[HPforGrownups] Re: What exactly did Snape do in OOTP?
Kathryn Jones
kjones at telus.net
Sat May 21 21:22:42 UTC 2005
No: HPFGUIDX 129284
> bboyminn:
>
> Well, there is much and I mean MUCH speculation on this, but the
> only thing I've been able to come up with is that Snape is a
> double agent. Each side thinks Snape is spying for them.
KJ:
While this theory is the most popular, I don't feel comfortable
with it. The biggest danger for a double agent is the number of people who know about it. The fact that he was a spy was brought out in public, presumably at his own trial, and again at the trial of the other DE. There would have been people there who were Voldemort supporters who would have passed this info on to the surviving and free DE, Lucius Malfoy being one. Then there is the fact that Snape has remained with Dumbledore for the past years while Voldemort was Vapormort.
This could have been the reason that Voldemort hiding in Quirrel
did not identify himself to Snape at Hogwarts. Snape was obviously
fighting against Quirrel, and was defending the Stone for Dumbledore. I don't believe this could possibly be explained later by saying that he was trying to save the Stone for Voldemort's return, when most people thought he was destroyed. Snape was too obviously loyal to Dumbledore.
Dumbledore has some good reason to trust Snape and does so
whole-heartedly. Whatever this reason is, it is likely that Voldemort is aware of it. A reason strong enough or life-changing enough to cause an abrupt change of loyalty is apt to be known, if not understood, by a lot of people.
Karkaroff did not seem to mind that Snape knew that he wanted to
escape from Voldemort. He did not seem to fear that Snape would punish him for his betrayal of the other DE. He let Snape know that he was running. If he thought for a minute that Snape was loyal, he might well have expected that Snape would kill him. It would have been one of the few ways that Snape could have used to demonstrate to Voldemort that he was loyal, if somewhat confused. Snape may have offered to make his excuses to Dumbledore, rather than Voldemort.
It is more likely that Malfoy is pretending to trust Snape in order
to acquire information from him about Dumbledore than it is to believe that Malfoy is convinced that Snape is a loyal fellow DE. Malfoy, being in the Ministry, would have access to all trial material and I would think it fairly obvious how truthful the information was that Snape provided when he actually was spying. Snape would have a Hell of a time trying to convince anybody
that he was a double agent if too much accurate information was
credited to him. Voldemort is not portrayed as an idiot.
Snape may or may not have been in the first Order. One doesn't
expect spies to figure in group photographs. I think it is interesting, though, that Molly insists on his being addressed with respect. In OOTP, his arrival at Grimmauld Place was described as being an exciting event. Everyone crowded around him, asking questions. There were excited whispers. Obviously, none of the Order fears or distrusts Snape. We are given to believe that Moody does, but it is not clear whether that is because Crouch hated Snape as a spy, or because he was acting in a way that he knew Moody would really act. We haven't seen a true Moody reaction to Snape. It may be that the reason Snape backed off from the confrontation with Moody in GoF is because he felt that there was something wrong
in Moody's treatment of him.
I can't think of any reason that would explain his showing his Dark
Mark to the Minister if he was still acting as a spy. The Minister
obviously can't be trusted. He did not show it as a demonstration that he had it. He showed it to demonstrate that it was live. Obviously he had reason to believe that the Minister already knew that he had the mark. Could it be that Snape took the mark specifically to become a spy? Could it be that everyone in the
Ministry knows of Snape's history as a spy, just as they all know
that Malfoy claimed to have been placed under Imperius?
I don't recall reading anywhere in the books that Snape has left
Hogwarts other than to go to Grimmauld Place. This would allow a safe apparation from one secure area to another safe area. It could well be that Snape is well aware of his uncertain life expectancy as "the one who has left me forever."
We know that Dumbledore set Snape a task, but we don't know what
that is. We know that Snape told Harry that his job was to know what Voldemort was saying to his Deatheaters, but he did it with a "look of satisfaction" and his eyes "glinting." I believe that this is an indication that there is something being hidden with regard to this statement. There seem to be many ways of spying or gaining access to places in the WW than in the Muggle world.
These are a few of the things that bother me, logically speaking,
about the spy-double- spy theory. Feel free to refute or explain these oddities, but please don't expect me to believe that Snape just explained everything away and Voldemort just believed him. He seemed to know quite well what the other DE were doing in his absence.
Sorry for the long post.
KJ
More information about the HPforGrownups
archive