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

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 140070

> Neri:
> As to the hour of first light of dawn we don't
> have canon from JKR, but in our timeline we used a
> very early hour (IIRC around 3:00 AM). I can't believe
> JKR thinks it's even earlier, and if she thinks it's
> later then this would make the time Snape delayed even longer.

houyhnhnm:

The "cool line of pale green" sounds more like the beginning of civil
twilight (which would push the time Harry arrives in DD's office back
as much as an hour) than it does like sunrise. But I give you your
five hours.

So when did the Order arrive at the Ministry? How long did the flight
to London take? How long was TeamHarry looking for the Hall of
Prophecies? How long did they do battle with the DEs before the Order
showed up? The only way to gauge time between the "bloodred
sunset" when Harry's thestral takes off and Harry's arrival in DD's
office is to judge by the amount of action that takes place. It
doesn't add up. Not for Snape. Not for Rowling, IMO.

My reason for not being suspicious of Snape does not hinge on whether
or not he *could* have notified the Order sooner of Harry's failure to
return from the forest, but whether he would have felt he had
reason to.

Snape contacted Sirius "at once". (And we don't know the content of
the message) Sirius was fine. What was Snape going to do then?
Contact Grimmauld Place again and tell them "Potter's channeling
the DL again and he's gone off into the forest". They're going to be
like "Whatta you want us to do about it?" Until a fair amount of time
had elapsed, surely there was no reason to suspect that there was a
problem. Harry left with Umbridge after all.

Neri:

> The reason that Snape wouldn't want to bring it up
> is that this whole timing issue is very delicate
> from his POV.

houyhnhnm:

How could Snape possibly let Bellatrix know he had alerted the Order
AT ALL, early or late and regardless of his true loyalties. That
would be Christmas come early for her--and Lucius.

I can't see Snape saying anything about his communication with the
Order but I can sure see him saying something about notifying LV that
Harry was on his way, if he's a real DE. That would have earned him
some serious bragging rights. And he could have really rubbed in with
Bellatrix. "I delivered Potter to you and you blew it!" Why didn't he?

[edited to correct some really dumb typos]