Gone a while - question about Snape

[zgirnius]

No: HPFGUIDX 154508

 
> SSSusan:
> Can you say more on this, Potioncat?  I don't quite follow WHY a 
> Snape who had "come back to our side" would *then* go on to deliver 
> the prophecy to Voldy, nor do I understand why DD would have 
> discussed the delivery with a reformed Snape.
> 
> IOW, what would have there been to gain by delivering the prophecy 
to 
> Voldy?  

zgirnius:
I don't buy this theory myself, but as I understand it, the theory 
says that Snape and Dumbledore deliberately told Voldemort just the 
first part of the Prophecy to draw Voldemort into a false move (the 
attack on the One, causing Voldemort to 'mark him as his equal' and 
creating an antagonist capable of defeating him).

SSSusan:
> And wouldn't that possibility cast doubt upon the truth of what DD 
> said when he told Harry that Snape felt great remorse over his 
role?  
> I can't see that he & DD would have *decided* to deliver the 
prophecy 
> and then still find that Snape felt tremendous remorse for having 
> provided the info which led to James & Lily's deaths.
> 
zgirnius:
If Snape had some personal reason for caring whether the Potters 
lived or died (be it a life debt, feelings for Lily, or a general 
objection to hurting people he actualy knows as opposed to some 
abstract couple), he might regret the decision even if at the time he 
had agreed it was the right strategic move. Dumbledore insists that 
Snape had no way of knowing who the couple were when the decision 
would have been made.

By the way, if the theory is true, Dumbledore is probably feeling 
somewhat guilty in this scene himself, and his insistence on Snape's 
ignorance is excusing his own act, as well. And this is probably what 
Dumbledore considered telling Harry, when he instead decided to end 
the conversation  by asserting that he trusts Snape completely.

While his statements about Snape's remorse could still be true, his 
statements about the overhearing of the prophecy, and who knows it in 
full, would certainly be false.