Requiescat in Pace, My Dark Phoenix

[Talisman]

No: HPFGUIDX 151314

Talisman draws back her black veil, to tell you the sad truth:

Ah, fun theories about Slughorn or Pettigrew taking Dumbledore's
place.  I wish I could subscribe to them, but, let us face facts:
there is only one surrogate with the mighty cahones required for the
action of the cave and the tower, Severus Snape.

Anyone who knows me from my old days here, or the other groups in
which I've participated, knows I am an unqualified Snape-lover.

For me, he is the absolute best thing in the series.  I would much
prefer he AK-ed that old meddler, Dumbledore, than the reverse.

Unfortunately, I had an epiphany at the end of January.  I shared it
with family and friends, hoping to be talked out of it.

I searched the web, and found a Slughorn theory at the Leaky
Cauldron.  Hhouyhnhnm raised Slughorn here, and now dkrasnansky
posits Pettigrew.

Alas, if only.

No, tis Snape who is already dead.  He's not exactly gone, though.
There is little doubt that Book 7 will reveal him in all his dark
and posthumus glory.

What Harry doesn't uncover during the course of his last adventure,
will be explained in DD's final debriefing.

As for the greater WW, there is no hurry to convince them of Snape's
integrity.  There is nothing more they can do to him, now.

>From a meta standpoint, this preserves Snape's ever-elusive nature.
By the time Harry (and the average reader) comprehends the totality
of Snape's heroism, he will be far beyond their effusive, and
meaningless, regrets.

Voyez, il est déjE comme il était toujours.

Certainly DD's death was a fake.  The series explores and signals
the ruse of death in nearly every book.

In PS/SS Harry is a boy who should have died, but didn't; we learn
about the possibilities of the Draught of Death; and we see that,
though most thought LV was dead, he wasn't.

In CoS, the Basilisk's victims appear dead, but are resuscitated.
We later find out that the Diary was a Hx, a critical component of
LV's ability to be *killed* and yet not die.

In PoA we learn of Pettigrew's faked death.

In GoF we find out about Barty Jr.'s faked Death.

OoP is the book with the least (possibly no) faked death in it.  But
this is as it should be.

For those who don't yet know the pattern of reversals between books,
we'll just have to explore it another time.

Sirius's authentic death sets up the pattern for faked death in
HBP.  DD's apparent death in HBP, sets up his return in Book 7.

(Even if Stubby Boardman is Regulus Black, he still wouldn't have
enough series significance to be the *big* faked death.)

In HBP we see Slughorn's attempt at faked death and hear Switched!
Snape's offer to fake the deaths of Draco and his family.  This
heightened focus on faked death brings us to the precipitous moment,
and the fact that DD is represented by the phoenix completes the
picture.

IMO, the entire series cries out for a major faked death, and an
arrangement where the *dying* is in book 6 and the *revelation* is
in Book 7, is most felicitous.

Then there is the matter of impersonation.  Again, it's everywhere
in the series, and I well expect it to play a continued role in the
plot.

Think of the anxiety that Rowling built into the scene where the
Advanced Guard comes for Harry at the beginning of OoP.

When Moody asks Harry to lower his wand, Harry hesitates to do so.
Instead, he launches into a little meditation regarding how Moody
had been impersonated throughout his relationship with Harry, the
previous year (46).

For his part, Moody isn't particularly confident that the boy at the
top of the stairs is who he seems to be. "Are you quite sure it's
him, Lupin? he growled. "It'd be a nice lookout if we bring back
some Death Eater impersonating him. We ought to ask him something
only the real Potter would know. Unless anyone brought some
Veritaserum?" (48).

This segues nicely into the imposter fears that are rampant in HBP,
and the Ministry's protocols (however inept) for distinguishing
family members from DEs who just happen to look like them.

After Arthur forces Molly to go through the required question and
answer series, Molly indicates her impatience with it and retorts:
*I mean, a Death Eater might have forced the answer out of you
before impersonating you!* (87).

Rowling has intentionally underscored the feasibility of one wizard
impersonating another.

We know a certain DE,  Barty Crouch Jr., who did a fair job of
impersonating Mad-eye Moody.

I would expect Snape to be even better at impersonating DD.

Snape is not only a genius and a powerfully magical wizard, but he
has the advantage when it comes to performances, by virtue of his
considerable espionage experience.

Snape also benefits from actually knowing DD quite well.  He knows
the Dark Lord, too, and his *style,* for that matter.

In any event, the extant text provides such a surfeit of methods by
which wizards can alter their appearances that it's more a matter of
elimination than opportunity. Indeed, the series is a veritable
treatise on things and people not being what they seem.

The list of obvious methods have been recited in every Switch!Theory.

Polyjuice is suggested, and may well have been used, for at least
one of the participants.

dkrasnansky's suggestion about dragon's blood fortification is
interesting, an nice touch, and may even turn out to be true, though
it's not strictly necessary.

As has been mentioned, Harry and Switched!Snape *made their way down
the drive in the gathering twilight* (553).

Acording to www.sunrisesunset.com, Civil Twilight (defined as when
the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon, the limit at which
illumination is sufficient for clearly distinguishing terrestrial
objects), for the first half of June 1986, in Scotland, was a bit
after 11:00 PM

As we are all agreed that events on the tower occurred at
approximately midnight,  Rowling may well have meant to demonstrate
that it all took place within one hour.

(It is *nearly midnight* when Flitwick comes for Switched!DD (619).
"Switched!DD proceedes directly to the tower to AK Switched!Snape,
and then withdraws with Draco, post haste.)

Apparation is a lovely thing.

Under the circumstances, Switched!Snape may well have been able to
get through events on one swig.

Mrs. Crouch was buried as Barty Jr., and--unless you believe she
swigged at the last possible moment and was buried within the hour
of her death--we have seen that someone who dies in polyjuiced form
retains that appearance.

Moreover, in the worst case scenario, Switched!Snape would have been
gone for less than 2 hours (somewhat after 10 PM to ~ midnight),
which would only necessitate one sip from a flask somewhere in a
dark cave or while Harry had his back turned on the tower.  Not so
hard to pull off.  Reread the cave and tower scenes and you'll see
plenty of opportunities.

As others have discussed, the oft mentioned (PS/SS 155, GoF 237,
338, HBP 714 ) but never satisfactorily explained, Switching Spell
remains a possibility.

I also considered the James/Lupin switch theory that circulated a
few years back, which was predicated on the existence of just that
spell.

In her FAQ section, Rowling denied that James would do such a thing,
but didn't deny it was magically feasible. While not conclusive, her
response certainly leaves open that possibility.

And, who knows, Switched!DD could well be a metamorphmagus.

Rowling has suggested we explore DD's lineage, but other than
Aberforth, we have no family to explore.

We have, however, seen more of that Black family tree. There, along
with the evidence that everyone (not just purebloods) in the
Wizarding World seems to be related, we saw more of those
interesting *black spots.*

It could be fun to have DD somewhere up in the tree that leads to
Tonks. He might be the spot next to Elladora, though I favor a
(cheerfully speculative) construct where his family members blend in
through marriage a step or two above Tonks.

The idea that she got her morphing gene from his side of the family
would provide a legitimate basis for Rowling to have given Tonks
that attribute at all (it really hasn't otherwise played any role
important enough to warrant introducing the surplusage of all that
weirdness).

Many people have noticed that JKR skips a book with evidence that
will come into play.   Book 5 was supposed to cover her clue bases
for Book 7, and the metamorph business is definitely a candidate for
one of the imposters, most likely Switched!DD.

That would leave Switched!DD free to scamper with the DEs all
through Book 7, without further ado about his disguise.

Whether by polyjuice, switching spells, simple transfiguration, or
metamorphing, clearly the details of *how* are the least of our
worries.

What about Slughorn?

Houyhnhnm reminds us of the lines from Browning's poem:
*Dauntless the slug-horn to my lips I set, And blew `Childe Roland
to the Dark Tower came.'*

And with good reason.  Slug-horns aren't particularly common things;
Browning is pretty clearly the source.

However, the slug-horn in Browning's poem merely signals that the
hero has reached the tower.  Indeed, our Slughorn may play a similar
role in HBP, without being the hero, himself.

(There are also some shared literary considerations regarding the
subversion of the Romantic ideal, but that's another post.)

The DADA professor whom DD chooses--or in Umbridge's case allows to
be placed--is always selected for the purposes of that part of DD's
plan that is to unfold in the given year.

The DADA professor always has a role to play in the denouement.
But, in all other books, the DADA professor has also been the new
character to the book.

In HBP, Snape and Slughorn split these roles (just as Snape/the HBP
actually teaches Harry potions, and Sluggy teaches him a bit of Hx
DADA).

I'm perfectly willing to believe that Slughorn had some role to play
in Book 6, beyond that tampered-memory business--which was obviously
not necessary to DD`s understanding of the situation--or his
ability to explain it all to Harry. But, IMO, the real Sluggy is the
sweaty little guy in McGonagall's office--not the hero of the cave
and tower.

I will grant that the term *Oho*  in the cave scene (563) fits
Sluggy better than anyone else, but, this cannot prevail against my
reading of Slughorn as too much the coward to handle the deadly
adventure.  He is all about saving his own fat behind. He would
never be cavalier about a lake full of Inferi.  He would never drink
the goo.

The theorist from the Leaky (gumshoe) suggests that Slughorn chugged
Felix potion to get him through it.

Now, Horace on Felix might have been *more* confident, but he would
never have managed the sang-froid of the wizard in the cave.
Moreover, he clearly isn't composed by the time he reaches McG's
office.  What? Did he drink just enough to get him through the
battle?  And how did he calculate that? Nah.

And Pettigrew?

Obviousy PP would have to be possessed/Imperio-ed to go to the cave,
etc. The real PP would have shat bricks rather than worried about
Draco on the tower.

Ditto the points about cowardice, supra.

Why would PP, not only be transformed, but have his whole
personality and magical capability altered--an amazing feat of micro-
management even under some form of control--and  be used against his
will for these critical events?

To fake DD's death and take out a wretched DE rat at the same time?
Efficient, but not, I think, probable or likely.

I do like dkrasnansky's recognition of the connection between PP's
sliver hand and Switched!DD's burnt one.  It fits my Goblet Theory.
But, unfortunately for my Dark Phoenix,  DD isn't PP's antithesis:
Snape is.

Spy for LV / spy against LV.  Acquire a fake hand in the effort to
bring LV back / acquire a fake one in the effort to bring him down.

It all comes back to Snape.

Yes, indeed, Goblet Theory, the particulars of which I can't wedge
into this post, asserts that every important series event is
parodied/skewed in GoF.

Switched!Snape is foreshadowed in GoF by the dying Mrs. Crouch who
convinces Barty Sr. to allow her to take Jr.'s place.   However, in
HBP, it is the doomed Snape (no more worries about how to get out of
the UV) who convinces DD to make the switch.

Under Switched!Snape theory, this is part of that argument Hagrid
overhears between DD and Snape.

Now, like Barty Jr., Switched!DD is free to move behind enemy lines,
in someone else's  guise and--like Fake!Moody--he is doubly cloaked
in the enemy's false belief in his demise.

I also like the idea that this may not be the first time Snape and
Dumbledore have switched places. Dumbledore's line from GoF has
always intrigued me:

*[Snape] is now no more a Death Eater than I am* (591).

The old waffler just couldn't say * Snape is not a DE* could he? And
of course, Snape IS a DE, albeit a traitorous one.

Who's turn is it to visit the Dark Lord tonight, DD?  This may well
have been an old routine by the time Switched!Snape took Harry on
the Hx field trip.

On the other hand, I don't think Snape and DD were, or need to have
been, switched the entirety of HBP.

I expect it was Switched!Snape in the office, prior to the cave
outing, ergo the blanching when Harry confronts him about Snape
being the one who told LV about the Prophesy.

The relevant times are from that pre-cave meeting in DD's office, to
Switched!DD's retreat with Draco.

It gives a whole new force to Switched!DD roaring at Harry not to
call Snape a coward.

Of course, Switched!DD will go on looking like Snape into Book 7.

For general evidence, there is, of course, that oft-quoted line
about how *...with the sudden agility of a much younger man,
Dumbledore slid from the boulder, landed in the sea, and began to
swim, with a perfect breaststroke, toward the dark slit in the rock
face, his lit wand held in his teeth* (HBP 557). Nice touch, the
wand in the teeth.

Now Slughorn is younger than DD (67), but he is no spring chicken.
Molly says Slughorn and DD began teaching at Hogwarts at the same
time.  We know DD was teaching by the time Riddle was 11 (~59 years
before the end of HBP).  Assuming Slughorn was 25-30 when he began
to teach he is at least 84-90 by the cave scene.  Could be more.

I'll grant Slughorn enthusiasts DD's comments on Sluggie's alacrity
in Chapter 4, but thirty-something Snape seems a more likely
candidate.

There is more evidence that it's Snape in the cave:

The knife Switched!Snape uses in the cave is *a short silver knife
of the kind Harry used to chop potion ingredients* (HBP 559).

It's the kind specifically recommended by the HBP for smashing
snarlgaluff pods.  Slughorn may be a potions master, too, but the
literary connotation is with Snape.

Moreover, the incantation Switched!Snape uses to heal his arm is the
same one Snape used earlier to heal Draco's wounds.

*You are very kind, Harry," said Dumbledore, now passing his wand
over the deep cut he had made in his own arm, so that it healed
instantly, just as Snape had healed Malfoy's wounds* (HBP 560).

I don't know how many have noticed all the corollaries between
Books 2 and 6. They are rampant.

In my own opinion, the memory potion is a symmetrical reversal of
Lockhart's end of book memory loss.

The symmetry requires that the person experiencing the potion
induced surfeit of memory in HBP be Lockhart's opposite, and that
would definitely be Snape.

The fact that they are each DADA professors in the respective books
completes the *butterfly effect.*

I initially thought that Switched!Snape was experiencing his Godric'
s Hollow remorse in the potion scene.

But, on further reflection, I believe he is reliving the murder of
his family as a penalty for his failure or refusal, as a young DE,
do something the Dark Lord had ordered him to do.

This also satisfies the intra-book symmetry: he protects Draco from
what he then demonstrates he has suffered himself.

This view fits well with the words *Don't hurt them, don't hurt
them, please, please, it's my fault, hurt me instead...(572).

Indeed, if Snape is reliving what he said to Voldemort  (say, as
Snape's parents were Crucio-ed to death to punish him for refusing
an order) the repeated pleas to *make it stop,* the mea culpas: *It'
s all my fault....I know I did wrong...I`ll never, never again...,*
all make sense.

I  propose that the order had something to do with an earlier (pre-
GH) Potter attack that Snape refused to effectuate.

Evil, lethal, symmetry.

There is more of it.

Like when Snape toasts * [t]he Dark Lord* at Spinners End (24), and
then toasts Harry while in the cave, as Switched!DD (570).

But enough for now.

When it comes to the tower scene, some folks find it jarring to
think of DD pleading...for anything.  I say a fortiori Snape.  But,
I think it is important to remember that the person we see slumping
on the tower wall is the same person who drank the green potion.

It seems apparent that the green potion causes anyone who consumes
it to repeatedly experience their worst memory in the most vivid and
unrelieved fashion.  For someone with truly brutal memories, it is
pure torture, and there may be no antidote for it.

Under the circumstances, the person suffering these effects has
shown a great deal of courage, and a remarkable mastery of their
personal emotions.

They have warded off the Inferi, they have persevered in the return
to Hogwarts (to complete the plan), they have protected Harry, and
they have offered Draco assistance, all while enduring psychological
misery and deleterious physical consequences.

If this person intended to be AKed in DD's stead, as part of a
*faked death* scheme, they also knew that the time was right and no
interest would be served by delay.

All necessary parties were present: Invisible Harry, faltering
Draco, DD, DE witnesses, and Snape.

Indeed, the longer the tower scene was drawn out, the more danger
for everyone at Hogwarts, including the general student population
and the Order members battling downstairs.

If this person were doomed by an Unforgivable Vow they had no
intention of fulfilling; were suffering the ongoing heartache and
remorse of a horrific memory, with no hope of respite; and had the
best interest of The Plan, and everyone else, in mind; it really was
not so undignified to say *...please... .*  Finish it.

And, it's a nice symmetry to Snape's being the recipient of
Narcissa's pleading, in the beginning.

(These proofs just keep bubbling up.)

I'd prefer to think that Snape would be back teaching DADA in the
epilogue. ::sigh:: At least until he takes over as Headmaster (I'd
be obliged if someone would AK McGonagall, early on).

But I unfortunately keep seeing all the evidence to the contrary.

See it or not, don't say I didn't warn you.

Talisman, assuring her Dusky Prince that neither Fiction nor Death
can ever part us.