Snape, the healer (Was: why did DD need Snape? )

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 137713

Deb wrote:
>   And Snape is a healer! Think of the scene in the bathroom after 
> Harry used the Sectumsempra curse on Malfoy:
>  "Pushing Harry roughly aside, he knelt over malfoy, drew his wand, 
> and traced it over the deep wounds Harry's curse had made, muttering 
> an incantation that sounded almost like a song. The flow of blood 
> seemed to ease; Snape wiped the residue from Malfoy's face and 
> repeated his spell. Now the wounds seemed to be knitting". 
> 
> Could it be that Snape is able to imitate phoenix song? Or if it is 
> a true incantation then some very powerful healer invented it(and if 
> so where/when/how did Snape learn it) .... or did Snape create this 
> spell too? It maybe that since he (as the HBP) created the 
> Sectumsempra Curse he also created the countercurse. No matter what 
> you may think of Snape, he is a very powerful wizard! I also suspect 
> that Snape was LV's Potions Master when he was first in the DEs... 
> he may have been the one who created the potion in the bowl in the 
> cave. So he would be the one to know any antidote that might 
> exisit.  <snip>

Carol responds:
I absolutely agree that Snape is a healer skilled in countering Dark
Magic, which is why Dumbledore wants him and not Madam Pomfrey after
he drinks the potion in the cave. Note that Snape also saved
Dumbledore from the ring Horcrux and slowed the curse on Katie Bell so
that she could safely be taken to St. Mungo's. (He may have broken the
curse on the necklace itself as well since McGonagall has Filch
deliver it to Snape.) We could even throw in the fact that Ron owes
his life to Snape's knowledge of bezoars. And if he invented the
Sectumsempra Curse, as we know he did, the countercurse also has to be
his own invention. 

But I don't see how Snape could have created the potion (which appears
to be poisoned thoughts or memories) in the Pensievelike bowl in the
cave simply because he was only eleven when Voldemort returned and LV
surely would have hidden his Horcruxes long before that, much waiting
seven or eight more years till Severus was old enough to join the
Death Eaters. I suppose it's possible that Voldemort rehid that
particular Horcrux and that young Snape was asked to create a
deterrent to prevent anyone from accessing it. That could explain how
R.A.B. (almost certainly Regulus) could find the cave and steal the
potion. Severus Snape, sharing Regulus's doubts but much more skilled
at keeping his cover, told him about it. But why would he leave the
ring Horcrux so easily accessible and not rehide it, too?

I'm not sure about Snape's involvement here, but I absolutely agree
that he's a very powerful wizard and a healer, and I've always
suspected that his role in the DEs was as a potion maker for
Voldemort, who uses the talents and powers of his followers to *his*
best advantage. (See the Karkaroff hearing in GoF for specific
examples.) Why send Snape out to Crucio unwilling followers or torture
Muggles when his time is better spent searching among his walls full
of books for the specific potion Voldemort needs, collecting the
ingredients at the exact time required by the complicated directions,
and carefully watching over that potion till it's ready? Bellatrix
implies that Snape is in the habit of "slithering" out of DE
activities (when he's not at Hogwarts, which would be an excuse in
itself). No doubt he used the same strategy when he was young,
especially after the death of Regulus or whatever caused his
pre-Godric's Hollow change of heart. ("I can't join you, Bellatrix. I
have a potion brewing.")

Carol, noting that Snape, directly or indirectly, saves four people in
HBP: Dumbledore (from the ring Horcrux), Katie Bell, Ron, and Draco
(twice)--quite a record for someone perceived to be evil