OFH! Snape again. WAS: Straightforward readings?

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 140788

Sherry:
> 
> I admit I haven't thought my ideas on OFH Snape out to their 
fullest yet, so
> I can't give you a good answer for all your questions.  But 
personally, to
> my mind, the unbreakable vow is the greatest evidence against DDM 
Snape.
> Either that, or it's evidence of damn fool Snape, which would 
negate his
> supposed intelligence and brilliance as a spy.  As someone pointed 
out weeks
> ago, if he knew the elements of the vow and is supposedly DDM, why 
on earth
> did he go through with it?  I don't buy to save Draco or anything 
else.  It
> was just stupid to do it, if he didn't know what Draco's task would 
be, as
> he implied he did.  Any good lawyer would say never ask a question 
if you
> don't know what the answer is, or you might open the door to 
something you
> didn't want to come out!  Same with that vow.  If Snape didn't know 
what
> Draco's assignment was, then he was an idiot to have agreed to it.  
If he
> did know, then he is no more DDM than my dog is!  Or, ok, to keep 
it in the
> Potter world, if he knew Draco's task, then he is no more DDM than 
Grayback.
> 
> 
> So, to my mind, the most straight forward reading of the 
unbreakable vow
> fiasco is that Snape is either a fool or evil.

Ceridwen:
Maybe Snape should have consulted a lawyer.  He was informed 
beforehand of two of the provisions, but not the third and most 
damning of them.  But, a vow between supposed friends, and with the 
provisions stated beforehand, can't be too bad, unless one of the 
friends decides to ensure her son's absolute safety, or at least an 
out for him, and tosses in something that wasn't agreed to 
beforehand.  I think, once in the process of the vow, he found it too 
awkward to back out.

Yeah, Awkward!Snape?  Oh, well, that's how it looked to me.

I think Snape could be OFH and still be on the good side.  He may 
just plain old want Voldemort defeated.  The guy is abusive to his 
followers, and his stated aims aren't the same as his more obvious 
ones.  He's misleading his followers, and I can see where someone who 
is OFH wouldn't care for that.  Promises are empty in that 
situation.  And IMO, an OFH person would want guarantees.  DD, the 
Order, and the WW as it is, provides more than Voldemort would.

Once the war is over and LV is vanquished, Snape could have left 
Hogwarts and done whatever it is he wanted to.  Apparently, though 
the DA are discouraged, no one goes around picking people up just on 
studying them.  But if LV wins, he would keep his followers behind 
him, since they constitute the greatest threat to him since they know 
him better than anyone else.  Snape wouldn't have the chance to 
disappear into his own little world.  Even if he wanted to study and 
be an ivory tower intellectual, he couldn't.  His spying would 
probably be turned toward other groups who might pose a threat, even 
to spying on the other DEs.

I'm not positive on how Snape will end up.  I doubt ESE.  But OFH and 
DDM seem more plausible.  OFH and DDM could, temporarily, be the same 
things since they share the same goal of getting rid of Voldemort.  
And I think that's what Snape would like to see.

Ceridwen.