HBP The memory in the cave... is Snape's.

[vmonte]

No: HPFGUIDX 137975

Saraquel wrote:
All quotes from UK ED
Before he drinks the potion DD says to Harry:
Ch 26, p532 "I should have said, he would not want immediately to
kill the person who reached this island, <snip> He would want to
keep them alive long enough to find out how they managed to
penetrate so far through his defences and, most importantly of all,
why they were so intent upon emptying the basin. Do not forget that
Lord Voldemort believes that he alone knows about his Horcruxes."

<snip speculation on what potions the green potion contains>

Now, assuming that Vertaserum is in the mix and Voldemort wants to
find out DD's motives for getting the Horcrux, what do we make of
what DD is saying. Well, I too thought it could well be DD's memory
of Snape recanting. 

vmonte:
Ok, if we go along with Dumbledore's comments then the potion is 
there to alert Voldemort that someone has found out about the 
horcruxes. Voldemort wants to know how they found out, and who was 
responsible for leading them there (well at least this is what I 
would want to know). 

So my question is how does Voldemort find out this information? I 
mean he obviously was not alerted of the cave break in when RAB stole 
the horcrux, and I think I know the reason why. The locket is still 
intact. Voldemort doesn't know yet that someone found one of his 
horcruxes because the locket was not destroyed. When Harry finds it 
and destroys it, Voldemort will know because he will feel himself 
becoming more human. That is when Voldemort will then go to the cave 
to see what the potion reveals.   

Let's assume this memory does belong to Snape. Why would this memory 
surface at all? Also, from what I gather there should be another 
memory in the basin, right? 

Dumbledore places memories in his penseive in order to sort through 
them and make larger connections. Apparently, Dumbledore uses his 
penseive as a strategic device. If the potion in the cave works like 
a penseive then it should work the same way. It should find the link, 
if there is any, between the two memories that were placed in it. 

I think that Dumbledore realized, as soon as his memory surfaced, 
that Snape would be in grave danger. The potion has somehow linked 
Snape as being responsible for leaking information about the 
horcruxes. The first memory (from the RAB break in) implicated Snape, 
and the second memory (Dumbledore's) gave the reason why Snape was 
involved.

Dumbledore now believes that Snape is in grave danger and begins to 
ask for him. I think that once Dumbledore saw Snape he realized 
something else.

I think that Snape has known about the horcruxes for a long time. I 
think that RAB inadvertently (or not) found out about the horcruxes 
from Snape. Snape has been taking care of Dumbledore all year. He 
must have seen the ring; it was sitting in plain view in Dumbledore's 
office. So by now, even if Dumbledore has not told Snape about the 
horcruxes, Snape must know that Dumbledore now knows. 

I think that Snape is not on either side.

And Snape is perfectly willing to wait until all the horcruxes are 
destroyed before making his move (Snape is good at waiting things 
out). Snape must also know that Dumbledore told Harry about the 
horcruxes.  

Snape is going to wait until Harry destroys the horcruxes. It's less 
work for him, right?

The thing that Snape doesn't know is that the potion has revealed him 
as the person who RAB got the original information from.

Vivian