[HPforGrownups] Re: Blown!Snape

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 162670

Pippin:
>> <snipped> I'm calling it Blown!Snape because it starts with the
>realization that there
>> are, or were, nine people who knew that  Snape alerted the Order that
>> Harry might have gone to the Ministry: Snape, Harry, Dumbledore, Sirius,
>> Tonks, Mad-eye, Shacklebolt, Lupin and Kreacher.
>
>Neri:
>Then it's obvious Voldemort already knows that Snape alerted the
>Order, isn't it? ESE!Lupin would tell him that immediately, of course
><g>. So the only question is: why is Snape still alive?

Bart:
I'm not so sure that all of them are the ones who know that Snape alerted the Order. Without looking back, the only ones who I believe we KNOW knew who alerted the Order are Snape, Harry, Dumbledore, and at least one of the rest (excluding Kreacher), and if it was only Sirius, he's not going to be telling anybody anyhow. 

> Pippin:
>> This inverts the usual situation with regard to the vow. It
>> can explain why Snape might, with a twitch of misgiving,
>> agree to the last clause, but not the first two.
>
>Neri:
>Are you saying that Dumbledore's plan from the beginning was for Snape
>to kill him in order to gain Voldemort's trust? And that Snape decided
>to accept the third term of the vow because he was going to kill
>Dumbledore anyway? (I have to ask to make sure because you don't state
>it explicitly).

Bart:
How about: Dumbledore was already dying, Snape was the one who was keeping him alive, and Snape had already (reluctantly) agreed with Dumbledore to "pull out the plug" when necessary? Which brings up an interesting question: if you make an Unbreakable Vow to do the impossible (such as kill someone who is already dead), what happens? Is it physically possible to do so? I suspect that this is one of the aspects that JKR did not think through all the way. Of course, we don't have 100% reliable testimony on the effects of an Unbreakable Vow. 

Bart