Draco and Dumbledore/ Molly and Harry-Treated like Family

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 160010

> Carol earlier:
> > > I don't think their surveillance is useless. Once Snape tells
> Draco that "already you are suspected of having an hand in it" (the
> cursed necklace incident) and that such tactics are amateurish and
> easily traceable to him, he goes back to his primary plan, the 
cabinet.
> >
> > a_svirn:
> > Then it was even worse than useless: Snape actually helped Draco,
> > warned him about being watched and ensured that he would stick to
> the main objective. <snip>
> 
> Carol responds:
> Worse than useless? It kept loose-cannon Draco focused on a plan 
that
> seemed not to be working and kept him from sending any more 
dangerous
> objects into the castle.

a_svirn:
More dangerous than poisoned wine and a cursed necklace? I'd say a 
bunch of death eaters fits the description.  

> Carol:
> Both Snape and Dumbledore knew that Draco was trying to kill
> Dumbledore but neither knew exactly what he was up to, as far as we
> can tell from canon. Neither of them thought that he could bring 
DEs
> into the castle because neither knew about the Vanishing Cabinet.

a_svirn:
If they where this clueless how could they tell that his plan wasn't 
working? 

> Carol:
<snip>
> Nothing, no word of warning, could have deterred Draco from 
working on
> the Vanishing Cabinets. He was under orders from Voldemort and 
later
> receiving death threats, and nothing Snape said could have 
prevented
> him from doing so. Had Snape made a direct attempt to hinder rather
> than "help" Draco, he would not only have revealed where his 
loyalties
> lie, he would also have triggered the Unbreakable Vow.

a_svirn:
That's simply another way to say that Snape surveillance was 
useless, because he was tied up by the UW. Exactly the view you 
disagree with. 


> Carol: 
> And as Dungrollin mentioned (and I hinted in an earlier post, 
number
> 159740,
> 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/159740 )
> 
> a direct confrontation between Dumbledore and Draco would also most
> likely have triggered the Unbreakable Vow. Draco would have had to
> attempt to kill him without DE backup and would of course have 
failed,
> causing Snape's death. That, IMO, is what DD was trying to prevent.
> And Snape, of course, could not explain either the third provision 
of
> the vow or say anything that would give away his true allegiance to
> Dumbledore. (Assuming DDM!Snape, of course.)

a_svirn:
In other words, while Magpie thinks that Dumbledore put the lives of 
his staff and his students in jeopardy in order to save Draco, you 
think that he was trying to save Snape (with Draco as a side 
project). I am not sure I agree that either of those gambles was 
worth the price, since it was just dumb luck that no students died 
as a result. 

On the other hand, if Daco repented and came to Dumbledore, by the 
conditions of the UV Snape *would* have to step in and kill 
Dumbledore or die. Could it be that it was *this* situation 
Dumbledore was trying to prevent, rather than the one you described? 
Draco's conversion would have been as fatal for Dumbledore or Snape 
as the direct confrontation. So Dumbledore chose to do nothing and 
wait. One doesn't have to possess extraordinary brainpower to come 
up with such strategy, but as long as one has students to spare one 
can stall for time. 

> Carol:
> What else could Snape have done besides warn Draco not to use
> amateurish methods? Let the mead- and necklace-type incidents
> continue? I think not.

a_svirn:
Yes, it's ever so much more pleasant to deal with professionals.