It's over, Snape is evil (was: Dumbledore and Snape again)

[zgirnius]

No: HPFGUIDX 138541

eggplant wrote:
> 
> So you're saying an Unbreakable Vow can be broken, you just need to
> fool it. Hmm, sounds like it needs a name change.

eggplant again:
> Well Snape couldn't of course, and that is exactly why a good Snape
> would never EVER make an Unbreakable Vow to kill Dumbledore, not under
> ANY circumstances. 

zgirnius here:
I agree with your first point, I think a faked death should not be able 
to fool something as dramatically named and presented as 
an "Unbreakable Vow". (We could, of course, be wrong, as we know next 
to nothing about this magic at the end of HBP. Just Ron's recollections 
of something that happened when he was 5. I have no argument with 
proponents of DD is not dead theories, I see the canon support for 
them, I simply do not personally find them likely.) 

However, there's seemingly a legitimate way out of the Vow for Snape. 
He did not flat out promise to murder Dumbledore, or even kill him. He 
actually promised: "And, should it prove necessary...if it seems Draco 
will fail...will you carry out the deed that the Dark Lord has ordered 
Draco to perform?". The obligation to carry out the task (kill DD) only 
comes into force if it seems Draco will fail. In fact, Draco even fails 
twice and Snape does nothing. Since Snape continues to live after both 
these failures despite his lack of action, it must be that the Vow 
requires a more obvious and overt failure before its requirement kicks 
in. 

This fact suggests that a permanent solution to Snape's dilemma, which 
DD and we readers would certainly consider a "happy ending" to the 
affair, would be if Draco were to forever renounce any attempts to 
carry out the task (for example, by accepting DD's "witness protection" 
offer for his mother and himself). This would mean he could never seem 
to fail, as he would never try again. And Snape could go on his ornery 
way not killing DD for the rest if his life...

However, this happy resolution was not possible under the circumstances 
which in fact existed the third time Draco made an attempt. Snape was 
present, 4 DEs were present, and Draco in their eyes "seemed unable" to 
carry out the task.

Early in the book Dumbledore makes the commment to Harry that "being-
forgive me-rather cleverer than most men, my mistakes tend to be 
correspondingly huger". Many have taken this to be foreshadowing that 
DD will make a BIG mistake later in the book. You, I feel sure, would 
say that this mistake was made years ago, and was trusting Snape. Fair 
enough... My feeling, however, is that this mistake was made in the 
course of HBP, and was to brush off Harry's warning that Draco was 
celebrating some significant accomplishment in the Room of Requirements 
the night DD planned the trip to the Cave. It was this mistake that 
made the resolution of the Vow dilemma I propose above impossible to 
carry out.