Why did Snape take the UV?

[puduhepa98 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 156817

 
 
> Carol:
<snip> Taking the first part of the vow, the part  that
> Narcissa mentioned when she asked him if he would take it, was  a
> *calculated* risk. Snape is not suicidal, nor is he remotely  
stupid,
> but I think he felt that it would be safe to take this  portion of 
the
> vow, as he intended to protect Draco, anyway.  <snip> 
But he didn't agree to take the vow (unaware of the third
>  provision) *just* to allay her suspicions. His primary reason 
seems  to
> have been to protect Draco and to keep faith with Narcissa.  <snip>
> The third provision is another matter, of course. He didn't  
anticipate
> it and didn't want to agree to it, but IMO he had no  choice at that
> point. I forgot to mention that besides being bound by  ropes of 
fire
> to Narcissa, and already bound by the first part of  the oath,
> Bellatrix was standing over him with her wand pointed right at  him. 
Nikkalmati: 
I have to agree with most of your post (even the parts I snipped), but I tend 
 to agree with a_svirn see below on the extent of SS's knowledge.  I don't  
think SS knew Draco's task in Spinners End and took the vow (to protect Draco)  
to find out what was going on.  If Narcissa trusted him and told Draco to  
cooperate with him, he could find out the task and thwart it.  It was too  
important to pass up the chance to gain this information.  I am relying on  his 
surprise at the visit, Bella's surprise that he knew the task (he didn't),  
Bella's surprise he would take the vow, and the significant (to me <g>)  pause when 
he looked out the window at the empty street (trying to decide what  he would 
say to Narcissa).  We don't have any reason to believe that LV  would share 
his plan for Draco with SS.  LV is secretive, Bella seems to  think it is 
treasonous to reveal the task, and SS is not shown as being in favor  with LV; 
otherwise, why is PP living with SS and openly spying on  him? 
Nikkalmati 

>a_svirn:
But that's just it – the risk wasn't  manageable and if it was 
calculated we are still in the complete dark about  the nature of 
those calculations. If it were manageable risk he wouldn't  have 
ended up stuck with the third provision. He did, after all,  
neglected to negotiate the precise wording. Rather careless of him, 
I'd  say. In fact, why did he have to agree to the third provision at 
all? If he  didn't want to, he didn't have to, did he? <snip> 
<snip> 
As for Snape's calculations we have to assume that he miscalculated  
rather badly. If, that is, we are dealing with the DDM Snape. 
However,  I, for one, don't see how he can not be "remotely stupid" 
if he didn't  anticipated the trap of the third provision. At the 
very least he should  have been naïve in the extreme not to smell a 
rat as soon as Narcissa  mentioned the UV. <snip>
Nikkalmati: 
This IMHO is confusing hindsight with the calculations made at the spur of  
the moment -- which is all SS had.  Of course, it didn't turn out well, but  
for that I blame Bella, who interfered with Draco and prevented SS from finding  
out from him his task and how he was going to carry it out. If she taught  
him Occulmancy, it can only be to keep out SS.  I also think SS  underestimated 
Naracissa or at least her deviousness.  If he did not know  Draco's task, he 
could not anticipate how important it would be for Narcissa to  trap him into 
doing it, if Draco failed.  We don't know enough about the UV  to know if SS 
had any choice but to swear to part 3 once he had begun.   However, even if he 
could have backed out, unless he anticipated the nature of  the task, there was 
no overwhelming reason to stop and lose all he could gain  from making the 
vow.  He did have an uneasy feeling, none the less.   Note "the twitch."  I do 
think SS told DD everything and that at some time  it became clear to both DD 
and SS what Draco had been told to do.  Hence,  Plan B( whatever that was), 
which ended at the Tower. 
Nikkalmati 

>a_svirn:
<snip>. I 
don't believe, however, that Snape  knew about Draco's mission. It 
looks to me as though he skilfully drilled  both sisters in order to 
garner as much information as possible. 
Nikkalmati: 
Agreed. 
>  






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