Spinner's End--further evidence for DDsMan!Snape??

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 140016

> Alla:
> 
> Well, DD also says that Snape INTENDED to search the forest, he 
> never says that Snape actually did, no?
> 
> "In the meantime he, professor Snape, intended to search the forest 
> for you" - OOP, paperback, p.830.

Pippin:
Dumbledore says that Snape intended to search the forest because
he hasn't had a chance to talk to Snape and confirm it.  Dumbledore
returned to Order HQ, questioned Kreacher, showed up for the 
dramatic rescue, spent half an hour conferencing with Fudge, 
then returned to Hogwarts to debrief Harry.  Dumbledore
can't know whether Snape went to search the forest or some
emergency at the school intervened. 

Besides, I've thought of a much stronger plotline to implicate
Snape than some hypothetical delay in notifying the Order. Snape
claims in Spinner's End that he gave Voldemort information about
Sirius. What if that's true, except that he did it on Dumbledore's
orders? 

 Suppose he informed Voldie that Sirius had returned to
England? And Voldemort gave Snape permission to kill Sirius, if
he could get away with it? *That* would explain why Sirius *had*
to stay in hiding, *and* why Dumbledore chose not to hide him
in Hogsmeade near Harry. It would be awkward for Snape to
explain why he hadn't succeeded in murdering Sirius if  he was
roaming around the country, and even worse if he was spotted
nosing around Hogsmeade.

Of course Sirius would have been briefed on all this, which throws 
an interesting light on the handshake at the end of GoF, and the 
almost duel in OOP.

Now imagine Harry's reaction when he finds out that Snape had
orders to kill Sirius! That raises the stakes nicely. I was really
hoping Harry would find a better reason to think Snape had
killed Sirius than expert taunting -- that is *so* Monty Python,
IMO.

Pippin