Foe glass

[spotsgal]

No: HPFGUIDX 136889

Christina:
> > The workings of the Foe-Glass are never explained in detail, so 
> > it's possible it only shows what you believe to be your enemies, 
> > although it seems that it would be much more useful if the mirror 
> > could detect that itself (the same way that a Sneakoscope is 
> > valuable because it detects the untrustworthy people
> > for you).

Leslie41: 
> I find it highly unlikely that a foe glass would just show people 
> you *think* are your enemies, because as you say what is the use of 
> that?  Where's the advantage? Who would want such an item and why 
> would it be placed in such a position of importance?  

Christina:

Exactly.  JKR has shown us that magical objects tend to function in a
way that gives them the most value (remember when we thought an
objective pensieve was just too good to truly be the way it
operated?).

Leslie41:
> This seems to 
> me to be some fairly incontrovertible evidence that Snape is on the 
> side of the good guys.

Christina:

I think so too.  While you could say that Snape had decided to stay
under DD's protection when he felt the Dark Mark burn and only later
decided to flop sides, I think the fact that he lied about this to
Bella is the important piece of evidence.  This must have been the lie
he used when appealing to Voldemort as well- showing that he *can*,
indeed, lie to the Dark Lord and not be detected, regardless of LV's
Legilimency skills.

Leslie41:
> Didn't someone mention that the broken Foe glass is then put in 
> storage with the Mirror of Erised?  I can't remember.  And how does 
> it break?  And who owns it when it does?

Christina:

Here is the last mention I can find of the Foe-Glass (and the only one
outside of GoF):

(OotP, US, page 390, describing the Room of Requirement when the DA
uses it)
"A set of shelves at the far end of the room carried a range of
instruments such as Sneakoscopes, Secrecy Sensors, and a large,
cracked Foe-Glass that Harry was sure had hung, the previous year, in
the fake Moody's office."
(end quote)

So it *is* cracked, but I can't find anything explaining how it
happened (there's no mention of it being cracked when Fake!Moody had
it).  It's interesting that this *particular* Foe-Glass appears in the
RoR.  It kind of makes you wonder how the room "gets" the objects it
puts in it.  If it really is Fake!Moody's Foe-Glass, how did the room
physically get it there?  Surely it must have been put in storage or
something.