Snape is Innocent!

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 133034

And I can prove it...
Dumbledore didn't die of an AK.
Here's the description of his body:

>>Dumbledore's eyes were closed; but for the strange
angle of his arms and legs, he might have been sleeping.
Harry reached out,straightened the half-moon spectacles
upon the crooked nose, and wiped a trickle of blood 
from the mouth with his own sleeve.<<

AK kills instantly, far more instantly than natural death.
There's no time to close your eyes and assume
a peaceful expression. And there's no bleeding.
The Riddle family and Cedric die with their eyes open. So
does Sirius. Their expressions showed either horror or 
surprise. 

If Dumbledore had been betrayed would he have looked 
peaceful as he died?

Avada Kedavra leaves a sign only when it fails. 
As Fake!Moody told us, if the whole class
pointed their wands at him and said the words, he doubted
he'd get so much as a nosebleed.

The spell failed folks, and that proves Snape didn't mean
it. He had to try, of course, because he was vowed to
carry out the deed Draco was tasked to perform, ie 
*try* to kill Dumbledore. There was quite a bit of 
emphasis on *trying* in Spinner's End. 

Only one prepared to kill a living Being with as much 
indifference as Fake!Moody used to dispatch the spiders 
could have gotten the AK to work, me thinks. 

Dumbledore believed that Snape would fail, because he trusted 
that Snape was indeed no longer a Death Eater. His plea was for
Snape to trust that this was so, and attempt to carry out the vow, 
so that Snape would not die and could live to save Draco,
and to carry out the hunt for the *real* spy.

I think Dumbledore had a plan to save himself, though I
am not sure it worked. A combination of phoenix tears,
bezoar and perhaps one last vial of the Elixir of Life might
have saved him, if he had time to take them on the way down.
Time will tell.  I've taken the liberty of forming an
acroynm: SAD DENIAL II. (Supposing Albus Dumbledore,
Dire Events Negated, Is Actually Living, Is Irresistible.)

Dumbledore couldn't give Harry the proof of Snape's
repentance, because it *was* proof. It would have
convinced Harry and, unfortunately, Voldemort as well.
Since Harry is not and never will be an Occlumens,
that would be bad news for Agent!Snape.
 
I am proud to report that ESE!Lupin theory is alive and
kicking. Lupin as liason to the werewolves is confirmed,
he considers them his equals, he provides some more
information on dementors, and he tells Tonks he's too
dangerous for her. I'm a happy woman today. But
poor Tonks! Yeah, I think it was her all the time. It's
the metamorphmagery that made her clumsy, IMO, and with
her powers in abeyance, without the protean body that
made learning balance difficult, she was fine. It may
be that now she knows what it's like to be stable, she'll
be less of a klutz in the future.

Pippin