Do the math Re: Medieval attitudes was Saving Harry

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 137803

Lupinlore:
 Frankly I'm not the slightest bit 
> interested in an evil DE who has been fooling Dumbledore for
sixteen  years, nor am I attracted to a super spy who has remained
rock-solid  loyal for sixteen years despite evidence and appearances 
to the  contrary. 

Pippin:
You aren't the only one to make this mistake, but I must point out
that the math is off. Evil Snape would have had to fool Dumbledore
for 16+ years. But Good Snape only has to have fooled Voldemort 
for some period between the prophecy and  the downfall, and 
then for some two years since the end of GoF. In between Voldemort
was indeed convinced that Snape had left him forever.

Either way, such feats are  not unknown in the annals of real life 
espionage. The Cambridge Four carried on in their
tasks for far longer. They were super spies, and their success 
changed the definition of what is plausible.

If Snape indeed changed sides when Voldemort was winning,
then like the Cambridge Four, his reasons must have been  ideological
as much as opportunistic, the more so if he then took on the role of 
spy rather than the safety of Dumbledore's witness protection
program. 

I can't see such a man wavering -- indeed, when have we ever seen 
Snape waver? 

A constant struggle to remain committed might be more interesting
if Snape was the main character, but he's not. For Harry, the problem
is the same whether Snape has been on the same side all along or
he hasn't, namely, which side is Snape on now? 

Harry knows what he saw. But Harry is a lousy witness. He draws
conclusions, often from facts not in evidence, he tampers with the
body, wiping the smear of blood from Dumbledore's mouth, 
and he often forgets to tell people things that might 
change their view of the situation. For instance he never told 
Dumbledore that Trelawney had been attacked. His version
of Snape's defection does not accord with what Harry himself
heard Dumbledore say in the pensieve, that Snape had returned
to the good side before the Potters died. 

But I think this is like the Shipping Wars of yore. People fix on 
their notion of the One True Snape and if canon doesn't bear them
out, well then, canon must be faulty. Could be, certainly.
And maybe Aesop's fox was right and the grapes were sour after all,
at least for that particular fox. De gustibus...

Pippin