ESE, DDM, OFH, or Grey? (WAS: DDM!Snape the definition)

[Sydney]

No: HPFGUIDX 162674


 
> Jen:  I'd like to find out if the DADA is involved or not and how it 
> operates. 


Sydney:  

It seems to me we have good reason in canon to believe that the Vow
led to Snape getting the DADA job, not the other way around:

-- Snape complains to Bellatrix that D-dore won't give him the job in
Spinner's End.  Of course he could be concealing that he has it for
some reason, but it would be public knowledge in a couple of weeks and
then she'd know he'd lied about something.  Maybe there's some angle
where Dumbledore just hasn't told him yet, but it would just be messy
storytelling, IMO, plus, I can't see the curse activating until the
job has been both officially offered and officially accepted.

So, Snape does *not* have the DADA job ergo the DADA curse in the
Spinner's End chater, IMWSO (that's, "in my well-supported opinion" <g>). 


Jen:
 
> It's hard for me to imgaine Voldemort placing an innocuous jinx/curse 
> such as a person simply being forced to leave the post.

Sydney:

Well, whatever the DADA jinx is it's not innocuous!  Barty Jr. got his
soul sucked out, Quirrel died, Lockhart lost his mind.  I do dislike
the idea, though, of their fates being forced by the DADA curse by
actually *acting* on their personalities.  Lockhart did what he would
have done under the same circumstances with or without the DADA curse.
 And when JKR shows a character in the grip of a personality-affecting
enchantment, it tends to be visible and you can see exactly when it
kicks in.  It's sort of pointless storytelling, IMO, if Lupin's
wishy-washiness or Umbrige's control-freakery were 'boosted' or
something by the curse and they weren't really responsible for them. 
I mean, what's the point of the whole character then?  


Jen again: 

You and Sydney are sharing digs in the Suicide Snape camp,
lol. I tell you what though, I'm beginning to wonder if you guys don't
have a point there. I could see a big scene with Harry like the
revelation of the HBP, only you know, better, about Snape's death wish
and how he thought the UV would finally be the thing to get the job
done if not for having to save *Potter* (with spit flying of course
since that's the only way Snape can say Potter's name).

Sydney:

LOL!  Yeah, I'm not totally married to it, but I do LOVE the irony if
Snape's wanted the DADA job all along so he could have a heroic death
or something, and then he arrives at the top of the tower and he's
like, "D'oh!"  I should stress though that suicidal!Snape is more
important to me for explaining why he wants the DADA job, than why he
took the vow (serious, that line of Harry's, "as if you haven't been
watching them all come and go, hoping you'd be next" is just so
freakin', "Harry, get a *clue*).

A few more words about the Vow... really rehashing, I'm afraid, stuff
I wrote several months ago but I don't have any new thoughts on it in
particular.  As I see it, there's a very limited list of reasons for
Snape to take it:

-- He was goaded/seduced/drunk/or otherwise making an emotional
mistake.  Can't see this at all, because then JKR would have written
the scene completely differently.  When the Vow comes up, Snape's
expression is "blank, unreadable".  He says "Certainly, Narcissa, I
shall make the Unbreakable Vow" quietly.  I know there's other
opinions on this but JKR really does prefer to *show* it when people
are in the grips of an emotion (even with a 'single tear' or a little
choking voice or *something*).  Snape would have to be having some
pretty powerful emotions to make a mistake like that.

-- There's some unknown reciprocity aspect to the Vow and he wants
something from Narcissa.  That's veering into fanfic, making up extra
stuff on spells in order facilitate a theory, IMO.  Ron gave the UV
Exposition and it would have been covered then.  

-- There isn't magical reciprocity but Snape's still hoping to get
something out of the Malfoys.  This doesn't work, IMO-- he could get
95% there by delivering Draco safe-and-sound at the end of the year,
and the extre 5% just doesn't sound worth wrapping himself up in a
suicide pact.  Plus, I think there would have been some sort of
playing up by Snape of the gratitude now owed to him.  Why not give
him a line of dialogue about it?  Even a mysterious line of dialogue?

Okay, so those are the ones I don't like... the one's I'm currently
entertaining in my boudoir are:

-- Suicidal!Snape, who took the Vow in order to break it.  Fits with
Snape's enigmatic demeanor here.  Also, quite a good plan.  Plus, I'm
really sick so I find Suicidal!Snape kind of hot.  

Except:  he WAS swearing to protect Draco who I think he has some
affection for, so it sounds more like he was planning on carrying out
the Vow than breaking it. Let us all bear in mind that the "carry out
the task" part was the fine print, as when Narcissa was originally
pitching the concept what she says is:  "Would you look after him? 
See that he comes to no harm?"  "I can try"  "If you are there to
protect him.. Severus, will you swear it?  Will you take the
Unbreakable Vow?"  So that's what Snape primarily has in mind at this
point.  

-- Practical!Snape, who realizes that the only way Draco will not be
killed by Voldemort is if Snape magically lashes the two of them
together.  He knows Voldemort will definitely kill Draco (because
that's just the sort of guy he is, plus the kill-Dumbledore thing
isn't going to happen).  But now he can't without taking Snape with
him (because that doesn't go with "protect Draco from all harm"). 
This is actually also the only logical reason Narcissa would venture
to ask him.  If she's really a wingnut of course she might expect him
to make a suicide pact just to make her feel better, but it makes more
sense if there's actually a practical "protect Draco" payoff. 

This has many good aspects.  It makes sense that there wouldn't be a
reveal at this point because it can't be made too, too obvious that
Snape is being heroic here, putting his life on the line for somebody
else (although it's already, IMO, pretty obvious).  It's in character
with Snape thematically because he's always trying to do the correct
thing and then always getting screwed by it, because the god/author
just loves to torture him that way!  It's a Dark Magic mirror of the
Love Magic that Lily used to save Harry.  It fits with DDM!Snape
because seeing as it WAS the only way to protect a child it's the sort
of thing a good guy would do that just had unfortunate consequences,
and Dumbledore would view it as a benign error and hence continue to
trust Snape completely.  Plus if I get my Christmas wish and there's a
Snape/Draco/Voldemort scene at the start of Book VII there's a nice
juicily dramatic way of exposing it.

Actually, now that I've written that up, my favorite would be a
mash-up suicidal!practical!Snape.  He takes the Vow for the above,
'protect Draco' reasons.  He doesn't hesitate because he doesn't mind
dying in the process-- you'd have to be a little suicidal any way you
slice it to take a UV.  His hand jerks because the kill Dumbledore
part is a bad spanner in the works (plus he can't get out of it
because he's bound with snakes of fire by now), but he continues
coolly because he's thinking, "Oh well, at least I can teach DADA this
year and then check out heroically not killing Dumbledore."  Or
possibly he's starting to think about what this is all going to mean
in terms of Horcrux Dumbledore, or whatever.  Anyways, he contacts
Dumbledore and tells him what happened, and Dumbledore gives him the
DADA post because anyways Snape's out, and goes to offer Potions to
Slughorn.  

At some point, for some reason, Snape killing Dumbledore winds up on
the table.  It's the most obvious solution to the forest argument, and
I really think it's necessary for it at least to have been discussed
as a possibilty for "Severus... please... " to make plain sense with
Snape immediately getting a handle on 'please, what'. And of course
the DADA curse finished it off by making it the most hideous outcome
for Snape possible, as he would much rather have died and now he's
stuck a villain again.   

Ta da!  Okay, that's definitely my working Vow theory.  And
suicidal!practical!Snape is smokin' hot.  Bonus!

-- Sydney, piling on the melted 70% Dark Chocolate, homemade
fresh-baked graham cracker, and juuuuust the right amount of
carmelized gooey marshmallow center, not too sweet.  Lots o' gourmet
bittersweet smores over here in the DDM!Snape camp, people!