DD trust in Snape again. WAS: Evil Hermione

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 154660

Alla wrote:
> <snip> I am saying that Dumbledore would need dramatic reason to
trust Snape "sorry" that if nothing else, plot will require it.
> 
> I think IF Snape is on DD side, he did something that convinced DD 
that Snape is not on DE side and if DD simply believed that Snape is 
sorry, without having some kind of proof, well then my opinion of his
intelligence would go further down. <snip>

Carol responds:
Maybe not his intelligence so much as his wisdom? But I'm begining to
wonder whether Pippin is right. I think he gave Snape a second chance
without asking for proof of young Snape's contrition and then received
the proof afterwards.

Here's what I think happened, and I know that what I'm presenting is
just conjecture.

Ca. Oct. 31, 1979, Snape (then a twenty-year-old DE) overhears part of
the Prophecy and reports it to Voldemort.

Ca. July 31, 1980, he discovers that both the Potters and the
Longbottoms have had baby sons who could fulfill the terms of the
Prophecy and starts to worry. 

Some time afterwards, he discovers that Voldemort intends to attack
one or both families, killing the child(ren) and if necessary the
parents to thwart the Prophecy. Full of remorse and misgivings, he
goes to Dumbledore and confesses what he's done. This act in itself
convinces Dumbledore to give Severus a second chance. He sends him
back to LV as a spy. Young Snape proves his loyalty and courage by
spying for DD "at great personal risk." If young Snape asks for the
DADA position at this time, and there's no evidence that he did so, DD
turns him down.

Ca. August 1981, young Snape applies for the DADA position, possibly
on LV's orders, and DD gives him the newly vacated Potions position
instead, knowing that the DADA position is cursed. On September 1,
Snape begins teaching and probably assumes the HoH position as well at
age 22.

Around this time or earlier, one of DD's spies, probably Snape,
reports that someone close to the Potters is giving LV information on
the Order members. Worried for their safety, DD offers himself as
Secret Keeper. James Potter refuses, keeping the idea but choosing his
friend Sirius Black as SK instead. Whether Black actually becomes SK
is unclear.

Ca. October 24, Black convinces the Potters to make Pettigrew the
Secret Keeper instead.

October 31, Pettigrew betrays the Potters and they are murdered at
Godric's Hollow. Voldemort is vaporized and Harry is "marked as his
equal," given as yet unknown powers by the failed AK.

At this point, we don't know what Snape did. IMO, he remained at
Hogwarts and showed DD his faded Dark Mark. His remorse, if genuine,
would be overwhelming and unmistakeable at this time.

>From that point, Snape continues to teach Potions and to associate
with "Death Eaters who walked free," probably providing DD information
on their activities. 

September 1, 1991: Enter Harry and the events of the books.

June 1995: Snape remains behind when the DEs return to the graveyard
but afterwards reports to LV on DD's orders, again risking his life.
>From that point on, he walks a tightrope. One false move and he's a
dead man.

If what I've outlined here is accurate, Snape expresses remorse at two
points, one before GH when he first begins spying for DD and one
afterwards, when their combined efforts have failed to prevent the
Potters' deaths. At two distinct periods, he has risked his life
spying for Dumbledore. He has also saved or attempted to save Harry's
life on numerous occasions and saved three lives in HPB alone (Katie
Bell, Draco, and DD himself). He has aided DD against Quirrell!mort
and Crouch!Moody and he sent the Order to rescue to save Harry and
company from the DEs at the MoM.

Based on all that, and on the information that Snape has provided DD
throughout the books, I'd say that he has more than sufficient grounds
to trust him, and, whatever may be the case with Snape's loyalties
(which, IMO, lie with DD), Dumbledore's wisdom is not in question.

Alla wrote: 
> Is there a reference that people are not allowed to talk about his 
> past after those GoF proceedings?
><snip>
> Did Wizengamot delivered a "non guilty" verdict  to Snape? Is voting 
> shown? Ugh, must reread that chapter.

Carol responds:
Snape was cleared of all charges, which means (I believe) that he has
no criminal record. There was no trial. The Wizengamot was not
originally involved; it was just DD and Mr. Crouch. DD speaks of it to
the Wizengamot at Karkaroff's plea bargaining session, but only to
inform them that "Severus Snape . . . is now no more a Death Eater
than I am" and that he "turned spy for our side at great personal risk."

I'm assuming that the Wizengamot would keep this information quiet to
protect the life of the young man who had risked his life to spy for
them. Note that the proceeding of the plea bargaining appear to be
secret: Rita Skeeter is not present to report them, and Snape's name
is not published in the Daily Prophet, unlike those of Malfoy,
Macnair, Avery, Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott, all of whom had actual trials
and pleaded innocent by reason of the Imperius Curse.

Snape's DE past certainly is not common knowledge or the Daily Prophet
would have included his name among the controversial hiring decisions
it attributed to Dumbledore (Hagrid, Lupin, and Moody). Surely an
ex-DE would have been even more sensational. And what non-Slytherin
parent would send his children to Hogwarts if they knew that the
Potions master/DADA instructor had been a DE?

Carol, certain that Dumbledore is not "a foolish old man" as Draco thinks