Dumbledore and Snape again. WAS: Re: Missing Horcrux = Ravenclaw's

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 137336

houyhnhnm wrote:

> When Snape arrives on the tower, he is faced with a weakened
powerless Dumbledore, four mature Death Eaters, and one teenage Death
Eater. Had Snape refused to kill Dumbledore, there could have been
only one outcome.  Snape would die.  Dumbledore would be killed by one
of the other Death Eaters. Draco would either be killed on the spot or
taken back to Voldemort (I suspect the DEs had orders to kill him on
the spot if he failed.)  The DEs, including, Fenrir would be loosed
upon the school and the casualties could have been much, much worse
than they were.
> 
> Dumbledore has to have known this and there's no way he would plead
> for his life at such a cost, not for a chance to spend more time
with Harry, not to keep Snape from committing murder.  I could buy
DE!Snape or Out-For-Himself!Snape if Dumbledore had said nothing on
the tower. It's the "Severus ... please"  that is the incontravertible
evidence for me that there has to be another explanation.


Carol responds:
Exactly. I have little to add to this excellent summary except that
Snape undoubtedly saw the two brooms and knew that Harry was there in
his invisibility cloak. Being Snape, he must have deduced that DD had
immobilized Harry for his own (and the WW's) protection. Knowing that
would have added immensely to the unbearable pressure he was already
under.

I'm also certain that Snape, who learned from Flitwick only that Death
Eaters had entered the castle and placed a Dark Mark above the tower,
was not anticipating a weakened, possibly dying Dumbledore. That, I
think, would have been the most shocking revelation for him--there was
no way out of the vow. His options were die with Dumbledore and Draco
or live and save Draco, ordering the Death Eaters out of Hogwarts
along the way. (I think he'll use his considerable powers of
persuasion to persuade Voldemort that Draco did his best, that he
enabled the DEs to enter Hogwarts, and that were it not for his
efforts, DD would not be dead. There's also the question of whether
provisions one and two of the vow still hold.)

You mention, rightly, how much worse matters would have been if Snape
had not taken matters in hand and told the DEs it was over. That
horror would start with Dumbledore. As I said elsewhere, imagine the
horror for Harry if he'd had to watch DD savaged by Fenrir Grayback.
Much better that Snape killed him with what I believe was Impedimenta
disguised as AK. 

One question for anyone who's interested: What does Snape stand to
gain by killing Dumbledore? Nothing, in my view. Power? Where's the
evidence that he ever wanted power (as opposed to respect)? "Glory"?
His "glory" is infamy. He's lost everything--job, mentor, trust,
respectability, freedom (not to mention a year's salary and his
possessions). Is life without those things worth living? I don't think
so. Choosing death would have been the easy way out. 

Again, beautiful summation of Snape's dilemma. I can find no flaw in it.

Carol