[HPforGrownups] Re: Snape can't be Evil

[rklarreich at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 134044

One other point that just occurred to me, that seems to support the fact that Snape is still on the good side:  in Chapter 2, Snape says of Draco's task that "He [Voldemort] intends me to do it in the end, I think."  If that is the case, then two things follow:

- The Unbreakable Vow isn't a complication for Snape, because it only binds him to do something he would have had to do anyway.  If Malfoy tries and fails, Voldemort will next command Snape to do it, and he will have to do so or break cover.

- If Snape already expects that he will have to do it in the end, then as of the scene in Spinner's End, he will already have had a chance to discuss the whole thing with Dumbledore and establish a plan.

I was quite convinced, while reading this chapter, that Snape was completely in control from start to finish.  He's that kind of person.  He already had a plan and was manipulating the scene to tie into that plan.

On another issue, whatever the real reason is for Dumbledore's trust in Snape, I'm confident that it does not involve an Unbreakable Vow between the two of them.  I don't think Dumbledore operates that way.  UVs stifle choice.

Roberta