Snape again/Love and Vengeance/Ending

[zgirnius]

No: HPFGUIDX 146019

SSSusan wrote:
> 
> Because I am a DDM!Snaper, in my mind Snape's comeuppance may have 
> already come in his taking DD's life.  If he *is* DDM, and if his 
> loyalty really does lie with the Order, and if I'm right that DD 
> commanded/requested that Snape kill him, then casting that AK may 
> have been the most painful, most difficult thing Snape's had to do 
in 
> a long, long time, or ever.  
> 
> So, to me, if he proves out as DDM, then I'll be content with that 
as 
> punishment enough for Snape.  He had to kill the man he most 
admired, 
> respected and perhaps loved?  He had to lose the trust of all those 
> in the Order?  He had to flee Hogwarts?  All because of how it 
> *appeared* that he'd murdered DD because he wanted to.  Yikes! 
That's 
> painful.  
> 
> I know that that doesn't address the notion of *karmic* payback 
which 
> Lupinlore explained more fully one time, that the payback or 
> comeuppance should *associate* with the sin itself.  IOW that the 
> kind of comeuppance I describe in DD's killing wouldn't "fit" 
> the "crime" of his treatment of Harry and Neville. 

zgirnius:
First, I agree 100% that if Snape is DDM, he will have suffered 
enough for my taste by the end of Book 7. But I have been considering 
the 'karmicness' or lack thereof in what happened to (assumed) DDM!
Snape at the end of HBP. And asking myself, in what ways might Book 6 
have been different, if only Harry and Snape had a distant but 
cordial student-teacher relationship instead of the mess that Snape 
has created (largely on his own)? Snape and Dumbledore are sitting on 
one 'piece of the puzzle', that Draco's assignment is to kill DD. 
Harry is sitting on two different 'pieces', that Draco is using 
something from B&B in his 'mystery' task, and that whatever that is, 
it involves lots of time spent in the Room of Requirement. If we buy 
that the poisonous nature of the Snape/Harry relationship is at the 
root of the failure of all parties to work together to solve the 
puzzle, then Snape IS put in his position as a consequence of his 
behavior towards Harry. 

Further, presumably Dumbledore's death is not the end goal of Snape 
and Dumbledore. Yes, it did achieve some immediate goals, but I 
presume there was more to it (establishing Snape's DE credentials 
more firmly for some purpose). In which case, almost certainly, Snape 
is going to want to help Harry in some way. Which will be a huge 
problem for Snape in Book 7, because of the poisoned state of the 
relationship even before the killing of Dumbledore. It has been oft 
suggested onlist that Snape could prove his loyalty to Harry by some 
spectacular (possibly suicidally so) action, but that would hardly be 
his first choice. The perceived necessity of such an action is linked 
directly to Snape's past behavior towards Harry. 

Or JKR might opt for some sort of confrontation between the two. But 
it is one in which Harry should (IMO) have the upper hand. While 
Harry might in the cold light of reason need Snape's help (of 
whatever sort) this is not the way Harry thinks or acts. He is much 
more likely to turn any assistance from that quarter down flat. (And 
whose fault is that...?) Which means Snape would need to convince 
Harry of his sincerity on an emotional level, because that is the way 
Harry operates. I cannot imagine anything Snape would less like to 
do, personally.