The best reason for Dumbledore to trust Snape

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 137796

> Valky:
> I gree with what you have said above. It's just not Dumbledore to
> demand a UV, besides which, I just can't get past the fact that
> during the scene with Snapes UV in spinners End, the text draws an
> analogy to the coils of a snake tying his hands. It's just seems 
> too patently obvious that it's a Worst of Slytherin type magic
> even if you don't see that its completely in opposition with
> Dumbledore's creed of Choice and Love. 

Jen: Hee, Valky, you pick up on the most interesting clues! I never 
thought about it, but the analogy of the Unbreakable Vow to Snape's 
hands being tied is really obvious imagery in that scene, isn't it?

Valky: 
<snipping>
> This goes to why DD tried to keep SS from the DADA position all
> those years. Knowing that Snape would get himself into strife if
> he began wandering that path again, DD (maybe like he'd hoped with
> Harry) that he could help to spare Snape a few more moments in
> the 'sun' before his inevitable third strike in the hell of his
> own creations. Possibly, as he did with Harry, he felt he had been 
> too soft on Sevvie too long, and while Sevvie could have been 
> facing his demons at last, he was safe under the watchful eye of 
> Dumbledore instead who tried desperately to spare him his
> inevitable fate one more time and then one more time again. 

Jen: Dumbledore's fatal flaw in the end, trying to spare the ones he 
loves. Sirius in OOTP was another canon example, as well as the most 
poignant example in HBP, Draco. And I think Draco on the tower 
symbolized ALL the students Dumbledore watched over the years who 
struggled because of circumstances and beliefs to make the right 
choice in the end. It's easy to love and attempt to protect Harry 
from harm because he's 'Dumbledore's man through and through', like 
his parents, but to love Draco and try to spare him a fate he 
brought about through his own ignorance and family ties (much like 
Snape, I suspect)....those precious moments may have cost Dumbledore 
his life.


Valky:
> So here I offer, as far as I can gather, the basis for DD's trust
> of Snape. Dumbledore trusts that while he has a firm hand on the
> steering wheel he can keep Severus from tangling himself up in
> evil, And Severus is, in this way, capable of immense good despite
> his terrible demeanour. Once DD lets go of the wheel, he knows he
> is setting the bird free. He knows that he is leaving Severus to
> his own devices completely, which will in turn mean that someday
> soon down the track Sevvie is going to get himself in the same
> position he was twice ago faced with the consequences of his awful
> deeds. And it is this that Dumbledore trusts most fully, most
> remarkably, he trusts that Snape cannot act evilly in this moment.

Jen: You know, this explanation rings completely true for me. In 
part because we know for sure Dumbledore was aware of the 
Unbreakable Vow, at least since Christmas. I'm not much of a Snape 
theorizer so everyone else probably caught on to this long before I 
did <g>, but I noticed that Harry tells Arthur, Lupin and Dumbledore 
*everything* he overheard between Snape and Draco, including about 
the UV. (Which, btw, I was very proud of him for even though he got 
nowhere. We know trusting adults isn't exactly his strength, yet he 
was totally sure he needed to tell any adult who would listen about 
that conversation. And he was *right* this time, doggone it!). 

So Dumbledore was fully aware, long before the tower, the mess Snape 
got *himself* into. And he knew before their argument, too. No great 
plan at work between DD & Snape up to this point, even if a plan 
evolved from there.

But you left out the ending! Tell me the ending to this fairy tale, 
which track did he take this time?  Was the third time the charm or 
the curse? Did he make the right decision, in the end? Is he more 
like Draco or Tom? 

I know, I know, we have to decide for ourselves *pouts*. 

Jen