OFH! Snape again. WAS: Straightforward readings?

[saraquel_omphale]

No: HPFGUIDX 140872

Saraquel:
I enjoyed the exchange between Houyhmhmn and Jen, and this is the -
yes good point, part of my reply!  Now to take up a couple of side 
issues -

Jen wrote:
>(All I know is I'm still waiting for my Dumbledore explanation, and
>since we didn't get one in the flesh, I'm waiting for him to do so
>via letter, Pensieve, etc.)

Saraquel:
The question is, will we get the explanation from DD or Snape?  
Would DD leave anything "in writing" so to speak, lying around.  He 
was always incredibly careful about who was allowed to know what, 
and was a master at concealing and revealing (or - from another POV -
 was also caught in his own Spinners End!) 

Is there anything that Harry needs to know that Snape does not 
know?  I suspect that Snape has all the information about the ring 
horcrux, wouldn't he need to know that in order to break the curse 
and stop DD from dying.

I have a feeling that DD has provided Harry with all the information 
that he alone knows, and that any other information that he needs 
can either be worked out by someone - e.g. Hermione will probably 
solve the logic puzzle that is the prophecy - or is in the 
possession of Snape.

That Harry and Snape will meet again has been indicated by JKR in 
the MN/LC interview (I think it was that interview).  If Snape has 
information that Harry needs, then Harry can't go in there wand 
blazing - he's got to negotiate with Snape - like it or not.  So the 
question is, who contacts/finds who? 

If Snape is on the side of the Order (I'm still not quite 
comfortable calling him DDM) then he has every reason to contact 
Harry.  Harry's only reasons for contacting Snape (that I can think 
of off hand at the time of writing) are to find out what happened 
with the Ring horcrux, vengeance for DDs death and (for our 
satisfaction)an explanation of why DD trusted him.  Which is an 
interesting combination.  Luckily for us, extracting information 
can't be done after death, so Harry has got to talk to Snape first 
and hopefully you'll get your information Jen, but will Harry be 
able to trust it?

Maybe witholding information about the Ring was deliberate on DDs 
part, so that Harry and Snape would be forced to talk to each other 
again in the event of his own death. I think that it is quite 
possible that DD went to his death still trusting Snape - though I 
really don't know how to read the Tower scene, so I'm on the fence 
over that.

I did have a thought about how Snape could get a message to Harry 
other than Fawkes, which Harry would trust.  I was wondering if 
Dobby might come into play here.  If Snape's relationship with the 
Malfoys does go back a long time then Dobby would have known Snape 
from both sides - just a thought.  If it is Fawkes that delivers a 
message to Harry, then we definitely have a "and you must kill me 
Severus" DD, as in doing so Snape would be showing pretty incredible 
loyalty on the Tower, but there is a part of me that just feels very 
uneasy about that scenario.

Jen wrote:
>Anyway, I'm with the people who have proposed 
> Snape's Worst Memory was still hidden in the Pensieve, most likely 
> the events of the GH incident--that's the one he needs to hide 
>from LV if he truly changed sides.

Saraquel:
My problem with the - put something in a pensieve and take it right 
out of your head - theory, is that DD had Slughorn's tampered memory 
when he sent Harry off to retrieve the missing bits.  The memory 
that Harry came back with was not just the missing bits, but the 
whole scene from beginning to end, implying that there are two 
copies of the memory, and the memory therefore stayed in Slughorn's 
head after he had given the duff one to DD.  

DD uses the pensieve to look for patterns, which could quite easily 
be done by putting a replica in the pensieve.  However, it makes no 
sense for Snape to put stuff in the pensieve in the occlumency scene 
in OotP, unless he was removing these memories from his head.  Is 
this then, an inconsistency from JKR?

Saraquel