Snape commits murder or Merely Unstoppers Death? (long)

[fanofminerva]

No: HPFGUIDX 134766

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, juli17 at a... wrote:
> Let's call this one SMUD--Snape Merely Unstoppers Death.
>  
> I've been thinking about Snape's first speech to his new Potions  
class
> in PS/SS. Snape told the students he could teach them to "stopper
> death." We've debated on what that means and how it might come
> to be used in the series, mostly in terms of perhaps keeping Harry
> alive at some point. But what if this stoppering of death has 
already 
> happened, and the recipient was Dumbledore?
>  
> <SNIP>
> Dumbledore's plan, begun before the start of the book, and
> revised as needed, has worked, and everything is in place for 
> Book Seven, where the plan will continue to unfold. If the plan 
> is sucessful, Harry will live, Voldemort will be destroyed, and
> Snape--dead or alive--will be vindicated and redeemed. (And
> I have no doubt the plan will ultimately succeed--the fun will
> be in discovering the specifics.)
>  
> As a final note, this theory also releases Snape from any blame
> in Dumbledore's death, since Snape doesn't actually kill 
Dumbledore.
> He simply releases him from the protection of the Stopper Death
> potion, and nature then takes its course. I know it's a fine  line-
-
> especially if Dumbledore could remain alive indefinitely. But  
would
> Dumbledore even want to stay alive under such artificial means, 
> especially when Death is just the next great adventure to  him?
> I think he would have allowed Death to take him earlier, if it  
weren't
> for his need to secure Harry's future.  
>  
> And that's it. I may be way offbase (no doubt I am), but it could  
work!
>  
> Julie 
> (Dumbledorephile and Snapophile)
>  
>  
>  
>  
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


I think you certainly may be onto something here.  It seems there 
are still two basic camps regarding Snape.  The first camp sees 
Snape as evil, a true death eater, and his AK and hatred for DD were 
genuine.  The second camp sees Snape as continuing his role as 
double agent for DD, that he is essentially good, and that he and DD 
had his death planned somehow, and your hypothesis is just as good 
as any thus far.  Plus, it ties in a small piece of information from 
PS/SS, which JKR is so fond of doing.

It was obvious to me that the death scene on the astronomy tower was 
contrived by DD.  If DD did not know that Snape would be looking out 
for Draco, why would he have frozen Harry under that cloak to watch 
the whole scene unfold?  Why would he not have let Harry continue 
with his mission to get Snape?  I think DD knew that Snape would be 
appearing in that tower.  

Enters the two opinions of Snape. Given that we readers do not know 
the true allegiance of Snape and whether or not DD was fooled, the 
motivations of the characters at this point are left to 
speculation.  DD could have frozen Harry so that Harry could see 
that, despite what he had been telling him for six years, Snape 
really cannot be trusted and he really is a DE.  On the other hand, 
DD could have frozen Harry to see this part of his plan so Snape 
would be solidly in the De camp and not suspicioned by them or LV to 
be a spy for DD.  If this is the case, Snape truly is going on alone 
from this point.  Again, if this is the case, then my hat is off to 
Severus Snape and his incredibly demonstration of strength of 
character.  

However, JKR has fooled me before...

Julie - who eagerly awaits the second book but not getting two years 
older!