This is not the Snape we wanted. Can we still love him?

[nrenka]

No: HPFGUIDX 134444

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "horridporrid03" 

> Betsy Hp:
> Sorry.  I can't accept your premise.

Then I have to say: why respond, for the whole point was to think 
through the premise as given. :)  ["So, if you don't agree, fine, but 
let's not argue that one just now."]  Consider it a hypothetic, to 
work upon the task of seeing all sides, and all possibilities.

Is it really so utterly unthinkable, that Dumbledore might have been 
mistaken--or at the least, fooled?  This possibility is brought up 
repeatedly in the text; this might be only a reference to young Tom 
Riddle, or it might be foreshadowing.  If one objects to the 
foreshadowing on the grounds that it's entirely too obvious, I'd like 
to point you to the romance of Ron and Hermione, also rejected by 
many a poster on *exactly the same grounds*.

No, at least as an exercise, it's well worth going through and 
utterly re-examining everything that we thought we knew.  For 
example, what about the possiblity that Snape did not, as we've 
tended to assume, defect from Voldemort's side at profound risk to 
himself, but was rather sent *by* Voldemort to Dumbledore's side to 
play the role of penitent?  If Snape was a spy on Voldemort he must 
have had the means to conceal it; logically, he then has the means to 
conceal it from Dumbledore as well.  

Keep in mind that one traitor in the Order escaped Dumbledore's 
notice, after all.  Unless there's something going on with Peter of 
another sort--but that would also violate your conditions about 
Dumbledore being good, so I don't think you want to go there. :)

Now, if you can point me to something that absolutely positively 
cannot possibly be read as Snape looking out for himself, I'd love to 
see it.

Theme has become a weak point to argue upon, because none of us know 
what Rowling is really aiming for.  Is she trying to make a point 
about looking beyond appearances, or is she making a demonstration of 
what pent-up bitterness and resentment can do to a man?  Or is it 
rather that one should not put absolute faith in a mentor, but rather 
seek for one's own answers and be true to the heart as well as the 
mind?

At least try the exercise before rejecting it out of hand.

-Nora always finds it instructive to go back and look at what 
assumptions lie around all of our statements