The Nasty, Half-Blood (Crown) Undercover Prince of Greyness

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 136647

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "msbeadsley" <msbeadsley at y...>
wrote:
> ... I've been racking my subconscious for an answer to how it (the 
> books/series) could wind up quickly enough, and I think I found it: 
> it's Severus Snape.
> 
> I hate Snape. ...edited...
> 
> But I still think Snape is key. ... Voldemort is going to be 
> delighted to have Dumbledore dead and gone. ... NOW, and (Snape) 
> took the initiative ... Snape may report Dumbledore's condition 
> (damage to his hand from a curse, poisoned potion/deadwater) and 
> Voldemort, thinking, "Let's see, what could Dumbledore have been up
> to that would cause those injuries?" may figure out the Professor 
> had been on a horcrux hunt.
> 
> In any case..., Voldie is going to find out that somebody is, or has
> been, after the ... horcruxes. If anything could scare Voldemort, 
> Iimagine it would be that. How many are there out there that need
> checking up, maybe reinforcing? Voldie can't do it ... he'll send
> Snape off to do something which will reveal information crucial to 
> the quest. Snape may even follow orders to a "T", ... 
>
> Actually, I'm not at all sure of anything beyond what I am
> utterly convinced is going to be canon: Snape's recent incredibly
> loyal and helpful (in the Dark Lord's POV) act in killing Dumbledore
> is going to set the stage for Snape gaining enough of Voldemort's
> trust to find out much of what is so far unknown about the location
> and nature of at least a fraction of the remaining horcruxes. ... It
> is the ONLY thing that makes sense; quests are, above, all, time- 
> and page-consuming. There just isn't time for anything else that 
> makes logistic, literary, and JKR-type sense. In my humble opinion, 
? of course.
> 
> I welcome responses, although I will be no less convinced in their
> absence.
> 
> Sandy/msbeadsley 

bboyminn:

I agree, although I hope I can say more than 'I agree' before I'm done.

You raise an interesting point. When Snape killed Dumbledore, I didn't
say to myself, 'no it didn't happen, he's not really dead'. We knew
someone would die, and it was likely to be Dumbledore (although it
seriously screws up my own fan fiction), so I accepted it. 

However, my first reaction was not the same as Harry, though I
completely understand Harry's reaction. I suspected that Snape saw
that Dumbledore was already dying and knew it was too late to save
him. By the time they got the situation calm and stable enough for
Dumbledore to get medical attention, it would already be too late. 

So he did what he had to do to make the situation work for him. If he
fights the Death Eaters, then Snape's career as a spy is over, as well
as eventually his life. In addition, in the time it takes, Dumbledore
dies. If he kills Dumbledore, who is already dying, then Snape is near
a god in Voldemort's eyes. If the Death Eater's win, they will
probably declare that day Severus Snape Day - Hero of the Revolution. 

In a sense, Snape put Duty over Honor. The honorable thing to do would
be to attempt to save his friend and protector, but that would have
been very short sighted. If he had tried, he would have failed, and
the Order would have lost it's best deep agent, and Voldemort and the
DE's would have gone on killing and torturing, and maybe even on to
victory. 

So, Snape did his duty. He certainly knows that as loved as Dumbledore
was, he may certainly pay a very VERY high price for having killed him
even if he was already dying. But Snape also knows, as I said, he will
obtain near god-like status in the eyes of the enemy. Also, he was in
a dangerous situation, the shortest and safest solution for Hogwart
and Draco, was to kill an already dying Dumbledore, grab Draco, and
run for it. 

The honorable thing is to fight and die like a hero, but dead
honorable heroes never live to fight another day. Snape chose life, he
chose to save Draco's life, he chose to get the DE's out of the castle
as quickly as possible, he chose to save the lives of the students and
the Order members by ending the conflict and getting the hell out of
there. It may not be the most honorable thing, but it was certainly
the most dutiful thing to do.

So, as nasty as Snape is, as much as I hate him for his meanness to
Harry, I think the book too strongly emphasized that Dumbledore
trusted him. Ultimately, that apparent trust was the setup for the
betrayal, but only in this book. In the greater scheme, it was a setup
for Snape's redemption. 

Now on to the main point, there IS only one book left. Even if we skip
the typical school and school related side stories, that's not much
room to maneuver Harry into a position to retrieve the Horcruxes and
destroy them. Don't forget that each Horcrux is protected by a series
of enchantements (wards, spell, charms, curses, creatures), and the
object itself may also be cursed. Even if Harry enlists the help of
the Order in trying to track down the Horcruxes, he is still looking
for a needle in a thousand haystacks. It's a near impossible task.
Where do you even begin, and even if you can find a place to begin,
how do you solve it in substantially less than a year? I seems a
completely impossible task. 

So there must be an alternative. Either the Horcruxes aren't that
important, or Harry is going to need inside help.

In the past, pre-Horcrux, I have speculated all kinds of people
helping Harry. Perhaps Dobby will make the coup de grâce; the least of
the wizard world ultimately defeating the greatest of the wizard
world. I've also considered Neville or some combination of Neville and
Harry. Perhaps their combined AK curses are enough to truly kill
Voldemort, I like the idea because I like Neville, but I really don't
see the story going that way.

Somehow there has to be short cut. Somehow Harry has to achieve his
objective in a few short months. Finding the Horcruxes on his own
could take years, even with a team of people working on the project. I
think it's likely that Voldemort may gather the Horcruxes under his
own personal protection; that simplfies things, Snape will somehow
convey that information to Harry. 

So, I have to agree with you, I can't say whether Snape will
ultimately live or die, I can't say that I like Snape as a person
under any circumstances, but I think you are right, in the end, alive
or dead, Snape is ultimately the key.

Nodding my head.

Steve/bboyminn