Do any list members think Dumbledore might have asked Snape to kill him?

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 147015

 
Steve wrote:

First,  stop and think of how that conspiritorial conversation would
have gone.  Dumbledore calls Snape to his office and says -

"I've got a great idea.  First, we talk Draco into fixing the vanishing
cabinet. Then we bring a  pack of marauding Death Eaters into the
castle. Then you suggest that the  DE's set off the Dark Mark at the
top of the tower. Then when I show up,  you rush to the tower and kill
me. It's foolproof. What could go  wrong?"

Sorry, but that is far too unlikely a plan for me or Snape to  ever
swallow, or for Dumbledore to ever conceive. 

However, in that  final moment at the top of the tower, I can see
Dumbledore saying  "...Severus ...please ...you understand the
situation. You know there is  only one 'best' way out. Do what you know
you must do to salvage this  situation and protect the innocent
(meaning Harry and Draco). Do what you  know will produce the best
possible outcome in the struggle against  Voldemort." 

I assume there was a degree of Legilimency involved, but I  think the
bulk of it stems from Dumbledore's earlier emphasis that Harry's  well
being must be protected AT ALL COSTS, and the cost in that  terrible
moment was Dumbledore's life.


Julie:
I think it was actually a combination of the two above. Dumbledore
didn't have a single plan but a set of contigencies. He knew he was
dying (from the beginning of HBP--the dead hand), he knew Draco
was tasked with killing him, he knew Snape made the unbreakable
vow to protect Draco/complete Draco's task or die. And yes, these
are all assumptions, but they rest on some evidence, and if they are
all true, then Dumbledore had reason to establish contingency plans.
One of which would have been as you say above, that the innocent
must be protected above all, that Harry's life--and Snape's life--is  far
more important than Dumbledore's fading life, and that Snape must do
whatever it takes to preserve those more important lives, including
sacrificing Dumbledore if it ever comes to that. Which they are no
doubt hoping fervently it does not. But that hope was in vain.
 
This also explains the conversation Hagrid overheard in the forest,
when Snape said Dumbledore was asking too much, and that he
didn't want to do it anymore. He didn't want to kill Dumbledore, 
even in the worst case scenario, didn't want to even consider it. 
But Dumbledore insisted Snape keep his promise (to do whatever
Dumbledore asks--shades of Harry in the cave--or specifically to
carry out the worst case contingency plan Dumbledore had 
proposed).
 
So I agree that there was no plan for the specific events on the
Tower, just a contigency agreement about who would live or die 
if the worst possible thing came to pass. Which it did. 
 
Julie


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