High Noon for OFH!Snape

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 149492

Jen wrote: 
<snip> 
> No, the only thing that works in my mind is that Snape had a choice
to continue the Vow when the third provision came up and he continued
 forward. He doesn't need to prove himself to Bella in my opinion, as
 Bella's stock with Voldemort has dropped dramatically. <snip>

Carol responds:
I don't quite agree. Snape spends the first half of the chapter doing
exactly what you say he doesn't need to do--proving himself to Bella.
You're right that she is no longer in the Dark Lord's confidence (a
fact he takes pains to ascertain before answering her questions), but
he makes his reason quite clear: The Death Eaters are talking about
him behind his back, spreading rumors that he's really Dumbledore's
Man (as Bella also believes), and he wants those rumors to stop:

"Before I answer you--oh yes, Bellatrix, I am going to answer! You can
carry my words back to the others who whisper behind my back, and
carry false tales of my treachery to the Dark Lord" (HBP Am. ed. 26).

So Bellatrix's opinion is very important to him, important enough to
make Narcissa wait many minutes so that he can answer her questions as
he has answered Voldemort's (with a few additional tidbits that she,
not being in the Dark Lord's confidence, has no means of verifying).
And note Bellatrix's surprise when he agrees to the vow, especially
the third provision. Risking his own life and agreeing to "do the
deed" if Draco fails removes all her doubts regarding his loyalty to
her master: "Bellatrix's astounded face glowed red in the blaze of a
third tongue of flame, which . . . twisted . . . and bound itself
thickly around their clasped hands, like a rope, like a fiery snake"
(57). He has taken a terrible risk, a deadly risk, and she knows it. 
That he has succeeded in convincing her of his loyalty to the Dark
Lord, through both his answers and the UV itself, and that she has
done as he requested and ended the doubts of her fellow DEs, is
evident from the behavior of the DEs on the tower, who clearly do
regard him as someone to be respected and feared, the Dark Lord's new
favorite.

Jen wrote:
> So my best guess is that Snape knew he was being trapped by the
third Vow and took it anyway. I personally think it's because he
guessed the game was up--he did *not* fool Voldemort completely,
Narcissa was *not* telling him everything about why she came to him in
particular, and Peter *was* there to report back on this little
meeting. The only one who seemed to be completely straightforward in
that scene to me was Bella. 

Carol responds:
I agree that Bella is being completely straightforward, revealing her
opinions and feelings without reservation (except the doubts she feels
regarding LV's Legilimency skills being superior to Snape's
Occlumency, which she doesn't dare express). I also agree that Snape
is not being straightforward (see my post on his half-truths and
concealed facts) and that he chose to accept the third, unforeseen,
provision of the vow against his will, that he knew it would doom him
to either death or the murder of the one man who trusted him unless
they could somehow defeat it by keeping Draco as far from Dumbledore
as possible and placing every conceivable protection on Hogwarts to
prevent Draco from being helped by fellow Death Eaters. Maybe he felt
the DADA curse falling into place and there was nothing to do except
to tell DD what had happened, aid him with his knowledge of Healing
and the Dark Arts in the time available, pass on as much DADA
knowledge as possible to his students (especially Harry), and postpone
the inevitable.

I don't agree that Narcissa had a plan when she sought his help,
certainly not to trap him into an Unbreakable Vow, since she clearly
didn't want Bellatrix following her and interfering. Nor do I think
that Narcissa knew the whole plan involving the Vanishing Cabinet or
Snape could have seen it in her mind using Legilimency. 

As for Peter, he can, if he chooses, report to LV that the sisters
have visited Snape, but he's not privy to their conversation. Snape
has sealed the door with what I take to be an Impervius spell to
prevent eavesdropping. (He's also the inventor of Muffliato--he's not
going to let PP overhear their conversation.) I also think that PP,
who has developed a hunchback as the reward for his service to the
Dark Lord, is in any hurry to return to him. No, better to act as
servant and factotum to Snape and endure his taunts than to be
repeatedly Crucio'd by Voldemort.
> 
Jen wrote:
> So the next question is....Why [did Snape agree to the third
provision of the UV]? <snip> Snape seems to have attached himself to
the two most powerful wizards in the world for most of his adult life.
Some people see that as firm canon for OFH, while I see another
version of the oft-played theme of father figures. As a teen and young
man, he believed Voldemort would deliver salvation. When none came,
and in fact Snape only found more emotional pain from Voldemort's
actions, Snape returned to Dumbledore.

Carol responds:
Well, maybe not salvation but certainly the recognition for his
intelligence and talents that he wanted and didn't receive from DD. It
seems that he wasn't even made a Prefect, and the hated James was made
Head Boy despite what I imagine were Severus's exceptionally high
marks in at least two subjects and probably more. There is evidence
throughout the books of his feeling like a son striving for the
approval of a father who favors another brother or brothers (James
Potter and to a lesser degree, Sirius Black, and even Remus Lupin, the
Prefect who didn't do his job). So, yes, I think one reason he went to
Voldemort was the hope that LV would recognize and reward his talents,
the old "honor him above all others" lie we hear so often. And when he
found out what service to LV really entailed, he *returned* (DD's own
word, used in GoF and again in HBP to his original father figure, the
great wizard whose trust and respect and perhaps affection he craved.

Jen wrote:
I really believe Snape knew he was being trapped and decided in that
instant that Dumbledore would be able to deliver him from his tragic
mistake. 

Carol responds:
Now this is an interesting perspective. Snape knew that DD had been
injured by a curse (I think he must have deduced that the cursed
object was a Horcrux, but that's beside the point), but he knew that
DD had sent Fudge and company packing and defeated Voldemort in the
MoM. He could not possibly have anticipated a weak (dying?) and
wandless Dumbledore on the tower, and he seems (later) to have trusted
to the protections that DD placed on Hogwarts (and to Draco's
incompetence). It's possible that he felt a dim hope that Dumbledore,
his father figure, would rescue him. I think, though, that the
sinister imagery at the end of the chapter suggests otherwise. Snape
chose to risk dooming himself, to lose either his life or his soul, to
save Draco and maintain his cover as a DE. But he must have known that
he would be teaching the cursed DADA class, that something like this
would happen. And he must have felt that he had no choice but to
accept the third provision. Not to do so would undo his careful work
to persuade Bellatrix (and, through her, the other DEs) of his loyalty
to LV. I can only account for his placing himself in such a terrible
position (something OFH!Snape would not have done, nor would ESE!Snape
have gone behind LV's back to agree to the vow) by supposing that he
was following DD's orders to do whatever it took to maintain his
cover, at all costs to himself and to DD. And DD would only have
required such a promise from him (very like the unwilling promise he
extracted from Harry before the cave expedition) if DD already knew
about Draco's mission to kill him because Snape had told him.

Jen wrote:
> And Dumbledore did and he didn't: Snape expected (just as Harry
does) that Dumbledore could set everything right, while Dumbledore
surveyed the landscape and said, "Yes, Severus, you know what I expect
you to do now. If it becomes a question of myself or Draco being
spared, you will do what you must and continue to follow my orders
after my death. And that includes safeguarding Harry and helping him
defeat Voldemort." Cue fight in the forest and etc.....

Carol responds:
This I agree with, but I also think that Snape felt that following and
talking to Draco was futile (the brat wasn't listening to him or
confiding in him) and DD told him to keep doing it. And had Snape not
followed that order, keeping an eye on Draco (or Harry?), Draco would
have died from Harry's Sectum Sempra curse (and Snape, having failed
to protect Draco, would have died as well). But, yes, the orders
include safeguarding Harry and helping him defeat Voldemort at all
costs, including Dumbledore's death. As DD tells Harry, it's Harry's
life, not his, that's valuable now.
> 
Jen wrote:
> I think that interview in TIME when JKR talked about father figures
 and evil flourishing where fathers are bad or absent is fertile
ground for growing Snape's motivations. It's certainly connected to a
major theme and would place Snape in the already crowded room of
abandoned sons, but as the only one who found an acceptable father
substitute on the Right side.

Carol responds:
Or rather, the only one besides Harry who did so. The parallels
between Snape and Harry are mounting. I really like the parallel
between him and Lily, too--a father figure placing himself at risk to
save the "son" that Narcissa should have sacrificed herself to save if
the pattern of the dying mother (Lily, Mrs. Crouch) had continued. And
the pattern resumes with DD dying to save *three* sons--Harry, Draco,
and his beloved black sheep, Severus Snape, who still has an important
role to play. (Speculation, I know, but JKR has hinted that Snape will
do something important and unexpected in Book 7.
> 
> Jen, quite pleased with Salvation!Snape.

Carol responds:
I agree with most but not all of your points, so I'll stay with a
DDM!Snape who views Dumbledore as a father figure but does not naively
expect salvation from him. I think he's doing what he feels he must do
to defeat Voldemort, knowing that he will ultimately face the terrible
choice between saving Draco's (and his own) life or Dumbledore's, and
hoping only that the choice can be put off as long as possible. And
if, as I speculate, he already knows that he is the only candidate for
the DADA position and that DD can no longer postpone giving it to him,
he has already reconciled himself to grim consequences--death or worse
than death--by the end of the year. So what I see (as of Book 6) is
not Salvation!Snape or Suicidal!Snape but maybe Tragic!Snape (or
Atonement!Snape), paying dearly for his long-ago choice to become a
Death Eater and reveal the Prophecy to the Dark Lord. He's doomed and
anguished, but Harry, in many ways his foil as well as his antagonist,
will have to accept his help before the end. (I hope.)

Carol, thinking that Snape, like Harry, has a hero complex, only Harry
tries to save people without thinking it through because action comes
naturally to him and he wants to *make things right* while Snape tries
to save people, especially Harry and now Draco, because he wants
Dumbledore's recognition and approval, even if it means death to
himself or his mentor