Contra Severum

[zgirnius]

No: HPFGUIDX 134476

hekatesheadband <sophiapriskilla at y...> wrote:
<A long, detailed, and interesting post cogently stating the case 
against Severus Snape, mostly snipped>

> The most telling elemement of this for me is that by making off with
> Draco, Snape is almost certainly depriving him of his best chance of
> safety and salvation. Security at Hogwarts is imperfect, but it's 
> safer than anywhere else, and I can't imagine that McGonagall would 
> refuse Draco sanctuary from the Death Eaters. Voldemort won't be 
> happy with Draco, won't be nice to him, and whatever else Snape may 
> be, he's not so stupid as to think he alone can provide better 
> protection than all the Hogwarts staff. Karfaroff, an older and 
more 
> experienced wizard than Snape, was wondered at for surviving a 
year, 
> rather than the expected few days. In other words: Snape doesn't 
> mean Draco well. It seems as close as can be to certain that 
> Dumbledore wanted to save Draco from becoming a Death Eater; it 
> doesn't necessarily seem that this is Snape's intent.

zgirnius:
Snape's motivations vis-a-vis Draco and Narcissa have been giving me 
a headache. My confusion arises out of the events in Chapter 2, 
specifically the Unbreakable Vow Snape makes to Cissy. Let's assume 
Snape is a loyal DE. We can even assume if you will that LV has told 
him the plan, and does intend Snape to carry it out eventually. Why 
does Snape do it? Part 3 (the only part he himself seems to find 
problematic, the "twitch") would not be a problem in this case, since 
he will have to do it anyway. But promising 1 and 2 seems unnecessary 
and risky. If Draco does something foolish or dangerous in the 
process, this could require Snape to put himself in danger to fix it, 
or to risk his cover before he is ready with his own attempt on DD.

There is one reason I could come up with which works regardless of 
Snape's ultimate loyalties to DD or LV. That would be a personal 
motivation, acting out of pity/compassion/affection for Cissy. While 
this scene is the nicest I can ever recall Snape being to anyone, it 
seems a stretch. But your post has me thinking this is inconsistent 
with his later behavior to Draco as explained above. Though I suppose 
Snape might worry Draco would end in Azkaban..but even then, he'd be 
alive...

Any suggestions?