Why did Snape take the UV in the first place?

[oiboyz]

No: HPFGUIDX 134536

> Tonks:
>  Also it appears that LV expected Snape to kill DD if Draco 
> didn't.

I think that's key.  Whether he takes the vow or not -- whether he 
even *knows* what he's vowing or he's just bluffing -- Snape knows 
that a dreadful day of reckoning is coming.  On that day, he'll 
either have to do something horrible in LV's service, or he'll be 
exposed as disloyal to LV and immediately lose most of his usefulness 
to the Order.

So, in the heat of the moment, facing an unexpected request from 
Narcissa and with no easy way out, Snape recklessly chooses to take 
the vow in order to be as trusted (by the bad guys) as possible until 
the inevitable crackup comes.

The obvious disadvantage of the vow is that Snape'll drop dead if he 
breaks it.  But my take on this is that Snape's not terribly 
attatched to his life anyway.  I can't imagine a more stressful 
existence than living as a double agent, hated by both sides, with a 
very slim chance of success and an even slimmer chance of finding 
happiness at the end.  And Snape probably figures he'll be toast one 
of these days anyway.

   But then he tells DD about the vow, and DD decides that a Snape 
who's completely trusted by LV is worth more to the Order than DD 
being alive himself.  So he tells Snape to kill him when the time 
comes and carry on with spying.

   To me, the fight between DD and Snape that Hagrid overhears is 
very poignant...

"Well—I jus' heard Snape sayin' Dumbledore took too much fer granted 
an' maybe he—Snape- didn' wan' ter do it anymore—"

"Do what?"

"I dunno, Harry, it sounded like Snape was feelin' a bit overworked, 
tha's all—anyway, Dumbledore told him flat out he'd agreed ter do it 
an' that was all there was to it. Pretty firm with him."


   Snape didn't want to do what?  Didn't want to spy, didn't want to 
kill DD, didn't want to *live* anymore.  The vow was his ticket out, 
but DD wouldn't let him use it.

   And may I just add one more thing?  When JKR killed off Sirius, I 
was very sorry but accepted it.  And when she killed off DD, I 
mourned but I understood it was necessary for her story.  But if she 
tops that by showing us in Book 7 that Snape really *is* Ever So 
Evil... that, I will not accept.  If JKR reveals that Snape wasn't 
acting on DD's orders when he killed him, I'm just going ignore her 
and spend the rest of my days reading alternate universe fanfics.

   :) oiboyz