Snape Survey, Snapeity, Dumbledore's sacrifice.

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 149219

eggplant107:

> Draco tells Dumbledore that Snape is a double agent and has been
> helping him with his project all year long, we know for a fact
> Dumbledore was astonished Draco was so successful and had actually
> managed to get Death Eaters into the school. Dumbledore may have
> wondered if Draco could have done it all by himself and started to
> suspect he had inside help, so when he mentioned the Unbreakable 
Vow
> again he took it more seriously than the first time he heard it; 
and
> if not then he did when Snape entered the room looking mean.  

Magpie:
Nothing in this elaborate scenario except DD being surprised at 
Draco's success is in the text.  Draco does not tell Dumbledore that 
Snape has been helping him with his project all along.  He tells 
Dumbledore that Snape has been "offering [him] all kinds of 
help," "trying to get in on the action" and "steal all the glory" 
for himself.  He's a "double agent" in that he's only pretending to 
work for DD while being a DE.  Draco is specifically telling 
Dumbledore that Snape *didn't* help him because Draco wouldn't allow 
it, wouldn't tell him about the RoR, and so Draco has "beaten" him.  
It was Harry, months earlier, who told Dumbledore that *he* thought 
Snape was helping Draco, or trying to help him, only Harry too saw 
Draco refuse to let him. Draco is confirming here that he continued 
to refuse to let Snape help him and kept him in the dark.  

eggplant: 
> And you have not explained why a loyal Snape would fail to tell
> Dumbledore he made that vow even after a year. Shame at admitting
> doing something so incredibly stupid? 

Magpie:
I didn't explain why a loyal Snape would fail to tell Dumbledore he 
made that vow even after a year because it's not canon, just a "what 
if?" exercise.  Canon suggests Dumbledore did know about the vow.  I 
only assumed for the sake of argument that Snape hadn't told DD to 
demonstrate how little I thought Dumbledore having any reason to 
change his mind about his belief in the Vow during the Tower scene 
was supported by the text. It's assumptions piled on top of 
assumptions: first assume Snape hasn't told Dumbledore about the 
vow, then assume lots of stuff is going on in later scenes following 
from that first assumption. It's all reading against the text with, 
imo, no reason to do that.  

The more you pile on the further it gets from canon.  Dumbledore now 
needs to be thinking, in the Tower scene, that Draco could not have 
done this himself.  Then he needs to figure Draco's got inside help. 
Then he's got to think Snape was his inside help, which makes him 
remember hearing about the UV he dismissed earlier, and start taking 
it seriously.  All while actually having a completely different 
conversation that never hits any of these points or shows any sign 
of this going on.

Oh, and Snape ought to have been helping Draco too so that Snape 
knew about the cabinet plot and hid it from Dumbledore, opening up 
another can of worms that probably need more assumptions. And, as 
always, Snape's just got to come into that room wearing some sign of 
betrayal.  No matter how many times the text is quoted showing 
Snape's eyes sweeping around the room, here he is again with murder 
in his eyes or looking mean--at Dumbledore. In my head I can't help 
but think of most of the scenarios in this extended thread under the 
umbrella nickname W.D.H.I.T.T.-"What didn't happen in the Tower." 

-m