DDM!Snape clue

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 148419

Sherry wrote:
> i think it would be impossible to confuse the words, "it's over"
with a long Latin like spell such as "petrificus totalus"--spelling? 
Even in the heat of the moment, with Harry's incredible hatred and his
fixation on Snape, he would certainly recognize his voice and know any
words that came out of his mouth.  the two phrases are so different,
sound so different, that as a possible clue to Snape's real motives,
it doesn't work for me. <snip>

Carol responds:
Hi, Sherry. I think you're misreading my argument just slightly. (My
fault, I'm sure.) Harry did hear the words, "It's over" (actually,
"It's over. Time to go!") and knew that Snape had said them. He also
heard the words "Petrificus Totalus!" a few seconds later (when he was
trapped and helpless with Fenrir Greyback's hot breath in his face)
but doesn't seem to know who said them. (If he had, the speaker would
surely have been identified.) So when Tonks says that she heard Snape
say something but didn't understand what he said, I'm suggesting that
what she heard but didn't understand was Snape yelling "Petrificus
Totalus!" (I agree that Tonks could hardly confuse those two phrases.
I just think that Harry is giving her the words he knows Snape spoke
without realizing that Snape may also have spoken the spell only a few
seconds later.)

It just seems to me that the unidentified speaker of the spell is one
puzzle piece and Tonks hearing Snape say words that she doesn't
understand is a second piece and that they fit nicely together if
Snape is the speaker of the spell. (Harry mixes up the pieces by
providing what I believe is a plausible but mistaken solution--a form
of misdirection that we've seen over and over again in the books, and
not just from Harry. Mistaking Draco's movement behind the bookshelves
in the library for Madam Pince's, which I mentioned in my previous
post, is just one of many examples.)

I'm not saying that I've proven Snape cast the spell, but it seems odd
to me that JKR would have Tonks say that she didn't understand Snape's
words unless those words were more important than "It's over" (which
essentially duplicates his order to the DEs on the tower). Possibly
JKR is emphasizing his repeated orders to the DEs to get out of
Hogwarts (which he gives yet again after the big DE Crucios Harry and
which are finally obeyed at that point), but why emphasize something
that the reader can pick up on without help?

Hope the explanation is a bit clearer this time.

Carol, noting that the misdirection (if any) is JKR's, not Harry's