Snape less comic?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 150436

Pippin:
> DDM!Snape is not a child or a criminal. He has the right to decide
> for himself whether he wants to change or not.
> 
> Joe: 
> I fully agree that he has the right to decide but he is still
probably a criminal. Dumbledore got him out of trouble with the
Ministry by saying he has "returned to the Light" or however you want
to put it. That said wouldn't he have had to do things that needed
Dumbledore to in effect cover for him?
>    
>   Thus would that not make him a criminal? Granted a criminal that
cut a deal but still a criminal.


Carol responds:
Apparently, the charges were dropped, and considering that the judge
was Barty Crouch, there must have been nothing worse than being a DE
to charge him with. Unlike Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, Avery,
Macnair, et al., whose names were published in the papers after they
declared themselves to have been placed under the Imperius Curse,
Snape's name was apparently not published. Instead, he was regarded by
Crouch, and afterwards apparently by the Wizengamot when Karkaroff
brought up his name (again, charging him with no specific crime other
than being a Death Eater) as completely reformed. So, just as Harry
can't be called a criminal by Umbridge because the charges were
dropped and there is no criminal record, Snape cannot be considered a
criminal for anything he did during VW1 because he reformed and turned
spy for Dumbledore, as the Wizengamot knows. So not a criminal who cut
a deal to save his own skin a la Karkaroff, but a reformed criminal
who risked his life working for the good side and who can't be
recharged because the charges against him have been dropped--unless
the WW is even more corrupt than it appears to be. 

The death of Dumbledore (and Snape's supposed current status as a
faithful DE) is another matter, especially since Dumbledore can hardly
testify in his favor a second time, but I won't go into that here.

Carol, wondering how Snape will get off this time and feeling
optimistic that he'll manage it somehow, with help from Harry and a
Pensieve