Heroes and Not - What should Snape Have Done?.

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 145282

 
> Sherry now:
> 
> I'm quite sure I said this long ago, in response to the question of what
> should Snape have done.  But if I did, it was probably in the immediate post
> HBP deluge.  so, here i go again.
> 
> DDM Snape people, ask what should Snape have done.  if he didn't kill DD,
> and the effects of the UV kick in, then the death eaters would have killed
> Dumbledore, Harry would have jumped into the fray and been killed; death
> eaters would have overrun the school.  I ask you, canon please?  Do we
> indeed *know* that is what would have happened?

Pippin:
We can't know. But if we couldn't know, then Snape couldn't either.
Snape hasn't been there to see whether Dumbledore is getting stronger
or weaker. All he can see is that Dumbledore is wandless,  looking
terrible, too weak to stand upright, too weak to do anything, apparently,
but plead...for what? I can't say. 

But I do know that in every ethical system I'm familiar with (okay, 
not a lot) a person has the right to ask that no heroic measures 
be taken to prolong his life, and such a  request should be respected.

We're more used to think of "heroic  measures" as artificial life 
support or experimental drugs.  But in JKR's world things tend to 
be more literal than that. 

>From what you've said, you don't like that Harry or DDM!Snape 
would have to let Dumbledore go. How could they live with it?
But in real life, rescuers *are* in that  position all the time. 
If policemen or firemen or doctors fell apart every time they 
couldn't save someone, they couldn't do their jobs 
at all. 

Dumbledore is a great, wise and kindly wizard, but he
does not believe that he has the power to defeat Voldemort.
He believes that Harry has that power. The horcruxes are
guarded by terrible curses which Dumbledore does not have
the power to overcome. He believes that Snape has that power. 
So, if one of the three must die, whom would Dumbledore
choose to sacrifice?

Speaking more generally about the Vow, I think it may be like
the prophecy in more ways than one. Not only is the specific
wording important, I think it may be more important for what
Voldemort *thinks* it will do than for what it actually does.

Snape is bound to watch over Draco as he attempts to fulfill
the Dark Lord's wishes. If he hadn't taken the vow, would
DDM!Snape still want do this? Yes.

Snape is bound, to the best of his ability, to protect Draco
from harm. If he hadn't taken the vow, would DDM!Snape
still want do this? Yes.

Snape is bound, should it prove necessary, if it seems Draco
will fail, to carry out the task the Dark Lord has ordered Draco
to perform. 

It does not seem that DDM!Snape would *explain*
as Neri puts it, why Snape would take an oath that binds
him to betray Dumbledore.

But  let's state that provision another way. 
Snape is bound, should it prove necessary, if it seems Draco will
fail, to die rather than betray Dumbledore. DDM!Snape would 
also choose to do this, would he not? 

Now Snape isn't dead, despite the fact that Draco seemed to fail, 
so it seems that Snape didn't do what the vow asked. 
This is what  Voldemort would believe, certainly. But this is where 
the wording comes in. 

There are *two* tests:
Should it prove necessary
If it seems Draco will fail

It's a  nice little problem in Boolean algebra, a logic
puzzle like the potions obstacle in SS/PS.

We don't  know the conditions under which the first variable 'necessary'
is true. We also don't know the relationship between the
two tests. Is it logical AND or OR? Do both conditions
have to be true, or is it enough if one of them is?

Since we don't know that, we don't know whether Snape isn't 
dead because he kept the vow, or because the conditions 
under which he would have to keep the vow or die weren't fulfilled. 

But why would DDM!Snape take the oath at all?

Let's suppose that Narcissa was right and Voldemort told
Snape something about the plan. As we saw, Draco would 
not be able to carry out his tasks without
drawing Snape's attention, and in the absence of instructions from
Voldemort, Snape, would assume that unworthy Draco was 
trying to do something on his own, just as he said he did with Quirrell.

So Voldemort has to tell Snape what he needs to know: Draco
is carrying out a task for me at Hogwarts and you are not to interfere.
To which Snape, of whatever flavor, would naturally ask, Why him
and not me? To which Voldemort apparently said, I expect you'll
have to do it eventually, but I need you  in your useful role as
spy. And Snape would say, But, master, Draco has a way of drawing
attention to himself. Dumbledore will notice if I'm not doing my
job. And Voldemort would say that if Draco blunders *that*  obviously,
Snape need not concern himself with the consequences.

Snape (and Dumbledore, if Snape is DDM!Snape) would thus know
that there is a plan, and that any obvious interference with it will
cost Draco his life. But they won't know what the plan is.

They might think, for example, that the plan might be for
Draco to steal something that could be used as a horcrux.
There is canon for that, in that the students are searched on their
way *to* Hogsmeade. So Snape would not necessarily think
that Draco has been asked to kill anyone when he offers to help 
Draco.

In the brouhaha over why Snape would take the vow, it's not
noticed, I think, that it is Snape who first offers to help Draco. 
Once he's done that, how can he refuse to take the vow without
exposing himself as insincere? ESE!Snape or OFH!Snape would
be okay with that, because either of them would be perfectly 
happy for Draco to fail in his task. If either of them had the 
hots for Narcissa,  they might want her to think they'd help
save Draco, but they'd want a token of her affections *before*
agreeing to take the vow. 

Only DDM!Snape *explains* why Snape would take the vow and
ask nothing in return.

Pippin