CHAPDISC: HBP 2, Spinner's End

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 142057

<snip Potioncat's excellent summary, which I've already responded to
in another post>  
> 1. Bellatrix kills a fox, thinking it could be an Auror. Does she
suspect Snape's home is being watched, or is she always looking over
her shoulder for an Auror? Do you think all DEs would be this trigger
happy, or is it just Bella?

First, Bellatrix is a diehard DE for whom the Cruciatus Curse is a
form of entertainment, so it's no surprise that she would cast an AK
(even at a fox) as easily as Harry would cast a Stunning Spell. It's
clear that she's a deranged fanatic from the first moment we see her
(in the Pensieve in GoF). Possibly, casting the Unforgiveable Curses
affects the brain as well as the soul (as with the Crouches, father
and son). Add to that some twelve years in Azkaban, being constantly
on the alert for Aurors as the only DE who escaped from both Azkaban
and the MoM, and being on the outs with LV (even though he did save
her from the Aurors at the MoM), and you have one fruitcake of a
woman, the female DE equivalent of Alastor Moody, the notoriously
paranoid ex-Auror. 

I don't think she suspects that Snape's home is being watched (he
hasn't yet committed any known crimes except being a DE, a charge that
was dropped), but she herself can't be seen in public any more than
Peter Pettigrew can now that his cover has been blown. She's a wanted
fugitive already sentenced to life in Azkaban. Contrast Lucius Malfoy
before his arrest--haughty and contemptuous of everyone, jingling the
gold in his pockets--cautiously hiding or selling poisons and other
Dark artifacts because he knows that his house will be searched, but
certainly not AKing anyone and anything he encounters in case that
person or animal is an Auror. (As someone mentioned, Bella's encounter
with "the Animagus Black"--what a way to speak of her own cousin!--may
have made her a bit wary of animals in case they're unregistered
Animagi.) What surprises me is not that she's jumpy (she has good
reason to be) but that she cared enough to follow "Cissy" and attempt
to keep her away from Snape. (Too bad for all concerned that she
didn't succeed.)

><snip question 2>
> 
> 3. Bella knows Narcissa is going to visit Snape, but she is caught
by surprise (equaling that of many from this list) at the location.
She calls it a Muggle dunghill and doubts that any of "our kind" has
ever set foot there. In fact, Snape, Pettigrew and Narcissa all seem
familiar with the area. Yet it was Bella who was supposed to be part
of young Severus's gang. What do you think is going on here? How long
do you think Snape has been using this location?

Carol:
As others have pointed out, young Snape certainly wouldn't have
invited his pureblood Slytherin friends (and I think that Narcissa was
one of them, unmentioned by Sirius Black because she didn't become a
Death Eater) to visit Spinner's End if it was indeed his childhood
home. (I'm not at all convinced that it was because I don't think the
man in the childhood memory was Snape's father--Harry would surely
have recognized him as a Muggle by his clothing. I think it was
Grandpa Prince.) Possibly Snape inherited the house on his father's
death or bought the place as an adult. My guess is that this is where
he has spent his summers since first being hired at Hogwarts, that
previous guests have included Lucius Malfoy and possibly Narcissa (but
not often enough that she recalls the exact location), and possibly
Dumbledore. Beyond that, I'm as mystified as anyone else.
> 
> 4. Snape's tiny sitting room is lined with leather bound books and
contains a threadbare sofa, an old armchair and a rickety table. It
had the "feeling of a dark, padded cell." A padded cell is used for 
someone who needs protection from himself. What does this room, or the
house and neighborhood, tell us about Snape? Do you think this is his
usual home away from Hogwarts?

Carol:
I hadn't noticed the "dark, padded cell" image till you brought it up.
Certainly it sounds confining, almost as if he's a prisoner in his own
home (possibly foreshadowing the loss of freedom he'll experience in
Book 7?). The one thing that strikes me is that he's owned it long
enough to convert it from a Muggle house with electricity (which it
must have had if his Muggle father owned it in the early 60s) to a
wizarding house lit by a candle-filled lamp hanging from the ceiling
and containing at least two hidden passageways that probably would not
have been there when it was inhabited by Muggles. (I think Snape
installed them himself.) The leather-bound books that line the walls
are certainly Snape's own, furthering the image of him as a loner and
an intellectual who cares more for ideas (including Dark Arts in the
abstract) than for material goods or socializing. And yet he has
elf-made wine available for guests, and Wormtail has been
eavesdropping on somebody in this very house, so he isn't always alone
with the rat. And Wormtail clearly lives there even when Snape is at
Hogwarts: He has his own room. Altogether, the house raises more
questions than it answers. At least it isn't full of Dark artifacts or
decorated with house-elf heads.
> 
> 5. Narcissa is described as having a note of hysteria in her voice
and the look of a drowned person. She then enters a room that has the
feeling of a padded cell.  What does that tell us about Narcissa? How
does that fit with her actions later in this chapter?

Carol:
I don't think that the padded cell image relates to Narcissa (the room
is *Snape's* refuge/prison), but certainly she seems pale and
waiflike, in need of rescuing (like a drowning person, but "drowned"
suggests that she seems already dead), when Snape sees her. Almost
certainly he's never seen her like this before, and, as a man, he
responds instinctively by wanting to help her. And though I believe
that her tears are real, released by the simultaneous hopes and fears
that his presence arouses in her, her desperation takes quite another
form with her sister. When Narcissa burns Bellatrix's hand with an
unnamed hex, we see that she quite literally will do anything to save
Draco--including, IMO, casting an AK herself if she could get into
Hogwarts to kill Dumbledore, or killing Snape if he fails to help her.
Fortunately for her, Snape doesn't see this fiery, determined side. He
sees instead a fearful, beautiful, seemingly helpless woman, the
mother of his favorite student and the wife of his friend--but also a
usually haughty pureblood kneeling at the feet of the Half-Blood
Prince, begging for his help and protection for her son. Every
instinct but one, self-protection, clamors to help her. If she had
looked as she looks in "Draco's Detour," she would not have succeeded
in gaining the help she sought. And I don't think she came to Snape
planning to trap him into a UV. that could not have happened if Bella
hadn't followed her. A UV requires the presence of a third person, and
neither Snape nor Narcissa would have trusted Wormtail with the job.

In my view, neither Narcissa nor Bellatrix is playing a role here
(unlike Snape, whom we see for the first time as he appears to the
Death Eaters). Bellatrix speaks her opinions and feelings (with the
exception of her doubts about LV) quite openly in this chapter. She's
still the loyal fanatic willing to sacrifice her nephew (and her
imaginary sons) to the Dark Lord's cause, suspicious of Snape but
unable to find holes in his carefully crafted ("spun") story. The only
surprise is that she actually seems to care for Narcissa (the
golden-haired baby of the family), whom she still calls by the
childhood nickname of "Cissy" (Narcissa/"Sissy"=little sister), as
Narcissa (and Voldie) call Bellatrix "Bella." (Was Andromeda "Andy"
till she married a Muggleborn and got burned off the genealogical
charts?) So Bellatrix when she's not in full DE mode is a bit saner
than I expected, a bit more affectionate toward her sister, but not
above criticizing Lucius and still completely ESE! despite one mildly
redeeming, or at least humanizing, quality. 

Narcissa, in contrast, is almost out of control, alternately weeping
and fiercely determined to to protect her only son. She defends her
husband and is devoted to her son, putting them both ahead of her
sister and even daring to defy the Dark Lord by going to Snape for
Draco's sake. This is not the Narcissa we saw at the QWC sneering at
the Muggleborns and the blood traitors, or the Narcissa who delivered
Kreacher's information to Voldemort either directly or via Lucius. Nor
is this the Narcissa who evidently abused Dobby just as much as Lucius
did (Dobby describes the Malfoys in general, apparently including even
then-twelve-year-old Draco, as "bad Dark wizards"). And it's not the
Narcissa we see again in "Draco's Detour," sharing and encouraging her
son's prejudice against "Mudbloods." Apparently Snape's UV has by that
time restored her to her normal self and she's no longer concerned for
Draco's safety. Severus will prevent Draco from failure or punishment
and bear the brunt of the consequences when the deed is done. But
we've seen this side of Narcissa before, sending sweets to Draco and
persuading Lucius not to send him to Durmstrang. Her obsessive love
seems more like indulgence, more like Petunia's infatuation for Dudley
(or Mrs. Crouch's for Barty Jr.) than Molly's scolding devotion to her
children. Draco is evidently Narcissa's whole life, and she reacts
with Smotherlove. And while we can feel compassion for her in this
chapter, it's clear (to me) that Draco is who he is and what he is in
part because of her. (Maternal devotion to an only son didn't save
Barty Jr. from becoming a DE either.)

On a side note, I think that Narcissa's parents named their last child
after a flower, breaking with the family tradition of using stars or
constellations, because with her blue eyes and golden hair, she didn't
look like a Black. But we all know what happened to Narcissus . . . .
> 
> 6. Snape, Narcissa and Bella drank a toast with blood-red wine. I'm
not sure which image came sooner to my mind at that point: Vampire!
Snape or Sir Patrick Spens and his wrecked ship. In English ballads,
nothing good comes after drinking "bluid-red" wine.  Elf-made wine 
doesn't sound too safe either. How many stories involve some danger at
drinking something made by elves or fairies? These are magical folk,
so perhaps it's not so dangerous. Do you think this was just setting
the magical mood, or was JKR waving a flag?

Carol:
I did think of "Sir Patrick Spens" but not of elves and fairies. The
blood symbolism seemed ominous (and maybe too obvious), but the toast
to the Dark Lord I took as Snape posing as loyal DE primarily for
Bella's benefit, perhaps silently drinking to the Dark Lord's fall. I
wondered, too, how Snape could trust Wormtail not to poison the
"blood-red wine" and decided that he kept his potions under strong
locking spells (and perhaps even hid Wormtail's wand so he wouldn't
have access to it). Wormtail, I suppose, could choke Snape in the dark
with that silver hand (carefully noted again by JKR), but I think he's
afraid of retaliation by LV, who still has uses for Snape even though
he doesn't fully trust him. And as we've seen, Wormtail prefers
enduring Snape's snarkiness and acting as his servant to returning to
Voldemort, who apparently has transformed him into a hunchback through
Crucios and other forms of cruelty. So IMO the wine is just wine, used
to calm Narcissa and possibly to help Snape catch one or the other
sister off her guard. I don't think that Snape himself is affected by
it. He seems fully in control until that third provision of the UV,
and there are better explanations for that unexpected development than
elf-made wine. (Wonder if the wine was a gift from LV, designed to
catch Snape off his guard by taking his status as "favorite" for
granted? Just a thought.)
> 
> 7. This is a serious chapter, with lots of dark images. It's 
informative too, but it's difficult to decide which information is
truth and which is deception. What images or feelings made an 
impression on you? How do they affect your interpretation of the story?

The ones that stood out on a first reading and retain their impact
(for me) on repeated rereadings are the immense chimney that "reared
up, shadowy and ominous" (HBP Am. ed. 19) and the tongue of flame that
"bound itself thickly about their clasped hands, like a rope, like a
fiery snake" (37). The chimney reminds me of the standing stones in
FOTR ("Fog on the Barrow Downs") that remind Frodo of warning fingers,
and the binding imagery, not only ropes but *snakes* of fire, is
scarier than any direct confrontation between the characters, whether
it's the graveyard scene in GoF or the tower scene in HBP. My fear
when I first read it was not for Dumbledore (although I think I'd
figured out what the "deed" was) but that Snape would fall irrevocably
into evil. (I thought that fear had come true on a first reading of
the tower scene, but that's because I was hurrying through and missing
important details.)

I also noticed Bella's use of "slithering out of action," which had
the opposite effect, giving me hope that Snape had "slithered" out of
killing anyone or even using any kind of Unforgiveable Curse up to
that point. (That's still how I read the words.) The implied metaphor
emphasizes his Slytherin cleverness with a very JKRlike pun
(Slytherin/slitherin), reminding me of the Snape/snake connection
(snake as emblem of Slytherin House)--Severus acting in the best
Phinneas Nigellus tradition of enlightened self-protection but as a
means of escaping the dirty work assigned to other DEs. Very clever,
very Snapelike. But not even Snape could slither out of the fiery
ropes that bound him at the end of the chapter. Excellent writing, but
not at all what I wanted to happen.
> 
> 8. Narcissa asks Snape to make an Unbreakable Vow and Bella is
"astonished" that he agrees. It looks like a wedding ceremony, and is
obviously very serious. We've seen that magical contracts have serious
consequences--the Goblet of Fire in GoF, and the SNEAK hex in OoP.
None of us can really understand why Snape agreed, but is this just
Business as Usual in the Wizarding World? How does this vow compare to
magical deals in fairy tales and myths?

Carol:
I don't think that UVs are everyday matters in the WW. Binding
contracts, yes--but to enter into a vow that will kill you if you
don't keep it or ask someone else to do so? Surely that's no ordinary
business deal. The very fact that Narcissa would propose a UV to her
friend and would-be rescuer is a mark of her desperation (and perhaps
an indication that, helpless and beautiful and fiercely maternal or
not, she's not a good person). I very much doubt that DD, for example,
would ever propose an Unbreakable Vow, though he does demand Harry's
promise that he will obey any command whether he wants to or not. But
he's not going to force Harry to obey him by putting his life at
stake. For the same reason, I don't think DD would ask Snape to make
an Unbreakable Vow (not to mention that it requires a third party as
Bonder, which would violate Snape's privacy). So, no. This is not
business as usual. This is a life-or-death proposition. And even
Snape, who risks his life every time he speaks to LV or any loyal DE,
and who must be very careful even in his dealings with his own
students, especially Harry, hesitates before taking it. He knows that
the tightrope he walks every day has just turned into a knifeblade.
One slip and he's a dead man. But if he doesn't take it, he's a dead
man as well. Narcissa is one desperate woman, and Bellatrix would be
happy to have a reason to AK Snape.
>
<snipping questions 9 and 10, which I'll come back to tomorrow, since
this post is already novel-length>

Carol, thanking any brave soul whose made it to the end of this post,
even if they disagree with every word of it