

zgirnius wrote:

> 
> I found this to be the single most problematic action in the book, 
> personally. You consider the explanations you've seen presented here 
> lame. Do you have a better one? 
> 
> Preemptively, I would like to point out the three word annswer
"Snape is evil"  is not the answer to every question about Snape. I am
quite willing to entertain the idea that Snape is evil, either a loyal
DE, or in it for himslef somehow, and evil. The problem is that Snape
is not stupid.
> 
> An evil Snape who cares about noone/nothing but himself ought not 
> take a UV to protect Draco. Why risk his own life in this way? 
> 
> An evil Snape who serves Voldemort especially has no reason to take 
> this vow. Yes, it is a vow to do something Voldemort greatly
desires. But Snape can certainly carry out the act without making the
Vow. By its nature the Vow limits the actions Snape can take. For two 
> examples: if Draco were to attempt a suicide-style attack on DD, 
> Snape would actually have to protect Draco... for another, if Draco 
> made some hideously unsuccessful overt attempt on DD's life, Snape 
> would be compelled to step in right then. If he's evil, he's been 
> really quite fortunate in the timing of Draco's plan...Draco
actually came out into the open at a moment when DD was incredibly
vulnerable.

Carol responds:
My apologies if I'm misattributing the quoted post. It was unsigned.

I agree that Evil!Snape is much too simplistic an explanation, and the
Snape who's presented in this chapter is highly ambiguous. True, we
see for the first time without Harry's preconceptions and prejudices
coloring the narration, but we still see him from the outside. We are
not privy to his thoughts. In fact, we are in exactly the same
position as Bellatrix, who does not trust him, either.

We don't know, to begin with, how much really knows about what the
Dark Lord (to use his term) intends to do. He is playing a role he has
played for a long time and is very good at, persuading people that he
is on their side. He toasts the Dark Lord and drains his cup, clearly
something that no Order member would do--unless his deep cover
requires a false pledge of loyalty. He may have altered the vow
silently in his mind: "(Death) to the Dark Lord" or "to the Dark
Lord('s fall)." Or he may simply have intended the toast as another
lie necessary to retain his position as (apparently) the Dark Lord's
righthand man. Bellatrix is a murderous fanatic. It only makes sense
to appease her, and that is how he begins.

He tells her, to begin with, what he has told Voldemort concerning
Quirrel, his absence from the graveyard, etc.--lies, truths, and
half-truths--whatever is plausible. To this he adds that he helped to
betray Sirius Black, but we know that he didn't recognize the great
black dog as Sirius until the end of Goblet of Fire. More than likely
it was Wormtail, who has spent the entire year preceding that incident
in the company of Voldemort, who gave him that information. And we
know that it was Kreacher who told Voldemort of the bond between Harry
and his godfather. But Snape knows that Voldemort keeps secrets from
even his most loyal followers, nor is Bellatrix, as Snape has
carefully deduced, in a position to ask her master to confirm Snape's
story. He adds for good measure that he passed information on Emmeline
Vance that led to her death. We need not believe this story, either.
Emmeline Vance was in the original Order, as we know from her presence
in the photo in Order of the Phoenix (Am. ed. 174). Here, too, the
probable source of information is Wormtail, who is also in that photo.
Snape, who was spying for Dumbledore unknown to the members of the
Order, is not. He also doesn't tell them that he is teaching DADA this
year; he allows them to think that DD still wants him to teach Potions
to keep him from falling back into his old ways. Knowing Snape's
position as double agent, knowing his brilliant and logical mind and
his capacity for deception, we should not take his words to Bellatrix
as expressing the absolute truth regarding his loyalty and intentions,
nor should we assume his guilt in the murder of Emmeline Vance. 

Snape says that he knows what Voldemort wants Draco to do, and he may
know that Voldemort wants the cowardly and not exceptionally talented
boy to kill Dumbledore, but Snape, who is fully aware of Dumbledore's
towering intellect and great power, may find it difficult to imagine
such a scenario even coming about. I personally think that he's
bluffing at first, but later uses Legilimency on the
uncharacteristically vulnerable Narcissa and realizes what Draco's
task is. One thing he clearly does not realize, or he would not have
(futilely) attempted to use Legilimency on Draco to determine it, is
that Draco is supposed to fix the broken vanishing cabinet and allow
Death Eaters into the castle. All he knows for certain is that
Voldemort has assigned Draco a dangerous task that Narcissa is sure
will lead to his death. If he also knows that the task is to Kill
Dumbledore, he certainly views it in the same light Narcissa does, as
beyond Draco's power.

Having carefully presented persuasive evidence that he is on
Voldemort's side and therefore on theirs, he turns from Bellatrix to
Narcissa, who unlike Bellatrix appears to be his friend. Whatever else
he may be, Snape is a man, and the sight of a beautiful woman in
tears, particularly a proud and arrogant woman now kneeling in front
of him and begging for his help, cannot possibly leave him unmoved. I
think he is touched by pity for her plight and at the same time, less
nobly but very humanly, proud and flattered. She has come to him to
the half-blood Severus Snape who must teach for his living while she
lives in luxury. Still, Snape is cautious and only promises to protect
Draco and help him--"help" being open to a different interpretation
than Narcissa places on it. He can "help" Draco by making sure that he
doesn't come anywhere near Dumbledore. Snape, I think, is still not
worried. Draco is not known for his courage, and his idiot friends
will be little help to him. He will need the backing of Death Eaters,
and Snape "knows" that Death Eaters can't enter Hogwarts. They can't
apparate in, fly in, or Floo in. Dumbledore has placed Order members
and Aurors around the school. Dumbledore dealt effectively with Fudge
and the Aurors who came to arrest him. He fought Voldemort himself in
the MoM. Dumbledore can deal with Draco, and Snape, meanwhile, can use
his influence with the boy to try to dissuade or deter him, or failing
that, trick him somehow.

He is clearly not anticipating the Unbreakable Vow, but once Narcissa
proposes it, he has no choice but to agree to it. Why not swear to do
what he is already planning to do, protect and "help" Draco, and at
the same time put an end to Bellatrix's suspicions? So, still in his
role as DE and loyal Voldemort supporter, he tells the astonished
Bellatrix to come forward and administer the vow. 

The first two provisions don't faze him. They are exactly what he is
expecting and are unlikely to lead either to his death or to
Dumbledore's. But the third provision takes him by surprise and his
hand trembles within Narcissa's. Nevertheless, he cannot refuse to
take this provision of the vow without violating the other two. Either
Bellatrix or the vow itself will kill him. And so he does the only
thing he can do. He says "I will," and sets in motion a train of
events that he fears will lead to Dumbledore's death or his own or both.

Whether he tells Dumbledore about this scene or not (and I think he
does), the jinx on the DADA position has already struck. Whatever
happens, Severus Snape will not return to Hogwarts the following year.
Voldemort's vengeance has found its mark.

Carol