Future of Snape's Spying

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 144937

Sherry:
> Ok, it's well known that I believe in either ESE or OFH Snape.  
However, if
> Snape has a confident, I think the only person would be Hagrid.  
Snape's
> arrogance and dismissal of his students, and Hermione's 
intelligence in
> particular doesn't make me think he'd confide in Hermione.  But 
Hagrid is
> the one person who has always defended Snape to Harry, from the very
> beginning.  Hagrid would also be more likely to believe him, or more
> inclined to believe him, because Hagrid can't conceive that 
Dumbledore could
> possibly be wrong.  
*(snip)*
> If not Hagrid, then perhaps Lupin.  Not that Lupin believes Snape 
is good
> right now, but I think he's one of the few people left who would 
not shoot
> Snape first and ask questions later.

Ceridwen:
I'd agree on Hagrid and Lupin as more possible than Hermione, and 
will add in Aberforth as another possibility.

Dumbledore, I think, would rather trust adult members of the Order 
than the younger up-and-coming members.  Hermione might be smart and 
capable of latching onto the idea of Occlumency, and she could even 
have taken lessons during OotP which Harry didn't know about, or 
during any other time.  They're not tied at the hip.  But she has a 
greater chance of being targeted or captured due to her closeness to 
Harry.  If her Occlumency failed, or if she was not sufficiently 
trained and Voldemort got through, that would be terrible for Snape 
if she was his confidant, and for the Horcrux hunt as well.  Better 
to confide in someone else who has more distance from Harry, and 
someone who can't spill the beans about Snape *and* the Horcruxes. 
She knows the prophecy now as well. In spying, compartmentalization 
is a good thing.

Hagrid's devotion to Dumbledore would make him a good choice.  And he 
has the advantage of being a halfbreed Giant.  He is looked down on 
by the DEs, and his talents may be underestimated.  He also didn't 
finish school and seems rather 'dumb', or naive, so who would guess?  
Also, being part giant, he is able to withstand spells, as we saw in 
OotP.  While I do believe he's a simple man leading a simple life, 
and he definitely wears his heart on his sleeve, I don't think he's 
incapable of learning Occlumency (his problem in that area seems to 
be loose lips, but maybe those slips weren't as big a deal as we've 
been led to believe?).  And, he's had fifty years to learn it in, 
something Hermione at seventeen hasn't had.

Lupin is a contemporary of Snape's, and a peer.  Both are former 
professors, and both have been burned by the DADA curse.  Lupin also 
has a more easygoing temperment, and I agree with Sherry that he 
would be one of a very few, if not the only one, who would listen 
first and shoot later, if he shot at all.  There are some hints in 
the books that Lupin either empathically understands people, or he is 
capable of Legilimency.  If he can learn Legilimency, he can learn 
Occlumency.  The two seem to go together like salt and pepper 
shakers.  It's all in being able to control one's mind.  The only 
time we see Lupin flagrantly not controlling his mind, at least his 
memory, is when he is surprised to see Peter Pettigrew on the 
Marauder's Map and rushes off without taking his wolfsbane potion.  
He's also older than Hermione and will have had more years to learn 
and practice Occlumency, and Dumbledore has already used him as a spy 
in the werewolf community.

Both Lupin and Hagrid are friends of Harry's and already have his 
trust.

Aberforth Dumbledore is not close to Harry.  He's often mentioned by 
his job instead of his name or relationship to Dumbledore.  But if 
the supposed breach between the brothers is more fiction than fact, 
he would possibly be the closest person Dumbledore has to a 
confidant.  Even if the breach was real, Dumbledore shows signs in 
HBP of believing his end is near.  He may have gone to his brother to 
heal that breach as he was tying up other loose ends.  We know that 
Albus Dumbledore is a Legilimens, and I believe he was also an 
Occlumens, based on his interview with eleven year old Tom Riddle.  
It would be reasonable to assume that his brother may have also 
learned those skills.  He probably at least had the opportunity.

Aberforth was seen talking to Mundungus after Mundungus robbed 
Grimmauld Place.  He may just be a fence, but it's possible they were 
discussing Order business.  He runs the shadier of the two pubs in 
Hogsmeade, so shady characters stop by.  It wouldn't be out of place 
for someone of that reputation to have dealings with questionable 
people.  So, he may know more about his brother's affairs than 
anybody else, and he has access to information of a shadier variety.  
He is familiar with Order members and can pass along information 
through Mundungus or any others, he won't have to see Harry at all.  
Also, as the surviving Dumbledore, Harry may have more friendly 
feelings toward him in the wake of Albus Dumbledore's death.

There may be others who could take this duty.  If Dumbledore let them 
in on this part of things, there is no chance they'll shoot the 
messenger (Snape) because they'll know what's going on.  But I think 
that Hagrid, Remus and Aberforth would be the three most likely, if 
that's where book 7 takes us.

Ceridwen.