High Noon for OFH!Snape

[PJ]

No: HPFGUIDX 149491

Reposted with correct attribution and my deepest apologies to both 
Sydney and SSSusan.  :)

Sydney:
>*eye squint*  *tumbleweed*

>It's you or me, OFH!Snape.

>*twitches fingers over revolver*

PJ:
ROFLMAO!!  There must be a padded cell with your name on the door 
somewhere. 
  lol!

Sydney:
>Hobbyhorse number 3:  Out-for-Himself!Snape must die.  ESE!Snape is 
a
>pretty thin fellow and not much of a threat; but OFH!Snape has been
>seducing away some people that I need for my Evil Army.  So, he's 
got
>to go.

PJ:
Well, shall we meet in front of the saloon at high noon for a 
showdown, 
Pardner?  <g>


Sydney:
>The taking of the Vow makes one thing very clear-- Snape is willing 
to
>die.  Not necessarily suicidal, but definitely not holding his life 
at
>a particularly high value.  Anyone who sees a way around this, be my
>guest.

PJ:
OFH!Snape is far from being suicidal.  He's simply arrogant to a 
fault in 
his belief in himself, his mastery of occlumency and of his ability 
to 
coldly calculate any situation and think fast on his feet.  He 
considers 
himself so  much more brilliant and talented than everyone else that 
he has 
no expectation of *ever* getting caught out! He's been playing the 
game for 
so long now that he's got it down pat...

As I see it, it's the other theories that have Snape willing to 
die.  My 
Snape *knows* he'll outlive both Dumbledore and Voldemort.  ;)

Sydney:
>Surely it must be clear that of all our Snapes, the most entirely
>incompatible with the Vow is Out-For-Himself!Snape.  People who are
>out for themselves simply do not, under any circumstances short of 
the
>absolutely unavoidable, make promises that they drop dead if they
>don't fulfill.

PJ:
I could turn right around and say that it must be clear to anyone 
how 
incompatible it would be for DDM!Snape to willingly take a vow to 
kill his 
boss and mentor but that doesn't get us anywhere, does it?   We've 
all 
ridden that particular Merry Go Round so often we have seasons 
tickets! <g>

Sydney:
>Snape is not an impulsive, panicky person, and he
>certainly was not unavoidably trapped into making the Vow.  And 
Snape
>wasn't Vowing to do something simple-- he was Vowing to do something
>very difficult that Voldemort himself had repeatedly failed to do.

PJ:
Snape felt ok taking the vow to protect Draco since he would've 
tried to do 
so anyway.  He's been friendly with the Malfoys too long not to.  
And he's 
Draco's head of house which would give him an additional 
responsibility.  
Then we have the added bonus of him thinking that this would go a 
long way 
in cementing his position as a loyal DE with Bellatrix.  It all 
works for 
the OFH!Snape personality.

However, the 3rd provision of the vow was never on Snape's radar at 
all!  It 
took him totally by surprise and is the spot where his arrogance did 
him 
in...  There's no reason to put that "twitch" in the scene unless it 
means 
something.

Sydney:
>Whatever OFH!Snape wants out of life-- money, power, that sort of
>thing, he's not going to get it if he's dead.  He had precious 
little
>if anything to gain and everything to lose from the Vow.

Snape:
OFH!Snape wants freedom of CHOICE.  That's all.  He lives simply and 
has no 
real need of money and as far as he's concerned he already *has* 
more power 
than both of the "titans"... all he wants is to be left in peace 
with his 
old grudges, potions and spells.  All these are things he can't have 
until 
the tug of war stops between Dumbledore and Voldemort...


Sydeny:
>I don't know, maybe you can posit that OFH!Snape was cross with
>himself for procrastinating on the Gaining Power goal, and thought
>taking the Vow might be a good motivator, sort of like doing
>Affirmations or something.  "I will succeed or drop dead". Might 
make
>a good weight-loss tool?

PJ:
I think you're confusing ESE with OFH here.  ESE people feel that 
Snape 
intends to take over his rightful place in the universe but all OFH!
Snape 
wants is to be able to choose which side is the best for his 
particular 
needs and live through it.   He intends to be on the winning side 
but which 
side that will be isn't at all clear to him yet so he's tap dancing 
as fast 
as he can for both of them.


Sydney:
>LifeDebt!Snape:  How does this work again?  It's hard to argue with 
a
>theory when I don't actually understand what it claims!  Reading 
over
>the original LID post, I think Snape-loves-Narcissa is brought up as
>an unrelated explanation.  <snip> I think that whole scenario
>integrates into the plot a teensy bit better if the woman is Lily 
and
>the child Harry.

PJ:
As I read it, and I grant you it doesn't have a lot of excitement or 
oomph! 
about it (though it does have it's basis in canon), Snape owes James 
a Life 
Debt from the time of the prank but never got to fulfill it while 
James was 
alive.  Hating loose ends, the debt (whether willingly or magically) 
is 
transfered to James' son, Harry.  I'll admit it helps to explain a 
few pesky 
little problems though it doesn't thrill me.

Sydney:
>What does this leave us with?  Not a whole lot.  No two ways about 
it,
>taking the Vow was an extremely weird thing to do.

PJ:
Not at all!  When Cissy suggested the vow it was like an early 
Christmas 
present for OFH!Snape.  He shows the depth of his friendship and 
loyalty to 
the Malfoys as well as shutting Bellatrix up once and for all!  All 
this 
when, as HoH, he'd have done all of this anyway... it was no skin 
off 
Snape's nose to take that vow.   BUT, the 3rd provision was the 
killer (no 
pun intended)... He didn't expect it and couldn't get out of taking 
it.  He 
was trapped like a rat.

Sydney:
>Much as I adore Suicidal!Snape, that doesn't account for the jerk of
>the hand at the third clause of the Vow.  I think that was 
definitely
>a "gah" moment. <snip> what does anybody have to gain
>from the Vow?  Why does Narcissa propose it?  Surely it would be 
more
>likely to alienate someone you were going to for help, to demand 
that
>they promise to help you or die?

PJ:
Exactly... the jerk of the hand.  That says it all, imo.  He never 
saw the 
3rd provision coming.

Narcissa is a mystery to me in that I'm not sure if she is trying to 
catch 
Snape out or if she's so totally convinced he's a loyal DE that a 
thing like 
killing Dumbledore wouldn't be a problem for him.  If he were VMM! 
through 
and through then he should be honored to take over the task assigned 
to 
Draco, shouldn't he?

Regardless, she's being very manipulative in getting Snape to agree 
to help 
Draco because deep down she doesn't think her son can survive.  Both 
Dumbledore and Voldemort are so much more powerful than Draco that 
she sees 
him dying either way.  By getting Snape to agree to finish the task 
she's 
giving Draco the only out she can.

Sydney:
>Last man standing:  decent, cunning, miserable, instinctively-Dark,
>trying-to-do-the-right-thing-yet-screwing-up,
>not-too-fond-of-being-alive, Snape.  That's my boy.

PJ:
Last man standing, arrogant, cunning, miserable, instinctively-Dark, 
tightrope walking, trying to survive till retirement, Snape.  That's 
my boy. 
  lol!

PJ