Draco, the UV, and the First Time - The Overblown Vow

[Nicolau C. Saldanha]

No: HPFGUIDX 141748

> bboyminn:
> Overal, I see the whole Unbreakable Vow process riddled with
> loopholes, and these specific Vows are certainly vague and 
> uncertain. I think fandom has made far too much of these Vows. 
> <snip>  I see this whole Unbreakable Vow thing as way overblown.
> 
> zgirnius:
> I agree about the loopholes. I felt the 'seem to fail' was going to 
> be the operative loophole. DD has a private talk with Draco and 
> gets him into 'witness protection', so Draco never tries again, so 
> he never seems to fail. It even seemed to be working, until the 
> Death Eaters showed up.
> 
> You could be right about the UV being overblown. But I think we are 
> *supposed* to believe the Vow is important. The visually impressive 
> and portentous Vow-making process (the kneeling, the hand-clasping, 
> the fiery bands, Bella's astounded reaction) suggest to the reader 
> that this is the Plot Device of Doom. Also, the Vow has pride of 
> place in the book. It forms the climax of one of the very rare 
> Harry-free chapters <snip>.  Now, this could be JKR's way of 
> leading us by the nose...or it could be her saying to us, 'Wake up 
> and take notice, folks!'


First of all I apologize for replying after a couple of days, I was
unable to do so earlier. Let me quote the relevant third vow again:

Begin quote, HBP pg 41 (British ed.)

'And, should it prove necessary ... If it seems Draco will fail ...'
whispered Narcissa (Snape's hand twitched within hers, but he did not
draw away), 'will you carry out the deed that the Dark Lord has
ordered Draco to perform?'

End quote

Not only Snape took the vow, but he told so to DD. I am aware that it
is consistent with canon that he distorted the story, for instance he
may have mentioned two vows but not the third --- I am aware of this
but as you will see this is not my guess. Several months and chapters
later, Harry overhears Snape and Draco; he tells what he heard to DD: 

Begin quote, HBP pg 335-336

Dumbledore listened to Harry's story with an impassive face. When
Harry had finished he did not speak for a few moments, then said,
'Thank you for telling me this, Harry, but I suggest that you put it
out of your mind. I do not think that it is of great importance.'

'Not of great importance?' repeated Harry incredulously. 'Professor,
did you understand -- ?'

'Yes, Harry, blessed as I am with extraordinary brainpower, I
understood everything you told me,' said Dumbledore, a little sharply.
'I think you might even consider the possibility that I understood
more than you did. ...'

End quote

Now, DD should not be using this language unless he is quite sure
there *is* something he understands and Harry does not. We know from
the tower scene that DD already knows Draco is trying to kill DD
but my guess is that there is *more*. It also requires explanation how
DD could possibly consider the UV thing 'not of great importance'.

My theory is the following. The third vow starts with 'if necessary'.
Necessary for what? For whatever concerns the speaker (Narcissa), I
would say. Now, I think we all agree Narcissa did not go looking for
Snape because she is concerned abaout how long DD survives: what she
*is* concerned about is the safety of Draco. So I read that condition
as 'if necessary for the safety of Draco...'. Now Snape knows DD well
enough to figure out it will *never* be necessary for the safety of
Draco for Snape to 'do the deed' at all: DD is as concerned about the
safety of his student Draco as Narcissa is, and is far more powerful
than her. In other words, Snape's hand twitches because his mind his
working fast, but he figures out in time that the vow is basically
void. Narcissa and Belatrix, of course, have a very different view of
DD and think that if Draco does something stupid then his life will be
in danger. So we see Snape successfully fooling Belatrix into thinking
him loyal to the Dark Lord. Snape, of course, explains all this to DD
and it is therefore quite true that DD understands the situation far
better than Harry does.

Nicolau