Snape, Apologies, and Redemption--Lupin vs. DD

[deeblegirl]

No: HPFGUIDX 152627

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "zgirnius" <zgirnius at ...> wrote:
>
> Lanval:
> And no, I don't hold Snape entirely responsible for the Potters' 
> deaths. I need to hear more evidence that he truly realized what the 
> consequences would be. I'm willing to cut him some slack for taking 
 > the message to LV, and not realizing right away what it would mean 
> (though, really, what did he THINK would happen?)


Someone has probably brought this up already, but Half-Blood Prince
introduced the possibility that there's something odd about the way 
the supposedly loyal Death Eater Snape reported the prophecy
to Voldemort.

Here's what Dumbledore tells Harry in OotP: 

--

"My -- our -- one stroke of good fortune was that the eavesdropper was detected only a 
short way into the prophecy and thrown from the building." 

"So he only heard ...?"

"He heard only the first part." (Chapter Thirty-Seven, "The Lost Prophecy")

--

Now, this is what we learn from Trelawney in HBP:

--

"... but then we were rudely interrupted by Severus Snape!"

"What?"

"Yes, there was a commotion outside the door and it flew open, and there was that rather 
uncouth barman standing with Snape." (Chapter Twenty-Five, "The Seer Overheard")

--

This new perspective on the situation seems to suggest that Snape overheard ALL of the 
prophecy. (One could argue that Snape couldn't make out the second half because the 
"uncouth barman" interrupted him, but he certainly wasn't thrown out halfway through.)

So either Snape, on his own, decided to report only the first half -- or someone told him 
to do so. Someone who gave Harry a somewhat different spin on these events.

That's moving into chessmaster!Dumbledore territory, naturally, and I don't know if I really 
want to see that happen. But Dumbledore's anguished reaction to the potion in the cave -- 
"it's all my fault, it's all my fault" -- does leave open the possibility that he bitterly regrets 
something he did.

--Deeble, hoping this newbie post is all right