Facilis descensus Averni---Snape's little problems

[juli17ptf]

No: HPFGUIDX 140435

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, lizabet612 at a... wrote:
> Hi This is my 2nd post so I'm threading gently.... My biggest issue 
with  
> Snape being like an alcoholic with the Dark Arts is that Dumbledore 
seemed to  
> understand this, hence kept Snape away from Teaching DADA. Snape 
even  alludes 
> to this in Spinners End. What troubles me is what possibly 
happened  over the 
> summer to Dumbledore to allow Snape to teach DADA.  I think this  
is an 
> intentional misdirection of plot of JKRs and supports a part of the 
story  we are not 
> aware of.
>  
> -liz


Julie says:
I agree that something happened over the summer to make Dumbledore 
change his mind, and I suspect it has much to do with him destroying 
the ring horcux. By Dumbledore's own admission he only survived 
because of the quick thinking of Snape. His hand remained "dead," and 
we don't know if there were any additional ill-effects of the curse. 
Could Dumbledore have already been dying (or being kept alive through 
a stopper death or draught of living death potion)? 

We don't know, but it seems quite likely to me that Dumbledore put 
Snape in the DADA position with the knowledge that it would be 
Snape's last year at Hogwarts, and probably with the expectation that 
Snape would return to Voldemort to continue his spying on a deeper 
level as the war intensified. Dumbledore knew of the curse, and 
whether he believed in it completely, certainly Snape would be one 
who could easily fall prey to it by giving into his worst instincts 
(if that's how it works). Whether Dumbledore also expected to be gone 
and/or dead by the end of the year we don't know. Just one more thing 
in HBP that isn't clear!

Some have also advanced the theory that Dumbledore moved Snape into 
the DADA position because he needed Slughorn at Hogwarts (to get that 
vital altered memory), and Slughorn is a Potions teacher. But as 
important as the altered memory might be, is it more important than 
keeping Snape at Hogwarts and accessible to the Order if at all 
possible? I don't think so. It may have just worked out that 
Dumbledore was able to accomplish two things with one action--bring 
Slughorn to Hogwarts and put Snape in position for his return to 
Voldemort, while also using Snape's superior DADA skills to impart 
critical knowledge to the students--and to Harry--at a critical time. 
(Whether one can include Harry's suspiciously coincidental discovery 
of the HBP's potion book as another deliberate effort for Snape to 
impart critical knowledge to Harry is very open to debate.)


Oops, I strayed from the alcoholic symbolism. It could fit Snape, and 
it could be one reason why Dumbledore kept Snape away from the DADA 
position for so many years, but I think the primary reason is that 
Dumbledore didn't want to chance losing Snape to the curse, whether 
that curse is an outside force or simply caters to the "victim's" 
innate weaknesses. And since Dark Arts attraction is one of Snape's 
main weaknesses, maybe it's all the same thing anyway!

Julie