The Unloved Son (was Re: Could I be wrong about Snape being evil?)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 156744

Brothergib wrote:
> I think we must remember that at the end of OOTP, DD tells Harry
that he had concocted a plan to destroy LV. That plan involved Harry,
and because of it's importance it was imperative that DD not generate 
> feelings for Harry. The plan was too important. Therefore we have 
> canon evidence that DD had decided on a course of action to defeat 
> Voldemort and that he would have to remain emotionally detatched for 
> it to succeed. As we know, in the case of Harry, he failed in this 
> goal.
> However, it also seems that this plan also involved Severus Snape.
It therefore follows that DD would also tell himself that he needed to 
> remain emotionally detatched from the consequences for Snape that 
> this plan entailed. I do not think it would be hard for DD to remain 
> emotionally detatched when it came to Snape!!
> 
> Therefore, from his own mouth, DD has stated that he very much
wanted to be cold, hard, detatched from the suffering of others to
ensure his plan succeeded!
>
Carol responds:
I agree that DD had a plan to defeat LV that involved Snape and that
would work best if he remained emotionally detached, and I agree that
he failed to remain emotionally detached with Harry, who would have to
face terrible danger if Voldemort was to be destroyed. But I think DD
also failed to remain detached from Snape, whom he was also sending,
repeatedly, into terrible danger.

Canon evidence from the scene where DD sends Snape to Voldemort to
claim that he's still a loyal DE (note that Snape has just displayed
loyalty to DD by showing Fudge his Dark Mark as proof that LV has
returned):

"'Severus,' said Dumbledore, turning to Snape, 'you know what I must
ask you to do.  If you are ready. . . . If you are prepared. . . .'

"'I am,' said Snape.

"He looked paler than usual, and his cold black eyes glittered strangely.

"'Then good luck,' said Dumbledore, and he watched, with a trace of
apprehension on his face, as Snape swept wordlessly after Sirius.

"It was several minutes before Dumbledore spoke again" (GoF Am. ed. 713).

There can be only one explanation for DD's silence. He's too overcome
by emotion to speak. (BTW, Snape's paleness and glittering eyes
exactly mirror Harry's before he enters the third-floor corridor in
SS/PS, a description the narrator has to step out of Harry's pov to
give us.)

So, yes, DD has a long-standing plan to defeat LV and Snape has always
been part of it, at great risk to himself. But DD is not indifferent
to Snape, nor does he fail to appreciate his courage and the valuable
services that only he can perform. I would even argue that Dumbledore
loves Snape as a son, as this excerpt seems to show. (IMO, Snape loves
him in return, which made it extremely difficult to obey DD's last
wish, but that isn't part of this argument.)

Carol, who find this scene and Snape's courageous revelation of his
Dark Mark to Fudge compelling evidence that Snape is DDM