[HPforGrownups] Re: Do the math

[Kathryn Jones]

No: HPFGUIDX 137916

Fabian Peng Krrholm wrote:

> Didn't he go to Voldemort first though and tell him about the prophecy?
> What I don't get it is why he did this, if he's supposed to be on the
> 'good side'. I mean that would mean:
> 1. Snape told Voldemort about the prophecy
> 2. Snape tries to figure out who the child is
> 3. Once he has found this out, he tells Dumbledore
> 4. Dumbledore asks why on earth Snape told Voldemort in the first place!
> 
> Or no?
> 
> Fabian

Kathy writes:
    According to canon, Snape was working for Voldemort, at that time, 
perhaps already wearing the Dark Mark. He applied for a teaching 
position at Voldemort's request. Presumably, that is what he was doing 
when he happened to over-hear part of the prophesy, which he took back 
to Voldemort, like a good little Death Eater.
    This was approximately a year before Harry's birth. In the meantime, 
according to the prophesy, both Neville's parents and Harry's parents 
"defied" Voldemort three times. Which information presumably would have 
been known by Dumbledore. We are told that as soon as Snape knew it was 
the Potters, he turned spy for Dumbledore.

    We are told that 1. Snape spied for Dumbledore prior to the attack 
on Godric's Hollow but we don't know for how long before.PoA

                     2. We are told that when Snape heard that it was 
the Potters who were actually targeted by Voldemort, he then went to 
Dumbledore to confess, change sides and warn them.HBP

                     3. According to the fourteen year teaching 
timeline, Snape had been hired as a teacher for up to 2 months prior to 
the attack on Godric's Hollow, as he would have been hired sometime in 
August for a September 1'st start. We don't know how long he was working 
for the Order(if he was) before Dumbledore hired him.OotP

What I don't understand is 1. If Dumbledore knew that one of these two 
boys would be important to the downfall of Voldemort, would he not have 
warned both families shortly after their births?

                            2. Did Voldemort only make up his mind which 
boy was the most likely to be a danger to him a week before the attack?

                            3. Did Snape only find out which was the 
targeted child a week before the attack, or was there a delay while he 
worked out what to do about it?

                            4. Was Dumbledore not aware that Snape was a 
Death Eater before he hired him as a teacher? Was Dumbledore not aware 
until Snape confessed that Voldemort also knew part of the prophesy?

                            5. Was it only after it was definitely 
confirmed that a time was estimated for an attack that the Fidelius was 
put in place?

   I just think that since only two boys in the whole WW were born at 
the end of July, and that only two families fit the qualification of 
"defying" Voldemort three times, it would not be too much to expect 
Dumbledore to warn them well in advance. There only remained the 
choosing which child it would be, which Voldemort settled in his own 
mind well before the attack, and which Snape knew about, in sufficient 
time to confess to Dumbledore. In POA(152), it said that Dumbledore 
warned them immediately. If Dumbledore warned them immediately, it means 
that he hired Snape 7 weeks or so before he had a change of heart and 
confessed. If Snape found out about the Potters prior to being hired, it 
means that Dumbledore failed to warn the Potters until the week prior to 
the attack. Which would be the most OC choice for Dumbledore??
KJ