Blown!Snape

[Neri]

No: HPFGUIDX 162675

> Pippin:
> Since the murder Snape plans is fake, no moral issue arises,
> and there is no problem with Draco's timing, because there
> is never any need to wait for Draco. Dumbledore's
> fake murder could be staged at any time, but Dumbledore
> (IMO) insisted on waiting until his business with Harry was
> complete.

Neri:
So, according to this plan, if Draco decides to assassinate 
Dumbledore already in November, he is of course expected to fail, 
then say Dumbledore arranges for Draco and Narcissa to be "killed" 
and hidden away. How does Snape then explain to Bella and Voldemort 
that the assassination had failed, Draco is dead, and yet Snape is 
still alive?

 
> > Neri:
> > I think the chain of events leading from Snape (especially DDM!
Snape)
> > alerting the Order to Draco being sent to a suicide mission is too
> > long and arbitrary to saddle Snape with any responsibility. By the
> > same logic you could say that it was Harry's responsibility or
> > Dumbledore's responsibility, since they had an even greater share 
in
> > preventing Voldemort from putting his hands on the prophecy. 
> 
> Pippin:
> No. If Snape had not alerted the Order, then the DE's, despite 
> bobbling a bit, would have recovered the prophecy, Voldemort
> would have no reason to be angry at Lucius, and Draco would not
> be in peril.

Neri:
You can say the same thing about Harry. If Harry had fought less well 
or given up a minute earlier, the DEs would have had the prophecy, 
even with Snape alerting the Order. And yet Harry is hardly 
responsible for Draco being issued with a suicide mission. So I don't 
see why would DDM!Snape be responsible.


> Pippin:
> You might as well say that Snape couldn't be held
> responsible for Voldemort's arbitrary decision that the Potters
> were the people mentioned in the prophecy and should be
> murdered. After all, he was fighting on Voldemort's side at
> the time and bears no more responsibility than any other DE. 

Neri:
Indeed, if Snape is Voldemort's man, and if he wouldn't have been 
indebted to James, then he wouldn't be morally responsible for his 
information on the Potters. He'd certainly be responsible generally 
for being a DE, but not specifically for his information regarding 
the Potters. He was merely fighting for his side. The information 
regarding the Potters only became a moral problem because Snape *was* 
indebted to James and assuming Snape *is* DDM.  In any case, it was 
Snape's very information on which Voldemort had acted when he 
attacked the Potters, while in HBP Snape's information when he 
alerted the Order was not related to Draco in any way. 


> Neri:
> > In fact, think about all this from Narcissa's point of view: she 
found
> > that her dear Lucius is in Azkaban and wrongly accused by the Dark
> > Lord because he was in effect stabbed in the back by Severus 
Snape,
> 
> Pippin:
> Well, that  disposes of your theory that Snape shouldn't feel
> any great responsibility for what happened...<g>
> 

Neri:
No, it doesn't. You are mixing two different kinds of responsibility 
from two different points of views and in different moralities. From 
his point of view, DDM!Snape is definitely not morally responsible 
if, because he stabbed an enemy in the back (even if that enemy 
believed Snape to be his friend at the time), then as a result 
*another* enemy arbitrarily decides to send the son of the first 
enemy to a suicide mission. But from Narcissa's point of view, she 
would definitely want revenge on Snape for stabbing Lucius (enemy or 
friend, in the back or in the front).

Here, I'll present you with a simpler example: Harry is not morally 
responsible, from his point of view, for putting Lucius in Azkaban. 
They were enemies in a war, they fought and Lucius lost. But this 
hardly prevents Narcissa from wanting revenge on Harry for that very 
deed. 


> Pippin:
> 
> We don't know whether Narcissa is a marked DE. If not, she probably
> couldn't contact Voldemort instantly or get hold of Lucius in time 
to warn
> him and if she went to the Ministry she'd only be captured herself.
> 

Neri:
Narcissa is Kreacher's contact woman (it must be her because she's a 
Black), Kreacher is a key agent in Voldemort's plan in OotP, and 
timing is crucial to the success of this plan. How realistic it is 
that Narcissa wouldn't be able to contact Voldemort immediately? Even 
if she didn't have such a connection, she'd still do everything she 
can to warn him and prevent Lucius's capture. So the information 
about Snape warning the Order might reach Voldemort too late for 
Lucius, but it would reach him.  


Neri