Flight of the Prince (was Re: How to make Remus look evil , when he is not)

[huntergreen_3]

No: HPFGUIDX 147162

Pippin wrote:
>> And that reminds me, don't you think it's strange that
>> Snape, who never misses a chance to gloat, didn't gloat over
>> Dumbledore? If he was really filled with hatred and revulsion,
>> wouldn't he have made a speech about it? Gloated a little?
>> Basked in the glory? Can you imagine Snape missing a chance
>> to do that? What could have come over him? ;-)

Alla replied:
> No, Pippin, I don't find it strange at all, if what I believe is
> true - namely that the underlying reason for Snape killing was
> saving his own life ( I don't know what he is planning to do with
> it - to serve bad or good guys), then Snape did not have TIME to
> gloat. He wanted to leave Hogwarts and fast, before Order may
> capture him or kill him. So, nope, I think it is very believable.

Pippin again:
>>No time for one teeny weeny gloat? Not even a "So long, sucker!"
before he blew Dumbledore away? What was the rush? The Order was 
*losing* the battle on the stairs, that's why they sent for Snape in 
the first place. Of course, if you mean that Snape had to hurry away 
from the tower in order to call off the DE's before they did any more 
damage, I agree with you. :-)<<

HunterGreen:
I was just thinking about this the other day. The way Snape acts 
after he kills Dumbledore is completely inconsistent if he's actually 
a Death Eater. If Snape was, this whole time, faking with Dumbledore, 
the whole time only pretending to be on DD's side to stay out of 
Azkaban, in other words, if what he told Bellatrix at the beginning 
of HBP was true, than his murder of Dumbledore, and therefore outing 
himself as a "true DE" would be his glorious moment of triumph. But 
does give Dumbledore any last comments? Does he explain that he was 
on the side of the DEs the whole time? No. He doesn't say anything AT 
ALL. He kills Dumbledore, all the time acting (IMO) somewhat 
uncomfortable, and the next thing he says is "Out of here, quickly."

But what's REALLY strange is when Harry is chasing him. Snape 
absolutely *loathes* Harry, and if he was ESE he would certainly 
enjoy the fact that he just killed Harry's mentor, AND that he'd 
hoodwinked Dumbledore for all that time. But does he brag about any 
evil things he's done? (such as sabotaging the occulmency lessons, or 
purposely waiting awhile to alert the order about Harry and Co 
possibly running off to the DoM [I'm not saying he did those 
things]). Does he at least mention that HE was the one who told 
Voldemort about the prophecy, setting in motion the chain of events 
that killed Harry's parents? No, he doesn't. 

What he does do, is mock Harry's ability to do nonverbal spells and 
make fun of James. So, pretty much what he does any other time. Even 
the first time Harry calls him a coward, his reaction is only:

--[HBP, chpt 28, pg 602/3, us ed]
"Fight back," Harry screamed at him. "Fight back, you cowardly--"
"Coward, did you call me, Potter?" Shouted Snape. "Your father would 
never attack me unless it was four on one, what would you call him, I 
wonder?"
--

Which seems pretty pededstrian, considering the situation. Compare 
that to his over-the-top reaction when he was victorious in catching 
Sirius (or so he thought at least).

--
"KEEP QUIET, YOU STUPID GIRL!" Snape shouted, looking suddenly quite
deranged. "DON'T TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" A few sparks
shot out of the end of his wand, which was still pointed at Black's
face. Hermione fell silent.
"Vengeance is very sweet," Snape breathed at Black. "How I hoped I 
would be the one to catch you...."
<snip>
"Up to the castle?" said Snape silkily. "I don't think we need to go
that far. All I have to do is call the dementors once we get out of 
the Willow. They'll be very pleased to see you, Black... pleased 
enough to give you a little kiss, I daresay..."
--

Certainly gloating there. He's taking a lot of joy in the situation 
too. Something that we DO NOT see in the Dumbledore murder scene in 
HBP. If he's a DE, than this is his greatest moment, he is getting 
rid of the (second)biggest thorn in Voldemort's side. He's killing 
the man who favored James, Sirius and Harry, someone who he'd have to 
hate to kill (unless, of course, there is something else going on). 

He doesn't even take the opportunity to hurt Harry a little bit. 
Sure, Voldemort didn't want Harry *killed*, but he would begrudge a 
little torture would he? Harry is actively ATTACKING Snape, if he 
threw a stupify or something at him, would it really matter? Snape 
even STOPS one of the other Death Eaters from torturing Harry. In 
fact, the only time Snape harms Harry (other than tossing him 
backward a few feet), is when Harry brings up Dumbledore.

--[pg 604]
[Harry]:"Kill me like you killed him, you coward--"

"DON'T--" screamed Snape, and his face was suddenly demented, inhuman 
<snip>"CALL ME COWARD!" 
--

And then, Harry feels something "whiplike" hit him in the face. Harry 
called him a coward just a page before and Snape didn't seem bothered 
at all, now suddenly it vexes him enough to make him seem "demented" 
and cause him to curse Harry, even though he had deflected every one 
of Harry's curses without harming a hair on the boy's head. The 
difference is that Harry mentioned Dumbledore this time. Snape 
certainly does not react like someone proud of what he had just done. 
He's, rather, quite angry with killing Dumbledore being called 
cowardly. If he was a seasoned DE, murdering Dumbledore when he was 
wandless and lying on the ground weakened doesn't take much courage 
(unless you've never killed before, like with Draco), BUT, if there 
was some arrangement made ahead of time with Dumbledore and Snape, 
something to do with the unbreakable vow, and Snape HAD to kill 
Dumbledore to fulfill his end (assuming that Dumbledore talked him 
into it and that's what their argument was about in the forest), then 
the action being called cowardly would certainly angry him. Just like 
if someone called Harry a coward for feeding Dumbledore the potion. 

Reading this chapter closely, Snape's behavior does not point to a 
man who is proud or happy with what he just did. To be honest, I was 
still on the fence about Snape's motivations until I took a closer 
look at his actions here, and now I can't see him as an active DE at 
all. Now, if he was just acting to save his own life, well, I don't 
really see that either. Why would he bother saving his life, if all 
that layed ahead of him was a life with the Death Eaters? The only 
reason that would make any sense is if he WANTED to re-join them (or 
had never left), which does not seem to be the case at all. I don't 
think there can be a gray area here.


-Rebecca/HunterGreen (who is ridiculously behind on reading posts)