"revulsion and hatred etched in the harsh lines of his face"

[aandj64]

No: HPFGUIDX 135455

 I just registered my vote in the Snape poll as:

* I used to be on the fence about Snape,
   but now I am certain he is on the side of Good 

and oddly enough it was the _revulsion_ in DD's death scene
that sealed my certainty.  If Snape had finally broken cover, I
would expect his face to show gloating or contempt for DD's
pathetic belief in him.  Even blankness would be in keeping with
his whole 'control your emotions' kick, but revulsion - No.  That to
me was emphatically revulsion at what he was being asked to do.
It combined with DD's pleading, to make me absolutely certain that
DD asked Snape to kill him - and Snape had the strength to do so.

I definitely see a parallel with Harry following DD's orders in the
cave (as others have suggested).

I also see Snape's overreaction to Harry calling him a coward
as reflecting Snape's own knowledge of how HARD that action
was for him. 

I think Zgirnis' analysis of the whole UV scene was great, BTW!
I do wonder what Snape was thinking in that brief second before
he took the final vow.  I wonder if the vow wasn't badly expressed?
There is no time limit for fulfilling the vow, so it would be hard to
say when Snape had broken it.  Possibly he thought he could
weasel out of it in some way.  I do think he didn't know exactly
what Draco's task was at that time.  The amount of time he spent
hassling Draco seems to indicate that he needed more info!

Jocelyn G