VA/H=Mx13+RP? (was: Was the eavesdropper unimportant to Harry?)

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 147085

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "juli17ptf" <juli17 at a...> wrote:
>
> Carol 
> > wrote:
> > > And yet, setting aside the death of Dumbledore (which has 
> > > yet to be fully explained), Wormtail's sins against Harry
> > > are much greater than Snape's. 
> > > 
> 
> Lupinlore wrote:
> > Well, ... I disagree that even a DDM!Snape has sinned less 
> > against Harry than has Wormtail.  He was at  least as 
> > responsible for the Potter's deaths as Peter was.  ...
> > 
> 
> Julie:
> Assuming DDM!Snape (as you are above) are you saying you think
> telling Voldemort about the prophecy then REGRETTING it and 
> making a SINCERE effort to atone ... is equal to deliberately 
> betraying two of your closest friends to an almost certain 
> death?
> 
> ...
> 
> Maybe you actually believe they are equal but I don't. 
> 
> Julie
>

bboyminn:

I think Julie is on to something here. Too many people are focused on
the result of Snape's action rather than the actions themselves. All
Snape did is pass some, in the moment, seemingly neutral information
on to Voldemort. When Snape heard the Prophecy and passed it on, he
had no way of knowing what it meant or how Voldemort would interpret
it or use it.

Further, since the details of that event and that night haven't been
revealed in the book, we don't know that Voldemort concluded that
Harry was the greater threat. He may have simply had the opportunity
to attack Harry first. Under other circumstances, he could have just
as easily attacked Neville first. Again, I'm not saying this is true,
I'm saying we don't know.

So, Snape passed a random bit of information on to Voldemort not
knowing what it meant or how it would be interpreted. Petigrew knew
full well the consequences of revealing his information. He knew that
revealing the location fo the Potter's would mean their death. So, I
see a very big gap between what Peter did and what Snape did.

After the fact, it seems that Snape felt a great deal of regret and
remorse when the consequences of the Prophecy became know. Lily had
shown Snape kindness in a schoolyard world typically not known for
it's kindness, and Snape owed a Life Debt to James.

I won't go so far as to say that Snape was not without people who were
friendly to him at school. Snape was magically powerful and
academically gift, and that would surely draw admirers, even if those
admirers were self-serving in their intent. But there is a big
difference between people sucking up to their own advantage and true
friends as is clearly illustrated in Peter Petigrew's action. 

Also, I can't help wonder about Snape's Life Debt to James. Certainly,
it did not please him to be rescue by his nemesis, so we can
understand his continued hostility toward James and Harry. But we
know, or at least we are told, that there is a magical component to
the Life Debt; an ancient and esoteric magic. Could that Life Debt
have helped instill a true sense of guilt and regret in Snape? Is he
plagued by the fact that a debt is owned but can never be repaid? Is
he subconsciously bound by this ancient magic in a more powerful way
than his social and political beliefs? 

I suspect ancient magic, like the Life Debt, is deeply subconscious
and very subtle, and goes far beyond waving of wands, casting of
spells, or brewing of potions. 

So, I think part of Snape's redemption is based on a sense of debt to
Lily's kindness, even though he was probably very rarely kind to her,
and to his Life Debt to James. His cosmic debt to these two
individuals, is far more powerful that his personal policial beliefs.
This debt touches him at his very core, it touches him in a place that
he can't ignore. 

So, I see the events surrounding Snape as very plausable. He couldn't
possibly know at the time how the Prophecy information would be
interpreted and used, and that makes him very different from Wormtail.
 And, he has sufficient circumstance to where he could truly regret
the results of his action; again, very different than Wormtail.
However, I will add that my saying this doesn't absolve Snape of any
guilt in the matter; he made a series of dark, dangerous, and
anti-social choices that lead him to where he was at that time; he can
only blame himself for those choices. But in the specific event of the
Potter's death, he is certainly far less culpable than Wormtail.

Just a few thoughts.
Steve/bboyminn