Trial of Severus Snape - WAS Re: Harry IS Snape.

[amiabledorsai]

No: HPFGUIDX 141434

> Pippin:
> Seems to me we need to get the variables nailed down here, because
> there is a vast opportunity to play fast and loose.
> To wit, Snape was an idiot to take the vow, except that some are 
> arguing that there must have been a way to outwit it, in which case, 
> he wouldn't have been an idiot to take it. 

A bit tangential to your arguement, but--much as I dislike Snape--if
he truly was working for Dumbledore, taking the Vow should be seen not
as a foolish act, but as a calculated risk.

I'm assuming that Snape did *not* know what task Voldemort set Draco,
and, for the moment, assuming that Snape wants Voldemort dead.

Look at it from Snape's point of view:  Voldemort is up to something
involving a mole--Draco--at Hogwarts itself.  He doesn't know what it
is, but judging by the normally cool and collected Narcissa's reaction
to it, it's big.  So he risks his life to find out.  He pretends to
already know what Narcissa is talking about in hopes that she will
spill her guts and to keep Bella from preventing her from doing so.

Narcissa brings up the Unbreakable Vow.  If he refuses to take it, the
discussion is over, he will not learn what Draco is up to--so, in for
a penny, in for a pound--he takes the Vow.  Certainly, he's risking
his life, but *that's what Snape does*.  His whole life as a spy is
one big risk.  The Vow is just one more.  

Amiable Dorsai