Harry's arrogance /Evil Snape

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 154431

> Carol again:
<snip>
> 
> But my concern is for a DDM!Snape who may have had no choice but to
> kill Dumbledore, forced to do so by a combination of the UV (which
> might have killed him on the spot if the AK were fake despite all the
> holes you find in it), the DADA curse (which seems responsible for
> forcing Snape into this terrible dilemma), and DD's last wish as
> expressed through mutual Legilimency on the tower (if that's what
> happened) or through Snape's correct interpretation of "Severus,
> please." (The UV itself is perfectly reconcilable with DDM!Snape, but
> that's a topic for another post.)

Pippin:
As has been pointed out, if JKR ever decides to write Year -12, 
_Revenge of the Death Eater_ , she'll do a better job than GL. But this
is Harry's story, and  Harry already knows all about doing the right 
thing while everyone else thinks you're mad, bad and dangerous to 
know. The revelation and the reversal, when they come, have to tell
Harry something  that he didn't know before. 

I  don't think JKR believes in curses, vows and prophecies, and we
saw that even the prophecy is not the reason that Harry *has* to
kill Voldemort. I don't believe  she would make the 
UV or the DADA curse the reason that Snape had to kill Dumbledore.
I think the DADA curse worked the way it always does and 
revealed Snape's darkest secret: his culpability in the death of James.

As for the holes in the vow, I am sure it was worded as carefully
as the prophecy, precisely so that it could be interpreted in various
ways. And as JKR has told us, no magic is foolproof. Those holes
are important, one way or another.


Carol:
> I would love to have you be right--much better for Snape not to be his
> mentor's unwilling murderer and face the guilt and mental anguish that
> such a crime entails even though he had no choice but to perform it.
> But if JKR has not tricked us by faking DD's death (and I wouldn't put
> it past her to do so), if DD is really dead, I think that Snape's
> actions can still be justified, and his mental anguish when Harry
> calls him a coward is much easier to explain <snip>

Pippin:
But there's a beat between DON'T and CALL ME A COWARD! That's 
awkward, unless, of course, the Don't refers to something else and
the coward bit is obfuscation. I wasn't going to
go through my theory about this again, but I've thought of something
to add to  it.

Dumbledore sends Harry away with the,  er, transparent, excuse that
he'll need to fetch his Invisibility Cloak. We've concentrated on what
DD might have wanted Harry to do. But what if  it was DD  who needed 
to do something, namely, to  tell Snape that the eavesdropping episode
had come out and beg Snape's permission to tell Harry the whole story?

If Snape gave it, then he would  assume that Harry knows why DD
trusted him  and *that* puts faking Dumbledore's death in a very different
light. Then when Harry says, Kill me like you killed him, Snape thinks Harry
is talking about James, who they've just been speaking of and is  the cause 
of Snape's remorse according to Dumbledore,  and Snape's
anguish over this is revealed.

Then, of course, Snape realizes he's given himself away with DE's
watching and  tacks on the "call me a coward" to preserve his cover. 

But as Snape was bantering about his supposed cowardice a moment 
before, and  as Sirius never called Snape a coward  even when Snape
was calling him one, I don't think a charge of cowardice would hit
Snape where he lives.

I think the "I don't want to do it anymore" argument has to do with the
thing Snape agreed to do at the end of  GoF - take up his role as a 
double agent, ie slither out of action but otherwise play the part of
a loyal DE.

I think Dumbledore was insisting that if DE's ever did get into the castle,
which he was sure they never would, (you take too much for granted)
Snape was to continue to play his part to the hilt, as he was bound to
do both by his agreement with Dumbledore, and by the UV,
which he took because, following Dumbledore's orders, it's what 
Bella would have expected of a loyal DE. Snape's hatred and revulsion
on the tower are for having, choosing,  to follow this order, knowing 
that Dumbledore will probably die without his aid. 
--
"If I tell you to hide, will you do so?"
"Yes."
"If I tell you to flee, will you obey?"
"Yes"
"If I tell you to leave me and save yourself, you will do as I tell you?
"I--"
"Harry?"
They looked at each other for a moment.
"Yes, sir."

---HBP ch 25

What Harry has to learn is that people who
hate him  can be as loyal to Dumbledore as he is.

Pippin