Will Snape betray Dumbledore? Re: my greatest fear....

[nrenka]

No: HPFGUIDX 121211


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "severelysigune" 
<severelysigune at y...> wrote:

<massive snippage of canon: click upthread, kids>

> Sigune:
>
> I read this - and I haven't changed my mind - as evidence of 
> Snape's strong loyalty to Dumbledore; or, more specifically, as 
> Snape's own twisted version of loyalty.

I can buy that.  It's the 'twisted' part that worries me.  Snape is 
the type to forget, at times, that means MATTER.  If we're taking 
Pippin's formulation of DD as the follower of the Golden Rule, twerk 
that into Kant's categorical imperative (by a phenomenal/noumenal 
slight of hand, natch), then we get an ethical code that says "Treat 
each person as an end in and of himself", aka "Means ARE ends".

In other words, it matters how you carry out your loyalty, no matter 
what your goal.

> It is plain (to me) that he greatly *envies* Dumbledore's ever 
> lingering affection for Lupin and EVEN the mass-murderer Black. He 
> has been trying very hard to get Dumbledore round to his own point 
> of view that has the first pinned down as a man who can't handle 
> his highly dangerous and infectious disease responsibly and, on 
> top of that, misplaces his loyalties and priorities; and the 
> second as a treacherous and murderous 'mauvais sujet'. Remember 
> him saying, (I paraphrase ... ) "Surely you haven't forgotten, 
> Headmaster, that he once tried to kill *me*?" - as in, "I'm 
> special to you, aren't I? Then why don't you prove it to me?" 
> He's determined to get his rivals out of the way, and he doesn't 
> care if their disappearance hurts Dumbledore's feelings - the old 
> chap will one day come to the realisation that Snape was right, 
> and that his loyalty is far more valuable and far more real than 
> either Black's or Lupin's, and they'll both be content. 

Ah, but remember the response: "My memory is as good as it ever was, 
Severus".  Put the two together, and I don't quite know what it 
means: dismissal? acceptance? rebuke?
 
See, I can buy that interpretation.  On some levels, with some holes 
plugged in, it makes a lot of sense.  It's just so close to being so 
deeply, well, evil.  It is certainly contrary Dumbledore's morality, 
who I maintain is still the guiding force with connections to 
something.   It is deeply ironic given the revelation in GoF of 
Snape's own 'second chance' status, to the point of hypocrisy--
second chance for me, but not for anyone else, no.  Unless the whole 
thing was planned (and I admit to thinking that the DISHWASHER is 
going to be definitively washed into the Bay next Hurricane), 
Dumbledore is fairly content to let Snape hang out to dry at the 
end, possibly as a learning circumstance for him. :)

It matters not only that one is loyal to Dumbledore, but HOW one 
is.  That was the point of the original post up a few threads ago 
that I made (umm...'Loyalty and goodness', 121137).  It's not what 
Dumbledore is so much in and of himself, it is that he chooses to 
follow certain principles.  To follow the person and not follow the 
ideas as well is a recipe for potential Very Bad Things.  Hence why 
I worry that Snape might do something with very bad effects, while 
doing it out of a misconceived sense of loyalty.

Hey, I just tossed out the idea as a contra to the persistent gloom 
of "Harry is going to muck it up!"  But I take partial credit for 
having corrupted Potioncat.  I think...

-Nora looks for an innocent victim to warm her cold hands up on