JKR site update SPOILERS

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 158966

 

>
Carol responds:
When have we seen Snape outside the school  grounds except during
Christmas or summer vacation or the one meeting with  Voldemort after
the graveyard incident in GoF? His excuse for not fighting in  the MoM
battle is essentially that he has to stay at Hogwarts to  avoid
arousing DD's suspicion. And his job as a DE is to spy on  Dumbledore,
which he can't do if he's at a meeting. (Also, of course, you  can't
Apparate from Hogwarts or Hogwarts grounds.) I think (and this is  just
my opinion) that one of the reasons Dumbledore keeps him on as  a
teacher (aside from his extensive knowledge of Potions and DADA) is  to
keep him safe, which would include an excuse not to attend DE
meetings.  Or maybe there were no meetings between September 1 and
October 31 of the  year he was hired. I doubt that large meetings
occurred very often. Probably  he met or corresponded one on one with
the DEs most of the time since, as  Karkaroff said, he likes to operate
in secrecy and many of the DEs didn't  even know each other's names.

At any rate, when we see Snape at night,  he's always prowling the
hallways--and he has essays to mark. I can't see him  leaving Hogwarts
for any reason during the school year (except on that one  special
occasion at the end of GoF).
 
Julie:
I would think Voldemort planning to kill the Potters that night (if  Snape
had some inkling of that fact) would be a "special occasion." I'm not
saying this happened, I'm just saying I don't think the fact that  Snape
hasn't left Hogwarts during the school year (that we KNOW OF), except
on that one occasion, is a valid argument against Snape being  gone 
from Hogwarts at some point or for some reason during that fateful  night.
 
 
Carol:
 And I believe that he showed Dumbledore
his Dark Mark on the night  of Godric's Hollow, which is how Dumbledore
knew that Voldemort was (almost)  destroyed. I don't think that either
dumbledore or Snape knew the secret of  Godric's Hollow (I think DD
knew the location until the secret was placed  inside PP and then he
magically forgot it, just as Bellatrix and Narcissa no  longer know
that Kreacher lives at 12 GP, which they must have known when  they
were younger. I don't think that PP told Dumbledore, much less  Snape,
by note or any other means. so IMO, Snape did not know the secret  and
could not have been at Godric's Hollow that night.)

Even if, by  some chance, Snape did know the secret without knowing the
identity of the SK  (it would have to be a note that DD showed him, and
I don't believe that  happened), how could he hide at Godric's Hollow?
Voldemort wouldn't know that  he knew the secret, so he wouldn't invite
him to come as a DE. There's no  evidence that any DE except Peter was
there (in rat form so James and Lily  couldn't see him). As I said in
another post, James says, "He's here," not  "They're here." And we know
that Snape wasn't hiding under the Invisibility  Cloak. I think that if
he did try to warn James against Sirius Black in  person (instead of
referring to DD trying to warn him, as we know he did), it  must have
been before the Fidelius Charm was cast.


Julie:
I did say that I don't believe Snape was in the house at Godric's  Hollow
*during* Voldemort's attack on the Potters, so we don't disagree  there.
I just leave open the possibility that Snape was in the vicinity  (perhaps
following Voldemort) or arrived directly after the events (if he  received
some sort of notification via the Dark Mark or other magic of  Voldemort's
demise and Harry's survival). Again, I'm just considering it a  *possibility*
that hasn't been ruled out yet. 
 
My central suspicion is that Snape played a pivotal role in the  events 
of that night, more pivotal than simply showing Dumbledore his fading
Dark Mark. I think there may be a stronger tie between Snape and
Harry than we know at this point, something that might explain both
why Snape resents Harry and why he protects him from harm, and
it would something beyond the Life Debt he owed James. Something
probably tied to why Dumbledore really trusts him completely, and 
perhaps why Hagrid also seemed to trust the surly-natured,  ex-DE 
Slytherin, three things that should raise Hagrid's hackles.
 
Julie 







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]