DD trust in Snape again. WAS: Evil Hermione

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 154844

> AD:
> Snape and Voldemort--we need consider only Voldemort's motives,
> Quirrell's pretty much just the horse he's riding--have entirely
> different motives.
> 
> Snape's got a job--probably a much better one than he could get
> anywhere else, given his history--and Dumbledore's continuing
> protection, right up until Dumbledore decides he was wrong about
> Snape, after all.  Snape needs to preserve that relationship for as
> long as he can.  

Pippin:
Wait a minute. Only DDM!Snape needs Dumbledore's continuing 
protection. All varieties of Snape have been cleared of charges by
the tribunal. Snape needs protecting only if he expects
Voldemort to return and only if he intends to oppose him. There
are plenty of people with DE history and lovely ministry jobs.
Snape doesn't need Dumbledore's patronage for that.

There is a contingent on this list arguing that Snape Wants Harry
Dead But Not Yet. That Snape would certainly act to save Harry's
life regardless of his loyalties. But I thought you were saying 
that even if Snape wanted Harry dead, he would not permit 
Quirrell to kill Harry in front of him because he, Snape, would 
then become a suspect. Is that right?

That seems bizarre to me. Surely if Snape wants Harry dead,
having someone else do the dirty would be a stroke of luck.
Even if it could be shown that Snape had reasons to hate 
Harry and could have done the attack, it would be 
mighty hard to prove that he'd done it, or even that he
let it happen, especially if he managed to point the finger
at Quirrell.

 Anyway, for a common citizen to fail to give aid in
an emergency is not a crime, AFAIK. The most Snape might
be accused of is dereliction of duty, for which he might be
sacked, but more likely he would just be encouraged to 
resign as Lupin did. The governors would surely be  happy to
hush things up as usual, rather than have to account for
the decision to let Snape be hired in the first place. 

There'd be nothing much in the way of Snape getting another
job. After all, Harry isn't quite as universally popular as everyone
pretends, is he?

AD:
> Voldemort's going for the big prize.  Once he gets the Philosopher's
> Stone, he's outta there.  If he can croak "The one with the power to
> defeat the Dark Lord", along the way, so much the better.  He can
> weather a bit of suspicion from Dumbledore, and the Aurors have 
a much better suspect in Snape.

Pippin:
Um, Quirrell was in Diagon Alley the day the attempt to steal the 
Stone was made. AFAWK, Snape wasn't. That makes Quirrell the prime
suspect, I'm thinking. Snape can weather a bit of suspicion, too. 
After all,  Lucius Malfoy made  a career of it, and he's hardly
the only one.
 
> Pippin:
> > All the reasons you gave for Snape wanting Harry dead would
> > also be motives for Harry to fake the attack and falsely blame
> > Snape.
> 
> AD:
> I'm confused.  All along, I've been arguing that Snape needs Harry
> alive.  

Pippin:
I meant, the reasons you gave that Snape would be suspected of
wanting Harry dead.

> 
> Pippin:
> > Harry himself notices this, and that's the reason he doesn't
> > take Hermione's suspicions to anyone but Hagrid.
> 
> AD:
> Interesting.  Is this canon, or your inference?

Pippin:
Canon, mostly.

"But we've got no _proof_!" said Harry. "Quirrell's too scared to
back us up. Snape's only got to say that he doesn't know how
the troll got in at Halloween and that he was no where near the
third floor--who do you think they'll believe, him or us? It's 
not exactly a secret we hate him. Dumbledore'll think we made
it up to get him sacked." PS/SS ch 15

They're talking about the troll, but it would apply just as well
to  the broomstick attack.

> 
> Pippin:
> > Not to mention that if Snape hadn't interfered in the attack, he
> > wouldn't have been staring fixedly at Harry, and Hermione
> > wouldn't have suspected him (*she* certainly doesn't know
> > about his DE past.) Neither would anyone else -- after all, even
> > with the attack on Harry unsolved, Snape was trusted enough to
> > referee the next match.
> 
> AD:
> I'm sorry, Pippin, but could you elaborate this?  I honestly don't see
> where you're going with it.  (BTW, Hermione suspected Snape right
> away--she shouted "I knew it!" when she spotted him through the
> binoculars.)

Pippin:
Okay. Your argument is that if Harry had fallen from his broom and
died, it would have been regarded as a suspicious death and 
there would have been an investigation which Snape could not afford.
Correct?

But your evidence for that is that the attack itself was suspicous since
Hagrid says only Dark Magic could have made the broom behave like 
that. In that case the attack itself ought to provoke an investigation,
and Snape should be worried, if he has guilty designs on Harry. If
he would be the prime suspect in a death, he should be the prime
suspect in the attack also.

Now,  if Snape was suspected as someone who wanted 
to kill Harry, volunteering as referee would  have looked like he 
wanted another go. That's the way it looked to the Trio.

If Dumbledore had shared that suspicion at all, he'd never have
let Snape be referee.  But apparently there was no 
such suspicion even among the rest of the staff, who can't have known
that Snape saved Harry from the hex, and  must have known 
how Snape felt about Harry (and according to you, may have 
been aware of Snape's criminal past.)  Quirrell says
they all thought  Snape was trying to keep Gryffindor from 
winning. 


Pippin