Snape. (Was: Sleeping Snape Distrusted by all)

[Rebecca Hoskins]

No: HPFGUIDX 138211


Jazmyn
> LV knows Snape is in the Order.  LV thinks Snape is HIS Spy. He is 
> acting the double agent.  But there's too many things that make me 
> believe Snape is still Dumbledore's man. 

This was my feeling too.
The main ones were as follows:-

* If he was truly a DE he wouldn't (IMO) have risked arguing with 
Dumbldore over aspects of his work. If he didn't want to do it he'd 
likely have quietly agreed, and then done as he pleased.
* The choice of words JKR uses when describing harry's feelings as he 
feeds the potion to D and Snape's expression when he raises his wand 
to kill Dumbledore.
          " Hating himself, repulsed by what he was doing, 
              harry forced the goblet..." HBP p534
and 

           "Snape gazed for a moment at Dumbledore, and there
               was revulsion and hatred etched in the harsh 
                    lines of his face." HBP p556

* Even when they are fleeing Hogwarts Snape still protects Harry, 
despite his own personal feelings towards him. He does this under the 
guise of reinforcing Voldemort's orders, but he acts very swiftly. A 
wholey evil snape would (IMO)have lingered a short while to enjoy the 
feeling of watching harry being tortured. Instead he acted instantly 
to stop the torture from taking place. it seems that, despite his 
bullying nature and enjoyment of emotional discomfort, he draws no 
enjoyment of phsyical pain.

Jazmyn
> Dumbledore would never beg Snape not to kill him. 
> He would sacrifice his life to save the others even if it's
> asking Snape to kill him to do it.  Snape had no choice in
> the matter.  Draco failed to carry out his mission. Snape 
> had to carry it out for him or DIE die to the vow.  Dumbledore 
>would rather die himself at the hand of his own friend then allow 
>that friend to die.  Then of course Dumbledore would have died and 
>the Malfoy family would have died after LV found out Draco (and 
>Snape) failed. And Snape would not be there to rush all the DEs out 
>and many students might have died too.

I find all these points very valid.
I believe that JKR's stories are written very skillfuly. It seems to 
me that the stroy of the HBP is presented with different layers of 
complexity available for different readers. 
At face value Snape is a death eater who has betrayed and murdered 
Dumbledore. This is certainly how my 8 yr old son sees it. 
I see a different story, one where Dumbledore would never beg for his 
life, one where Snape and Harry are both revulsed by their actions 
when carrying out D's orders and harming him in the process. 
I also see a very real possibilty of JKR intentionally writing these 
different layers / levels of possibility in her work only to show us 
in the final installment that the simplistic layer was actually the 
true one.
If Snape truly is a death eater who has betrayed the order, then JKR 
seems to want some of us to believe that this might not be the case. 
I'm sure she logs on to discussion boards like this and feels very 
pleased with herself that we read so many different possibilities 
into her story!

Rebecca