Trial of Severus Snape - UV

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 141480

 


Magpie wrote:  "But Narcissa is going to *tell* Snape what the  plan is until 
he *stops* her by saying he already knows.  He doesn't need  to take a UV to 
get Narcissa to talk.  She shows up at his house with the  intention of 
telling him exactly what's going on and asking for help. He could  just as easily 
let her tell him the plan and then said she shouldn't have told  him, but as it 
happened he already knew everything she told him anyway."   <snip>  

Elyse added: "I've been reading the chapter  again, and I noticed the second 
time around, that it is *Snape* who offers to  *help* Draco." 
<Snip....heavily> 

CH3ed: My interpretation of the  episode is that Bellatrix was the 
complicating factor in the scene, and Snape  may not have known the detail of the plan 
at all. Narcissa was willing to tell  him everything, but Bella wasn't and 
Snape thought that if he didn't ease  Bella's suspicion she would tell it to LV. 
He was just throwing Bella off her  suspicion of him and his volunteering to 
help was a maneuver to find out the  plan (he had the idea that LV was trying to 
send someone to kill DD, but he  didn't know who and how).... in a very 
slippery and spinney way. 


Julie now:
In Spinner's End, Narcissa appears about to spill it all, though the
Dark Lord has forbidden her to speak of it. Snape cuts her off  thusly:
"If he has forbidden it, you ought not to speak," said Snape *at  once.*
The part where Snape says he already knows comes a bit later. But
you could be right, CH3ed. Though Narcissa is stunned that Snape 
stopped her from speaking of it, Bella is "satisfied" for the first  time
by something Snape says.  
 
Still, it's odd to me that Snape stopped Narcissa "at once." As  if
he didn't want her to say it out loud. If he didn't know what it was  all
about, it seems Bella being furious at her sister--or at him--would  be
a small price to find out what Voldemort is up to. 
 
It makes me wonder if Snape really DID know the plan, if when he 
said "I am one of the few the Dark Lord has told" he was telling the
truth. After all, if he is making this up, and Bella tells Voldemort  that
Snape claimed to know the plan, what is Voldemort going to think 
of Snape, lying about how much he knows? It won't do much for  
Snape's trustworthiness in Voldemort's eyes. 
 
*If* Voldemort did tell Snape of the plan, and Snape then told 
Dumbledore, then Snape would be well aware of what kind of 
task Draco is expected to complete, before he took the vow. He,
and Dumbledore, may have expected it, or at least expected 
Narcissa to come to Snape for help. Whether they forsaw the
Vow, especially the third provision, is arguable (I suspect they
didn't expect the third provision, given Snape's hand twitch.)
 
This makes culpability more difficult to assign, I think. Snape
went in expecting to cement his relationship with Narcissa, via
protection of her son. And Dumbledore was aware of Snape's intent,
perhaps hoping the final result would be bringing the Malfoys  over
to the Good side. But it went awry when Narcissa tacked on that
third provision. 
 
Snape could have pulled out of it once that third provision was
spoken, but he didn't. Perhaps Dumbledore told him to do whatever
he must to protect Draco, or Snape took it on himself to follow 
through, to avoid jeopardizing his precarious position among the
DEs, figuring at the time he'd find a way to get of it later. Either
way, if Snape and Dumbledore knew about Draco's task from the
beginning, it's a different story. 
 
Julie
 
 










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