OFH!Snape scenario (Long)

[saraquel_omphale]

No: HPFGUIDX 139635

Saraquel:
Back from a spell in the real world, trying to catch up on posts, 
but familiar with current discussion at least. 

I usually find the irresistible force meets immovable object debates 
over Snape quite daunting. I have been like the proverbial bouncing 
ferret, finding the arguments for both sides so convincing.  I think 
it's been appealing to my Libran rising sign - wonderful idea, but 
on the other hand 
 Until finally, I thought that I really must make 
the effort to get off the fence as regards Snape.  So I've been 
doing some thinking and although I am as virtually 100% sure as one 
can be (forgive the grammar, you get the gist), that there will be a 
Redeemed!Snape in book 7, how we get there is not all that clear. I 
haven't really seen an OFH!Snape scenario spelt out on the list, so 
what follows is me trying to work through a OFH!Snape scenario, it 
may well have glaring holes – please feel free to pick at them:-)

First, a little character analysis, which focuses on an area that I 
haven't seen highlighted for its own sake: the world that Snape 
wants to live in, policitcally, in order to fulfil his dream. 
Contrary to some people, I do not think Snape wants to become the 
Ruler of the World, I think he likes the solitary life too much – 
his books (When I read the chapter that described his house, I just 
thought, how many houses have I been in like that, friends not into 
money, but loving knowledge) his study and his creative 
inventiveness. Witness his first speeches to Harry's class about 
both potions and DADA.  This is an academic, a man appreciative of 
and in love with knowledge. In my mind he is a research wizard, and 
perhaps before becoming a teacher, he worked in the Department of 
Mysteries – I think the Room of Brains would have been his bag, he 
likes things pickled in jars, and he is fascinated by the power of 
logical and reasoned thought (The potions puzzle in PS.).  

Further to that idea, what Snape loves is the Power of Knowledge.  I 
think that he is a morally ambivalent man.  Like Voldemort, it is 
not good and bad that is important to him, but power.  The power 
that lies behind actions, just as electricity lies behind so much of 
our world.  To me, Snape is interested in which side can wield the 
most power. Is power harnessed to good a victor over power harnessed 
to evil? I think, probably up until PoA, he has an almost detached 
interest in (I don't mean he is emotionally detached), and academic 
view of the contest. 

But he has practical experience of living on both sides, and he has 
come to appreciate the advantages of being under DD's wing.  His 
life has been one of better quality and freedom than it was with the 
DEs. As a young man, he perceived the apparent power of evil over 
good, but now he is watching, to learn the power of good over evil. 

In his past he has appreciated the power and beauty of the dark arts
(that may seem an odd word, but the subtley of the dark arts also 
have their own dark beauty, and Snape can appreciate that.)  He 
needs that past in order, in the future, to be able to choose.  The 
more powerful and seductive the `evil' past is, the more powerful 
the choice for `good' in the present.

What is Snape's dream? To research both the DA and DADA. This to me 
is his raison d'etre in life – to investigate the Power of Truth as 
it manifests in knowledge and to learn to be at one with it, to use 
it. I think, as an academic, Snape knows that this power is greater 
than him – IMO he does not seek to master it, as Voldemort does, but 
to serve it. 

What is his boggart – I think something along the lines of finding 
out that he has chosen the "wrong side".  I don't just mean that 
literally, in terms of Voldemort vs DD, but that he has not 
understood deeply enough and is backing the wrong theory.  He is not 
afraid because of anything that might happen to him, Snape, as he 
points out to Harry, is not a coward, but because he desperately 
needs to Know the Truth. Imagine the devastation of an academic who 
has spent his whole life researching and believing something which 
is subsequently proven false. 

Where Voldemort and Snape differ is that Snape does not think he has 
the world taped, like Voldemort.  Snape glories in the mystery of 
the world and its unravelling.  Voldemort is trapped by his 
viewpoint and insistence on maintaining his world view at all 
costs.  Snape has a mind which is always open, and that is one 
reason why he's so going to get redeemed. (If JKR doesn't redeem 
him, I'm so going to throw a wobbly and spit the dummy, before I 
marvel at how she has finished her story.)

So, to summarise, IMO, what Snape wanted/probably still wants, most 
of all, is a world where he can be as inventive and creative as he 
wants in both the dark arts and Defence against the dark arts and 
GET RESPECT for it.  Who he sides with, depends on who can give him 
this most effectively.

There is a big chunk of Snape story missing between the discovery of 
the prophecy and Godric's Hollow.  Was he involved in the cave? (In 
my reckoning he's the only character (maybe Lily or James) who had 
the ability to overcome the obstacles in the cave, I don't believe 
RAB did it alone and I'm not convinced about Kreacher. I think he's 
a strong contender, but I'm not fixed on that.) What exactly was his 
reason for going to DD? Was it real remorse?  Was it just an act to 
get him in as a spy? 

For whatever unfathomed reason in my intuition, I don't think Snape 
is either, a willingly reformed character or still a secret DE.  I 
suspect that he is, for the first 5 books, unwillingly with DD. If 
DD would let him research DA and DADA, he would be happy, but that 
dearest of dreams is denied him.  I think that something in the 
story forced him into DDs arms, and that was not LVs order to spy, 
but I'm not at all convinced that, given a chance for a dark arts 
world, he wouldn't jump at it (sorry double negative there). 

Essentially, to me, Snape is torn between his preference for 
DDs `democratic' (for want of a better word) world over LVs 
autocracy and his desire for the mysteries of the dark arts. He has 
no allegiance to Voldemort (though the exact reason why IMO still 
remains a mystery). 

Ok, let's go for a year by year analysis here (This post relies on 
some previous posts in this list and some posts in another.  Wave to 
everyone on whose back I stand, and particularly Valky.)


Year 1:
I think it perfectly possible that Snape is not sure about 
Voldemort's death.  He may at this point still think that the 
prophecy has been fulfilled, in which case his immediate interest is 
in the power that did it. However, the break-in at Gringott's has 
put everyone on their guard.

Bearing this in mind, he is waiting for Potter to arrive at school, 
because, as he said in Spinners End, he wonders if Potter will be 
the one to take up Voldemort's baton and provide him with the world 
he wants and the job he wants, or alternatively/or as well as fulfil 
the terms of the prophecy. Remember, DD has offered him a lot, but 
he has denied him his dream of researching DA and DADA. If it turns 
out to be true that Harry Potter is a Voldemort in waiting, he's 
struck gold. He is his teacher and has a chance to mould and 
influence him.  Then he would be in the position of a Machiavelli to 
Medici, something he knows very well how to do and I think, Snape 
would prefer to be Machiavelli rather than Medici.

Now let's get Harry to school and the all important Sorting.  Harry 
is sorted into Gryffindor - almost definitive proof for Snape, that 
Harry is not going to be what Snape had hoped. Harry is in his 
father's house, looks like his father and will almost certainly be 
like his father.  Snape's heart is in his boots. Because of his life 
debt to James, he is now probably bound to protect his `enemy'. At 
this point, he starts to hate Harry for being his burden and not his 
liberator. No wonder, that during the feast that follows this 
happens.

UK ed PS p94 "The hook-nosed teacher looked past Quirrell's turban 
straight into Harry's eyes – and a sharp, hot pain shot across the 
scar on Harry's forehead. <snip> The pain had gone as quickly as it 
had come.  Harder to shake off was the feeling Harry had got from 
the teacher's look – a feeling that he didn't like Harry at all."

The pain in his scar was Quirrellmort, but the look straight into 
his eyes was IMO, legilimens Snape, trying to establish just what 
was in Harry's head and why he was sorted into Gryffindor. Snape 
grills Harry in their first potions lesson, and finds, to his 
twisted satisfaction, that Harry doesn't have a clue.  Definitely 
not a promising start for Snape's hopes, they are now in all 
probability dashed forever. As you said Valky, "The Potter boy is as 
mediocre a wizard as ever his father was, he cannot even defend 
against Quirrel's chanted curse."

So Snape, is still secretly holding out for a dark side victory as 
his only chance.  But I think he is pulled in two directions, if he 
can get what he wants from DD, he'll take it, otherwise, Voldemort 
could still be a possibility.  He is playing a delicately balanced 
game.  If Voldemort is in the mix somewhere, as the attempt on the 
PS might imply, if his powers were damaged by the Godric's Hollow 
incident, is there still a chance that his old followers could 
govern in his name.  

If so, in Snape's opinion, Quirrel would not be the one to do it, 
yes Snape would see Quirrel as unworthy, as he tells Bella and 
Cissi.  But Lucius Malfoy might just swing it. Now this is the 
perfect ending for Snape – it will give him the world he wants. A 
weakened Voldemort, who is unable to personally enforce his cruelty 
(which he is quite happy to do on his followers as well as his 
enemies), but whose name still brings people to their knees and from 
whom Snape can still learn about the dark arts.  With the real power 
in the hands of the man who Snape has been b
nosing for quite some 
time, and who will give him anything he wants – Lucius Malfoy. Yes, 
Snape will be back in the Department of Mysteries at the snap of 
Malfoy's fingers.  Back with the big boys, head of his own little 
new department of research into the Dark Arts, on the cutting edge 
of knowledge and away from the tedium of incompetent and 
dunderheaded young minds.

Now onto CoS.
At the beginning of CoS, Snape is delighted at what seems to be a 
heaven sent opportunity to get Harry expelled. As I see it, he wants 
to prevent Harry from getting an education which would prepare him 
to defeat Voldemort.  In a weakened state, as I'm sure Snape thinks 
Voldemort is, Snape thinks there is a possibility that Voldemort 
would be unable to defeat Harry. So by stopping Harry from being 
able to defeat Voldemort, Snape still has a chance of getting what 
he wants and keeping the prophecy unfulfilled.

That Lucius and Snape had a relationship this early – it is only 
confirmed in OotP – is unknown, but I think a case to say that they 
did is fairly easy to put together.  I won't go into detail, but the 
fact that Snape starts off with a noted preference for Malfoy is a 
good indicator.

According to DD, Lucius did not know the diary was a Horcrux, but 
knew that it had the power to open the Chamber of Secrets, then if 
Snape knew anything about it, that is what he would know.  If Snape 
was in on the plot, which I think highly likely, then Lucius would 
have told him who had the diary, and a truly reformed Snape would 
have arranged for it to have been "regrettably" found. Regrettably, 
because with Voldemort known to be still on the loose, DD would want 
Snape in a position to spy if he ever came back.

What is the purpose of the diary for Snape – not to rid the school 
of `mudbloods', but to rid it of DD and give Snape an opportunity to 
get to where he wants to be, at the moment – DADA teacher.

Admittedly there is the problem of the curse and whether Snape knew 
about it.  I'm not taking that one into account here and it could be 
the downfall of this scenario, but you could argue that it would 
only be temporary anyway, until he could get back to the Dept of 
Mysteries.

We also have the incident at the duelling club. I think Harry's 
ability to speak parseltongue was of great interest to Snape. 

CoS p146 "Snape stepped forward, waved is wand and the snake 
vanished in a small puff of black smoke.  Snape, too, was looking at 
Harry in an unexpected way: it was a shrewd and calculating look, 
and Harry didn't like it."

Well now that's very interesting, thinks Snape, maybe all hope is 
not lost.  Maybe this boy does have possibilities after all.

Interestingly, Snape is not present at the denouement of CoS and 
therefore cannot make the connections that DD makes about the 
difference between a memory and a horcrux.

I've nothing really to say about Snape in the third book, it is more 
concerned with unveiling his connections to the Marauders.

However, in book 4 things really begin to hot up for Snape.  He 
knows Voldemort's power is returning. This is not a scenario he 
wants, but as the year progresses, Voldemort's ownership of him 
becomes increasingly visible.  

For the first time, Snape is facing choices between sides here. The 
dark mark is steadily revealing increasing power, Voldemort is not 
the weakened object he had been hoping for. Having spent a long time 
with Voldemort, I think Snape knows he cannot defeat a fully 
functional, re-empowered Dark Lord.  He's good, but he's not that 
good. DD approaches him to discuss whether he would be willing to be 
a spy in the event of Voldemort returning to full power.  Snape is 
faced with having to work out how to stay alive here.  If he doesn't 
go back to Voldemort, he's dead for sure – hunted down as a 
deserter.  When pestered by Karkaroff, he doesn't want to discuss 
it.  Karkaroff is all for deserting, Snape can't let him know what 
he is thinking, because of the danger of Karkaroff being captured 
and tortured.  For the first time Snape has a taste of what being a 
double agent is really going to mean, and he is distressed. 

Everyone wants to know where he stands, DD, Crouch!Moody, Karkaroff –
 the pressure is on.  There is a discussion going on at the moment 
re occlumency and Snape and Crouch!Moody.

>Vivian wrote in
>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/139183 :
<< We know that Snape has used Legimency on people before--
Fake!Moody on the stairs, >>

>Catlady:
>This confuses me. How could Snape have used Legilimency on Fake!
>Moody without noticing that he was fake? Surely one's self-identity 
>is present in one's mind all one's waking time, like a background 
>noise?

>Vmonte quoted
>"Meaning what?" Snape turned again to look at Moody, his hands still
>outstretched, inches from Harry's chest.
>"Meaning that Dumbledore's very interested to know who's got it in
>for that boy!" said Moody, limping nearer still to the foot of the
>stairs. "And so am I, Snape...very interested..." The torch-light
>flickered across his mangled face, so that the scars, and the chunk
>missing from his nose, looked deeper and darker than ever. Snape was
>looking down at Moody, and Harry couldn't see the expression on his
>face. For a moment, nobody moved or said anything. Then Snape slowly
>lowered his hands.
>"I merely thought," said Snape, in a voice of forced calm, "that if
>Potter was wandering around after hours again...it's an unfortunate
>habit of his...he should be stopped. For--his own safety."
>"Ah, I see," said Moody softly. "Got Potter's best interests at
>heart, have you?"
>There was a pause. Snape and Moody were still staring at each other.
>Mrs. Norris gave a loud meow, still peering around Filch's legs,
>looking for the source of Harry's bubble-bath smell.
>"I think I will go back to bed, "Snape said curtly.
>"Best idea you've had all night," said Moody. (p473-474, GoF)

This is interesting. We could say that there is a possibility that 
Snape rumbles Crouch!Moody's disguise at this point.  But he is 
still undecided as to what he should do, so opts for keeping up the 
loyalty to DD side of the story.  If, as I am speculating, Snape 
feels he is being pulled and pushed by all around him, he would want 
to try and fulfil all possibilities, and keep everyone guessing.  
Perhaps Snape looks so intently in the foe glass at the end of GoF, 
to find out whether Crouch!Moody rumbled *his* plan.  By the look of 
it, the foe glass showed him as an enemy.  Of course there has been 
a lot of discussion before about what the foe glass shows – your 
perceived enemies, or your actual enemies.

However, I think it can pan out as an out for himself Snape, with a 
foot in both camps, keeping both sides sweet. Snape is frightened 
and distressed, but by the time DD sends him back to Voldemort, 
Snape has come to terms with the situation and prepared his story, 
like a good academic that he is, he has made his `theory' as 
watertight as he can before publication.

OotP
In Snape terms, this is a turning point.  The book opens with Snape 
re-established in Voldemort's camp, glorying in the attention from 
the Order, but careful not to mix too much – he never hangs around 
or stays for dinner – and I don't think this is just to protect his 
cover with Voldemort. He is also, still well in with Lucius Malfoy.

Then DD gives him the task of giving Harry occlumency lessons, and 
the incident which Valky so expertly pinpointed, arises. I needn't 
say much to add to her wonderful insight, just that, for the first 
time Snape really sees that there is something very powerful going 
on in Harry, and it's not dark.  It's powerful enough to conquer the 
dark art of legilimency – one of Voldemort's most special powers. 
Maybe there is something to the prophecy after all, maybe this kid 
Harry does have real power, maybe there is a chance that he could 
conquer Voldemort. Oh yes, he's very interested, and he wants to 
learn more. He wants to know just how much power there is in this 
sort of magic – is there enough?  Perhaps for the first time his 
interest in the side of good is not just about personal freedoms, 
it's about his most treasured thing – Knowledge.

>From this point on, Snape is being pulled very strongly over to the 
good side. If it has real power, and something to offer in terms of 
knowledge, then it will be worth being in that world. But there is 
still the deep imprint of his past influencing his actions.  His 
past is a history of survival, he has been in extreme danger, but he 
has survived.  The importance of his past experience cannot be 
overstated.

So the final battle for Snape's soul begins.

HBP
Snape is still not convinced.  He needs to keep proving himself with 
Voldemort until he can be sure he is making the right choice.  He 
gives Voldemort, Emeline Vance.  Then DD comes to him with his hand 
after destroying the Horcrux!Ring.  (There's a whole diversion I 
could go on here, about how much Snape knows about Horcurxes but 
that's not for this post.)  Suffice to say, I think Snape knows that 
Voldemort had made a Horcrux, and guesses that DD has destroyed 
one.  Here is more proof of the ability of DD's side to triumph over 
Voldemort's.  Snape is beginning to be convinced. 

Then just when he's being won over, bang, he falls for Narcissa's 
vow. He doesn't tell DD about the last part. OK, Not to make this 
too long <g> as the year goes on Snape makes his decision.  This is 
extremely important for him.  He is desperate, caught in a web of 
his own making, and he is going to come down on DDs side.  He wants 
out of the danger now, and goes to DD and asks to be extricated from 
Voldemort's camp, it is no longer beneficial for him personally to 
be with the other side. But when he asks, DD says no and they have 
the row in the forest.  DD wants Snape to find out a lot more about 
Nagini for him.  The investigation in his own house is not Slytherin 
(which is added as an explanation by Hagrid and reflects his own 
interpretation, IMO), but Spinners End, where Pettigrew is currently 
in residence.

Snape is angry and resentful and frightened, just when he has 
decided to go for the good side, DD has let him down, big time. He 
probably feels betrayed by DD.  Now he needs to know more about 
Harry's power and how to use it.  Then Harry hands him a gift – he 
uses dark magic again on Malfoy, and Snape now has the golden 
opportunity to investigate further. No expulsion this time – Harry 
is valuable. (Thank you Valky)

To cut to the end – when Snape arrives on the tower, he sees his 
hopes in ruins.  DD is going to die, whether he kills him or not.  
With DDs death, Snape sees the collapse of the good side.  Whatever 
power Harry has it is not enough in Snape's eyes to carry the day. 
He feels betrayed by DD, for letting himself be caught like this.  
Snape knows the consequence of his vow and knows that he is going to 
have to kill DD.  He does it with hatred, because he had finally 
decided to back DD and then DD `betrayed' the faith Snape had in 
him.  Now, his decision has been made for him, and he is going back 
to Voldemort.  He does it with revulsion, because it is not what he 
actually wants to do at that moment but he knows that now he must 
embrace his dark side again, sitting ready and waiting inside him.

Book 7 speculation
Both Harry and Snape are in need of some realisation.  Harry's 
thirst for vengeance is tying him to the past, and his anger is 
leading in dangerous directions – he has tried to use the crucio 
curse 3 times now, once on Bellatrix and twice on Snape. If he is 
going to be able to choose the all important right action over the 
easy action he is going to have to deal with this – I wrote about 
this in my choices post ages ago. 

Harry has to learn big time, to have faith in love and I think that 
he will learn about the events at Godric's Hollow, and see for 
himself the power of love demonstrated by his mother.  He may also 
find out something about Snape which will help him – I don't know, 
but Snape's greasy nose seems to get into everything.  When he next 
meets Snape he is going to be absolutely torn between hatred and 
understanding, and IMO, it is this meeting which will enable him to 
prepare himself for his meeting with Voldemort.

Now for Snape.  I think JKR deliberately showed us a Snape capable 
of killing DD in cold blood, and I wonder if we are actually going 
to find any mitigating circumstances for that. In my version, we see 
an absolutely unredeemed Snape, but, someone who is open to 
redemption, because his mind is open to the Truth.  Someone who is 
able to be open to the power of love.  Snape may make an excellent 
occlumens.  But hiding your feelings is not saying that you do not 
have them.  In fact, if you feel compelled to hide them, and are 
practised at that, then you have been given reason to do it, usually 
because you have been threatened.  The power of hidden feelings 
dammed up behind a wall for most of your life should not be 
underestimated.  Once love breaks the dam, expect the outrush to be 
spectacular and life changing.

At that moment, when Last Judgement Love hits you, you have a 
choice.  Go with it, abandon yourself to it and allow it to change 
you, like an alchemical process, and emerge purified.  Or, resist 
it, hold onto your limited beliefs, and perish with them.  I don't 
think that there is a third option.  I think that Snape belongs to 
the former category, whereas Voldemort, is absolutely in the latter 
category.  This why IMO Vldemort is for eternal damnation and Snape 
is for redemption.

To me, if Snape is already redeemed, but was forced by some 
agreement with Dumbledore to kill him, then all that is involved in 
Harry and Snape's next meeting is a plot twist.  JKR, just has to 
manufacture an opportunity for them to converse and for Snape to 
explain.  If Harry is convinced, all we have seen is that Harry got 
it wrong again.

However, if Snape is at the moment, unredeemed, then something more 
substantial is going to have to happen at their next meeting.  This 
would give JKR the opportunity to have Harry choose love over 
vengeance and for Snape to choose redemption.  This would provide a 
bigger bang factor – but hey, I don't know what JKR has in mind 
here :-)

So, if I'm right, it seems to me that the plot of the book has been 
set up for Snape to have realisation and repentance at the same time 
that Harry has realisation and forgiveness.  I am wondering if in 
fact Harry saves Snape from something – yes I did mean it that way 
round, I think the return favour will come later.  

If Harry does learn something at Godric's Hollow that gives him some 
insight on Snape and the power of love, as shown through Lily's 
sacrifice.  And he realises what is the right choice over the easy 
choice.  His attitude to Snape will change, but he will then be 
isolated from the other members of the Order, who now distrust 
Snape.  So our hero will be alone in this action.

Through Harry's action of saving Snape, Snape will realise the power 
of love that DD was talking about, but Snape never saw for himself.  
When he sees it, he will realise why Harry is special and go through 
his own process of realisation.

So if you have stayed with me this far, thank you for your 
consideration and what do you think?  Now that I've got all that 
down, I feel somewhat relieved of a burden.  

Saraquel
Who ponders what JKR has in mind when Harry reminds us in HBP, that 
somewhere DD had said to him evil is never really destroyed, the 
battle goes on and you have to keep on fighting it.  Anyone know the 
cannon reference – I'll have to go and look for it again, myself.