Draco, the UV, and the First Time (was: re: Trial of Severus Snape - UV)

[Nicolau C. Saldanha]

No: HPFGUIDX 141593

> > Pippin:
> > Could he have been asking Snape to forgive him for putting him in 
> > an impossible position by refusing to let Snape withdraw? Snape had
> > only vowed to protect Draco to the best of his ability; if Dumbledore 
> > had sacked Snape and banished him from the school, he wouldn't 
> > have had to carry out the third part of the vow either.
 
> Ceridwen:
> Snape withdrawing would have broken his vow, but Dumbledore sacking him 
> would have been beyond Snape's influence.  Yes!
> 
> But I don't see that it would have negated the third and worst part of 
> the vow.  If Draco doesn't succeed (he didn't, he couldn't in the end 
> kill Dumbledore) then Snape would have to do it.  And if he was sacked, 
> he could still have come in that night to finish off the deed through 
> the Vanishing Cabinet with the other DEs.

This may require careful analysis of the wording of the third vow and,
sorry, I don't have the book with me, but if Draco decides of his own
free will to give up (as he is about to do when the DEs come in), what
does that entail for Snape? Does the vow become null and void? Does
Snape have to try to kill DD 'to the best of his abilities'? Or does
the vow mean that he must kill DD or die, and even if he really tries
but fails he still dies?

On a related note... recall that Snape was *sleeping in his room*
while DD and Harry were in the cave and the DE were invading Hogwarts.
This is highly uncharacteristic of Snape: he is always around when
something is going on, always there to punish or save Harry, according
to the situation. Is it possible that DD had ordered him to go to bed
and remain there? If Flitwick had not gone to Snape´s office and Draco
had made up his mind a little faster, is it possible that DD, Draco
and Snape could all have been saved? 

Nicolau