Snape can't be Evil

[zgirnius]

No: HPFGUIDX 134132

<eggplant wrote:
> 
> I thought that too at first but when it all makes sense when you 
think
> about it. Voldemort's plan was to trick Harry to go to the ministry,
> but when Snape showed up Harry was caught by Umbrage so Snape 
figured
> the plan had failed, it never occurred to him that Harry would 
manage
> to escape and make it all the way to the ministry. With the plan
> canceled anyway it couldn't hurt to tell the Order of the Phoenix 
what
> Harry said, in fact he had to if he wanted to remain a spy. Dozens 
of
> people heard Harry talk to Snape about padfoot and sooner or later 
The
> Order would hear about it and wonder why Snape didn't tell them
> immediately. 
> 
> Snape is evil

zgirnius:
Actually, by Dumbledore's account at the end of OotP, Snape claims he 
IMMEDIATELY contacted HQ, and discovered that Sirius was there. 
(Which he was, LV was messing with Harry's mind...) I wonder if this 
claim is provable. DD does not explicitly state there were other 
witnesses. But we know later when Snape recontacted 12 Grimmauld 
Place, that other Order members were present. It would certainly be 
risky for Snaep to claim this unless he really did check in on Sirius.

Snape then kept an eye on the situation. He knew Harry and Hermione 
wnet into the Forbidden Forest. When they did not return for quite 
some time, Snape *then* contacted 12 Grimmauld Place again, letting 
then know his suspicions that Harry had gone to the Ministry in 
search of Sirius.

One could make the argument that Snape waited so long that he 
*expected* his notification to the Order came too late, but this is 
not factually established by the ttext anywhere. JKR has in my 
opinion done a brilliant job with Snape. We really don't know. 
Really. Only JKR knows...

--zgirnius, who does hope Snape is at least not ESE...