Dumbledore's pleading

[zgirnius]

No: HPFGUIDX 141513


> Jen: 
> One last thought on legilimency, another reason this might be 
> difficult for the plot is how it would come back to Harry. It's 
hard 
> to imagine Snape telling Harry "then he used legilimency to tell me 
> what I should do in that moment" or something similar.

zgirnius:
Gosh, this got long...I enjoy speculating about Book 7, I guess...

I entirely agree it is awkward as you have written it. I can't see 
Harry and Snape sitting down to a conversation in which SNape 
explains step by step about the Legilimency. Part of this is my own 
bias. Regardless of the extebnt to which Dumblediore agreed to his 
own killing and communicated his desires to Snape, I don't get the 
impression that Snape feels right about what he has done. So I'm not 
imagining scenarios in which Snape justifies his actions to Harry. 
But I am convinced (If JKR wants to go there, again) that the 
Legilimancy explanation can be presented to the readers in Book 7. 
Then again, it may not need to be...see thought 4 below.

My first thought is, where are Snape and Draco now? If Snape has a 
plan for hiding Draco I could see a non-Harry POV chapter a la 
Spinner's End. Snape might explain something like this to Draco, if 
there were no chance Draco would meet V again. Not justifying his own 
actions to Draco, but rather making sure Draco understands the 
enormity of DD's sacrifice for him. An assertion along the lines 
of 'Dumbledore was willing to die to get *you* off the tower alive 
and not a murderer. I read it in his mind, at the end.' This way we 
the readers would know what happened, anyway.

My second thought, Snape does something very risky to help Harry in 
some way at some point. As Snape lies dying on the ground, Harry 
demands to know "Why, Snape, why? You killed Dumbledore!"  "The 
potion from the cave had weakened him, Potter. He chose death to 
protect you, just as Lily..." (Snape dies). Hermione is there to 
explain what this all means for Harry (and those of us who have not 
caught all the implications). "Snape must have used Legilimency on 
Dumbledore! How else could he know about the Cave? Dumbledore *chose* 
to die! Oh, Harry..." (bursts into tears. Ron puts arm around her 
shoulders.)

My third thought, do portraits remember the events of their own 
lives? That would be very simple...and probably best left to 
a "wrapping-up" chapter towards the end of Book 7.

My fourth thought, well, see thought 2. I expect that Snape is a 
goner. A particularly EEEVIIILLL thing for JKR to do to us would be 
to give us Redeemed!Snape in Book 7, who is conveniently dead so 
noone can ask him any more questions. Then we (the fans) could spend 
eternity debating what Snape really was. Was he DDM!Snape? OFH!Snape, 
who saw the error of his ways at last? Conflicted!Snape, who maybe 
intended to serve the Good, but due to his damaged psyche 
occasionally failed to live up to this commitment? (With the follow 
up question-was the tower scene an example of a failure, or a 
success?) ESE!Snape, who made one big mistake? (This one would 
require the "redemptive act" to retain some ambiguity...I believe JKR 
could pull this off. After all, she managed to make the "murder" of 
DD ambiguous in the eyes of many, as evidenced by this discussion). 
Although I would find this very frustrating, I actually see this as 
perhaps the best way, in some sense, to treat Snape in Book 7. He's 
been such a wonderfully ambiguous figure all along-and this way would 
remain so forever. In this case of course we would not *know* 
legilimency was used. But it would be one argument DDM!Snape 
theorists could present in defense of their theory.

My fifth thought, well, Jen, this one was *your* idea. *Voldemort* 
figures it out. Harry (and thus the readers) could learn of this in 
the usual way (the "connection"). V is a skilled Legilimens, after 
all. How long can Snape stay ahead of him, especially if he is now a 
regular at Voldie HQ? And especially if, for him, the killing of 
Dumbledore was an emotionally shattering event? (Occlumency relies on 
being able to hide the emotions that contradict the lie...) This 
would also be a way to have a Redeemed!Snape work with the 
Slytherin/Gryffindor dichotomy. (If the Sorting Hat never makes a 
mistake, how could Redeemed!Snape *not* be a Gryffindor? Why, if his 
final act of defiance against Voldemort occurred when his back was 
against the wall anyway! Think RAB=Regulus Black, as another 
potential example.)