Voldemort & the UV (LID!Snape rides again)

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 149796

Jen previous:
> Unless Voldemort already knows about the UV or finds it to be
> to his advantage when word gets back to him. The only way I can 
> make Spinner's End work is to have Voldemort plugged into the   
> equation somewhere, no matter what flavor of Snape you prefer. 
 
Betsy Hp:
> Is there anything in canon to suggest that Voldemort knows about
> the UV?

Jen: I'm glad you asked, I think there is. Or rather I think there's 
enough evidence to build a case for it because there's not an actual 
sentence in the book stating that <g>.

1) "The Dark Lord always knows." This is said by a Voldemort fanatic 
of course, but it represents why Voldemort is so fearsome. What 
he 'always knows' is where a person is weak and he's been capable of 
using weakness against people since he was very young, i.e. Billy 
and his rabbit, the kids in the cave. He doesn't understand love 
having never felt it; he understands weakness and hatred better than 
anyone else in Potterverse. 

2) Each book hinges on a Voldemort plan that requires the use of 
someone whom Voldemort cruelly manipulates to his own ends by 
playing on a weakness: Quirrell in PS; Ginny in COS; Peter 
restrospectively in POA; Bertha/CrouchSr/Moody in GOF; Harry in 
OOTP. Draco is one such person in HBP, yet he is of no real 
consequence to LV and everyone agrees he is incapable of completing 
the task. There needs to be someone Voldemort is *really* using in 
HBP if not Draco. Narcissa presents the plan as 'punishing Lucius' 
and that's a nice side benefit, but the real plan is killing 
Dumbledore to eventually get to Harry. If Draco is capable of only 
getting the DE's into Hogwarts, then Voldemort still needs a person 
among his ranks who is capable of completing the real task. 

3) Snape sarcastically asks Bellatrix if she thinks he has been 
capable of hoodwinking the greatest wizard and most accomplished 
Legilimens the world has ever seen. Well no, he didn't fool him. The 
narrative so far demands that Voldemort not be undercut as the 
primary villain. He is meant to bring *himself* down by his own 
underestimation of anicent magic and love, but not to be bested by 
anyone other than the "Only Wizard He Ever Feared" and eventually, 
Harry. Snape, as neither the hero nor the villain, will not be in 
the position to outrank him. But Voldemort still needs Snape as the 
only one he deems capable of actually killing Dumbledore so there 
has to be a way to *ensure* Snape won't slither out this time.
 
Like quick_silver, I tend to believe Voldemort was actually behind 
the UV in some way rather than merely being informed of it after the 
fact. Carol gives legitimate reasons why none of the four people in 
the room at Spinner's End would want to talk about the UV and no one 
was punished that we know of. (Although I just want to add 
speculation that if Wormtail really was there to spy on Snape, I 
doubt he was the only thing in the house with ears. Somehow I don't 
think Voldemort would rely merely on Wormtail.)

Moving on, here was quick_silver's take which I agree with:

> The Endgame angle: By the end of HBP we know the standing of
> most the major characters, as in what they're planning on doing in
> the next book. <snip>The only character whose plans seem to be 
> hidden are those of Voldemort. Two things could be happening, IMO

> either a Voldemort plan will be revealed in book 7 (and remember
> JK has said that books 6 & 7 are like one novel) or Voldemort's 
> plan in book 6 was the "phase one" of his endgame plan. I guess
> what I'm saying it that Voldemort's plan in HBP seems to have been
> to kill Dumbledore and allow for the endgame to begin.

Jen again: I think both are happening actually, phase one was 
killing Dumbledore and phase two will be another attempt at the 
prophecy and Harry. With 6 & 7 forming the last book together, 
Voldemort's last plan must be very fearsome and all encompassing, 
better than any before and more crucially for the story, one of his 
plans needs to succeed. That's the main reason I see him being 
behind the story in HBP, because the plan appeared to succeed with 
Dumbledore's death and the only way to ensure that happening was to 
make certain Snape didn't slither.

Betsy Hp:
> I agree with Carol that, logistically, it makes sense that
> Voldemort doesn't know about the Vow.  Another problem I have with
> Voldemort using Narcissa to trap Snape into the Vow is that it 
> weakens the emotion going on in Spinner's End.  These three people 
> (not including Peter here since Snape threw him out) are going 
> *against* Voldemort.  They all realize this.

Jen: And they should not be successful at going against him. Snape 
IS a pawn in this game, as are Narcisssa and Bella. Well, maybe he's 
more like a bishop <g>. I think Snape chose to switch his allegiance 
to the good king instead of the evil king, but *he's* not a king 
himself unless JKR is going for a twist where Snape turns out to be 
more important than Voldemort.  

Carol:
> I think that the UV is the manifestation of the DADA curse, which
> falls into place as Slughorn accepts the Potions position. At that
> point, Narcissa is inspired to ask Snape to take the vow, carefully
> concealing from him the third provision (or it's a late inspiration
> after he's agreed to the other two). So Voldemort is behind it, all
> right, but not directly or consciously. His *will* is at work to
> destroy both Dumbledore and Snape. So, yes, Snape is caught in a
> trap, but he's not a mouse or a fly. The spider is caught in his
> own web. 

Jen: OK, I can agree with this as I've always liked the DADA curse 
and agree Voldemort's plan involved destroying Snape as well as 
Dumbledore. I'd say Voldemort is behind Snape getting the DADA 
position if this is the case, knowing full well how the curse works 
and that Snape will be 'impaled on his on sword'. Perhaps he doesn't 
know that it will be the UV in play exactly, he just understands the 
curse will force Snape's hand. Maybe he even thinks without 
Dumbledore to vouch for Snape, Snape will truly rejoin the DE's. 

Carol:
> I see no way that Voldemort could consciously have engineered the
> UV and talked Narcissa (who is terrified that LV will kill Draco)
> into trapping Snape, nor do I see how word of the UV could have
> gotten back to him. Certainly, neither Bellatrix nor Narcissa 
> would tell LV about the provisions involving Draco, which clearly 
> violate LV's will. 

Jen: I don't see it being an order to Narcissa, no. I believe 
something much more subtle took place because Voldemort can 
manipulate in many ways, including being charming. We don't know 
exactly how Narcissa learned about Draco's task but it's odd she 
even knows, isn't it? You'd think Voldemort would inform Draco of 
his task, forbid him to speak and then send him on his way. If all 
he wanted was for Draco to fail & be killed, punishing Lucius, he 
would have his wish. No, instead the desperate mother hears about 
the plan as well, the mother who claims 'there's nothing I wouldn't 
do anymore', including hurting her sister and bringing down a family 
friend instead of Draco. With friends like that....! 

Voldemort learned at Godric's Hollow that desperate mothers will go 
to any lengths, and since he naturally understands a woman like 
Narcissa better than Lily, he would rightly estimates her lengths 
would be dark magic instead of ancient magic. That would play right 
into the DADA curse and Snape's two weaknesses, imo--attraction to 
the Dark Arts and wearing his heart on his sleeve re: his father 
figure, Dumbledore. 

Carol:
> But since the third provision trapped Snape, forcing him to kill 
> DD or die himself (unless he and DD could find a way around it, as
> Snape must have hoped), I don't think Voldemort would disapprove 
> of that part in the unlikely event that he did hear about it. I
> think he would laugh shrilly at Snape's dilemma and his own 
> diabolical cleverness, recognizing the DADA curse at work: his 
> scheme of forty-odd years ago falling into place at last.

Jen: I completely agree and would even extrapolate further to say 
Snape's hand twitch indicated reluctance but not a sense of 
finality. He's watched Dumbledore accomplish nearly miraculous 
things, after all. 

As you said "Just my reading, which otherwise is not all that 
different from yours." I see Voldemort as having more of a direct 
hand rather than merely his symbolic will at work, but really we're 
not so far apart in our interpretations. My focus is less Snape-
centric and more Voldemort-centric, but only because I think that's 
where JKR is headed. 

Jen R.