Snape's lies to Bellatrix (Was: Straightforward readings? /Bullying. ( LONG)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 140744

Alla wrote:
> 
> And if he can conceal a lie from Voldemort,surely he can conceal a 
> lie from Dumbledore?
> 
> Snape's words to Bella could be considered as "convincing her" or as 
> Snape finally revealing his true loyalties, IMO. <snip>

Carol responds:
You snipped the part of my post where I specified two statements made
by Snape to Bellatrix that I think are clearly lies, his assertion
that he thought Voldemort was dead and his statement that he thought
he was opposing only "unworthy Quirrell," not Voldemort. We know that
he was working with Dumbledore, who believed that LV would come back.
Even Hagrid though there wasn't enough human in him to die. Snape is
(IMO) pretending that, like Lucius Malfoy and others that he names, he
thought LV was dead (or powerless) and didn't go after him for that
reason., but I think he knew the truth even if Malfoy didn't. And
being a Legilimens, he probably read Quirrell quite easily and knew
exactly where his loyalties lay.

Snape says in OoP, ". . . those who have mastered Legilimency are
able, under certain conditions, to delve into the minds of their
victims and to interpret their findings correctly. The Dark Lord, for
instance, *almost* always knows when someone is lying to him. Only
those skilled at Occlumency are able to shut down the feelings and
memories that contradict the lie, and so utter falsehood in his
presence without detection" (OoP Am. ed. 531). Almost certainly this
is what Snape has been doing since he returned to LV on DD's orders at
the end of GoF. The "almost" (my emphasis) refers to his own case.

For the most part, the first half of "Spinner's End" consists of the
lies (mixed with truths and half truths) that Snape has told
Voldemort. (Dumbledore's slowed reflexes appear to be another lie or
half truth agreed upon by Snape and Dumbledore as DD uses the same
expression himself later in the book.)

Snape asks Bellatrix (rhetorically), "Do you really think that the
Dark Lord has not adked me each and every one of those questions? And
do you really think that had I not given satisfactory answers, I would
be sitting here talking to you?" Bellatrix responds, "I know he
beleives you, but. . ." and Snape responds, "You think he is mistaken?
Or that I have somehow hoodwinked him? Fooled the Dark Lord, the
greatest wizard, the most accomplished Legilimens the world has ever
seen?" (26)

Bella is trapped. She can't answer "yes" even if she still doubts him
(and she does, as we see by her later words and actions) or she will
incriminate herself by implying that LV isn't as great as she thinks
he is. She can't admit to Snape or herself that Snape is more skilled
at Occlumency tham Voldemort is at Legilimency, that Snape might
actually be lying and getting away with it.

But that, IMO, is exactly what he's doing. The greatest wizard in the
world, as Harry states emphatically in CoS, is not Voldemort but Albus
Dumbledore. And quite possibly he's also the most accomplished
Legilimens as well, in which case he knows that Snape is lying to
Voldemort but telling him the truth (as he did, for example, when he
reported that his and Karkaroff's Dark Marks were becoming clearer--a
statement we know to be true).

Snape's strategy is exactly the same as the one Dumbledore used on
Snape in PoA when he asks if Snape thinks that Harry and Hermione can
be in two places at the same time. Knowing Harry, Snape thinks exactly
that. He may even have figured out that Hermione used a Time Turner.
But he can't say what he thinks in front of Fudge without looking like
a fool.

Given what we know about Snape, about Voldemort, and about Dumbledore,
I think it's much more likely that it's Voldemort who's being lied to,
especially if we closely examine Snape's words to Bellatrix, to whom
he's telling the same story with a few additions (Sirius and Emmeline
Vance) specifically for her benefit.

"Spinner's End" doesn't give us the truth about Snape. It gives us the
web of lies he has spun, in which he is himself caught at the end of
the chapter, thanks to the Unbreakable Vow.

Carol