The best reason for Dumbledore to trust Snape (Lily?)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 137834

> >>Valky:
> <snip>
> 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. 

Betsy Hp:
I completely agree that there's no way there's an Unbreakable Vow 
behind Dumbledore's trust of Snape.  For one thing, an Unbreakable 
Vow speaks to a *lack* of trust on behalf of the one administrating 
the vow, and Dumbledore seems far too sure of his trust in Snape for 
it to be dependent upon a piece of magic.  (Plus, as you point out, 
Valky, it most definitely goes against Dumbledore's personal creed.)

Which begs the question, why *does* Dumbledore have such an "Iron-
Clad" trust for Snape?

> >>Valky: 
> AS to this Iron-Clad reason for trusting Snape. I am trying very  
> hard to dig in and uncover it at last, but the closer I get, the  
> more it seems to me that Dumbledore's Iron Clad reason didn't     
> include expecting Snape to behave himself and stay out of trouble. 
> In fact it actually seems to me that DD based his reason on the   
> guarantee, almost, that Sevvie *would* bury himself again.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Hmmm.  I'm going to have to disagree with this theory, because it 
also limits the amount of trust Dumbledore would have for Snape.  If 
Dumbledore merely "trusted Snape to be Snape" (to paraphrase Samuel 
L. Jackson in "Jackie Brown") then he's not really trusting Snape at 
all.  And the evidence of the books points to Dumbledore trusting 
Snape possibly above all other Order members, IMO.  It looks like 
Dumbledore shared the existence of the horcruxes with Snape.  
Something shared only with Harry, Ron and Hermione.  That's a huge 
amount of trust to be giving out to someone Dumbledore thinks 
suffers from a "dark arts addiction" (Do we have any canon 
supporting the existence of that sort of malady, out of curiosity?) 
or a tendency to behave badly if left to his own devices. 


 
> >>houyhnhnm:
> > The most character revealing scene, IMO, is during the first
> > occlumency lesson.
> > "Then you will find yourself easy prey for the Dark Lord," said 
> > Snape savagely. "Fools that wear their hearts proudly on their 
> > sleeves, who cannot control their emotions, who wallow in sad 
> > memories and allow themselves to be provoked this easily--weak 
> > people, in other words--they stand no chance against his powers!"
> > Clearly, he is speaking of himself, with a passion and an       
> > honesty we don't see anywhere else.

> >>Valky:
> I agree he's referring to something in himself.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Me too!  Actually (and this is where I start inching away from canon 
and so may well find myself stranded out on a shaky limb <g>) I 
wonder if Snape's motivation isn't based on a rather tragic love for 
Lily Evans.

Perhaps his Worst Memory had little to do with his interaction with 
Sirius and James and everything to do with his interaction with 
Lily.  Because HBP is full of hints that he and Lily may well have 
been friends.  Probably secretly (hence the invention of the 
Muffliato spell) because of the enmity between their houses.  And 
yet, we also know that Snape was looked on with interest by Lucius 
Malfoy, who is most certainly a bigot.  At some point, I think Snape 
had to choose between Lily Evans and Lucius Malfoy (choose between 
being a Prince and being a Snape) and I think, based on him calling 
Lily a mudblood and her reaction to it, he chose poorly.

The fact that Voldemort was willing to let Lily live suggests that 
perhaps Snape's love for Lily was known by Voldemort. (Could 
Voldemort have planned to use a love potion and gift Lily to Snape?  
Would JKR even write something like that?)  And maybe it was that 
unrequited love that Voldemort used as a lever to recruite young 
Snape.  (We know Voldemort isn't so big on giving his recruites a 
choice.)  

But we also know that Snape had defected to Dumbledore's side 
*before* the actual attack on the Potters but *after* Snape reported 
the half of the prophecy he'd heard. Perhaps Snape's realization 
that his intelligence was going to lead to Lily's death served as 
the wake-up call he needed.

I think Snape realized that he had made a very bad choice in giving 
up on Lily and becoming a Death Eater.  And I think it was this 
remorse that Dumbledore was referring to when he was hedging his way 
around Harry's direct question in HBP.  And I think this is why 
Dumbledore trusted Snape so completely.  Because Snape told 
Dumbledore exactly *why* he became a Death Eater in the first place, 
and also *why* he realized that he'd made a huge mistake. Perhaps 
Snape even went to Dumbledore in the first place in an attempt to 
make an amends (and possibly save Lily's life).

I think having Snape's heart and soul (as it were) so entirely on 
display would have gone a long way towards convincing Dumbledore of 
Snape's total change of heart.  And the incredibly personal reason 
for that change would also explain why Dumbledore kept that reason 
such a secret.

Anyway, that's my theory. :)

Betsy Hp