Snape's Final Straw

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 150918

houyhnhmn:
> > If someone was posing as Dumbledore it would have to have 
> > been by means of some other kind of magic. Transfiguration, 
> > perhaps.  We have never seen a person transfigured to
> > appear as another person, but a person has been transfigured into
> > an animal on one occasion, and an inanimate object (chair) on
> > another.

Jen: 
> I've wondered whether Switching spells might come up since the 
> kids studied them in Transfiguration and we've never really seen a 
> use for them that I can remember... 
> And then hearing that DD could do things with a wand 
> the OWL examiner had never seen before and to know he was the 
> Transifiguration prof for many years and never really *see* him 
> transfigure? 
> 
> Still, that could 
> be a possible mechanism for DD/Sluggy and something we haven't seen 
> happen. Or DD and Aberforth. ;)
> 
> 
houyhnmn:
> > It's just speculation for
> > fun.  I feel a little stronger about the possibility that 
> > Dumbledore may be alive, though.  *(snip)*
> > Then I left the Potterverse alone for awhile, and when I
> > came back to it, I started wondering if DD's death was not a 
> > little too convincing.  A Wronski feint perhaps?  

Jen: 
> That's exactly what's happened for me, the process you 
> describe. I haven't been able to type much recently due to wrist 
> problems (which hopefully will resolve soon so I can get back to my 
> obsession <g>), and being away has made me wonder about the ending 
> of HBP, which JKR said herself wasn't really an ending but a middle 
> of the story. Thinking of it in that light makes the idea of DD 
> being alive more plausible to me, even though a few months ago that 
> was almost unthinkable.

Ceridwen:
Jen, first, I hope your wrist gets better!  It's hard to watch the 
debate and not be able to say everything you want to say.

Jen and houyhnmn both, I've had some odd ideas about the Tower scene, 
too.  Mine is more about Polyjuice, since it was made a centerpiece 
in Slughorn's class, then used on Crabbe and Goyle throughout the 
book.  I had thought that maybe Dumbledore wasn't Dumbledore.  But I 
cannot see when, or where in the text, he changed.  The few moments 
while Harry ran off to get his Invisibility Cloak, maybe, but as you 
say, Polyjuice must be reapplied every hour (Crouch!Moody & CoS) and 
we don't see Dumbledore drinking anything but the glowing green 
potion.

I was off-balance about several characters throughout the book.  
Dumbledore was more curt with Harry, so I suspected him of not being 
him several times.  He still had his own knowledge, so I pushed it 
away, but it recurred.  I even questioned if it was him at the 
Dursleys'.  But he was quite capable of mentioning Grimmauld Place in 
front of them, and if Muggles count in the Fidelius charm, then no 
one but Dumbledore would have been able to 'speak the name' of the 
place.  Bets are off if Muggles don't affect the spell.

I completely believed the Dumbledore I saw talking to Draco on the 
Tower.  The thing that made me wonder was the same thing that made 
Harry's blood run cold: pleading.  Dumbledore wouldn't plead.  He 
didn't even plead when LV was possessing Harry at the MoM, and that 
had to be traumatic for him (not to mention for Harry, but we don't 
know what Dumbledore was thinking).  Being in good health at the 
time, maybe he was able to squelch the urge to plead where he was 
clearly ill or worse on the Tower.  But, at this point, I am 
questioning everything.

I questioned Tonks in most of her appearances.  I really thought, 
when she showed up 'looking for Dumbledore', that she was Narcissa, 
or perhaps Draco.  The emaciated condition described echoes the 
descriptions of Draco as the year progresses.  Narcissa's panic in 
Spinner's End might have her showing the same signs as time passes, 
too.  Narcissa is Tonks's aunt.  Is she a Metamorphmagus, too?  Is 
Draco?  I don't think so ordinarily, but I wondered several times 
during the book.

I even questioned if Snape was himself on the Tower.  He usually 
seems in control of himself more than he did then.  Yes, I know, 
extrordinary circumstances, DEs in Hogwarts, Dumbledore collapsing, 
Fenrir Greyback being there, perhaps seeing Bill's ruined body before 
coming up and connecting Greyback to the sight, and so on.  But I had 
trouble buying the almost panicked Snape: I wondered if he was 
Narcissa in reverse drag.  The flight afterwards made me re-think 
that, when would he and Narcissa have changed places?  They couldn't 
be guaranteed that Harry wasn't right on Snape's heels.  And that was 
(I think, anyway) definitely Snape parrying Harry's spells and 
yelling instruction.  The thing that sticks in my craw over this part 
is, Dumbledore saying to wake Snape, then Flitwick rushing in and 
being stunned.  If the *real* Snape was asleep and there was a ringer 
in his stead, one that Hermione was mistakenly watching all night, 
that *might* explain it.

Or, not.  The book came off as unreal on one level, even before the 
Tower.  Who was who?  Who could be trusted?  It was probably the way 
it started out in ch. 3, carried over to the Slughorn chair and 
reinforced by that and, later, the Polyjuice, coupled with the secret 
twists we've seen all through the series.  At this point, I doubt 
anyone but Harry, and even Harry is suspect because when is he only 
Harry, and when is he Harry with LV along for the ride?

And, yes, the interview statement where JKR says that HBP is really 
the first half of the Book 6/7 whole makes me wonder exactly what 
we're seeing that didn't happen as it appeared.  By the middle of 
each book so far, we are being led farther and farther into the dark, 
not being enlightened.

I am so glad that someone else is having second thoughts, or even 
third and fourth thoughts about a lot of what we think we know!  I 
don't feel so alone!

Ceridwen.