LID!Snape rides again (was: High Noon for OFH!Snape)

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 149914

Carol:

> So maybe what Snape feels is Remorse that has not yet 
> reached the stage of Penitence, which requires humility, 
> and consequently his efforts to atone for his sins 
> (reporting the Prophecy and joining the DEs in the first 
> place) have not been entirely successful because without 
> Penitence (humbly admitting that yes, he is at fault), 
> he can't truly Repent and resolve to change. Anguish (remorse) 
> is not enough. Joining Dumbledore's side and risking his 
> life is not enough. Following DD's orders, even at the 
> cost of still more personal anguish is not enough.

houyhnhnm:

Because following Dumbledore's orders is part of what is keeping Snape
from evolving from remorse to penitance.  At least, the role he has
taken on as part of his atonement is not one which is conducive to
such evolution.  Social isolation, dissimulation,
compartmentalisation, (not to mention Occlumency, which to me is the
darkest of arts--a horcruxmancy of the personality), these do not
foster spiritual growth.

I wonder what exactly took place between Snape and Dumbledore when
Snape "returned to our side".  Which one was more insistant on Snape's
becoming a spy? Did Dumbledore offer Snape an alternative?

Surely Dumbledore must have worried about what the role he had given 
Snape, or allowed him to assume, was doing to him.  Especially if
Snape's cultivation of the Malfoys and other ex-DEs during the
Vapor!Mort years was also on DD's orders.  He must have felt guilt
about Snape.  And guilt also for failing him as a teenager.  For
finding it so much easier to like James, Sirius, and Remus who were
Gryffindors as he was and therefore so much more like him.