Was Snape asleep? (was Re: What Came First: Task or Cabinet?...

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 157786

 


Snow:

Well making a secret entrance to the castle can greatly  affect the 
lives of many including the headmaster. 

Snape being  asleep when he is aware that Dumbledore is out of the 
castle and the Order  is on full guard while all along realizing 
what `the plan' is and he is to  protect his charge, `is' a bid deal 
in either version.  



Julie:
 But was Snape asleep, and did Dumbledore really expect him to  be
asleep? I know Dumbledore told Harry to go wake Severus, but later
Hermione tells us that she and Ginny stood outside Snape's *office*
door for a period of time, until Flitwick went barging in to tell  Snape
that Death Eaters were on the grounds. Snape came out of the office
almost immediately--presumably without time to change his clothes--
dressed in his standard black robes. What gives?
 
It seems like there are three possiblilities-
 
1. Dumbledore expected Snape to be asleep due to the late hour,
but Snape hadn't even gone to bed yet. Perhaps he was behind on
his exam-grading, or had other things to catch up on, or he had a
sense that he might be needed at a moment's notice. If he did have
such a sense, did he get it from Dumbledore, or Voldemort, or was
it his own inner intuition that things were coming to a head?
 
2. Dumbledore expected Snape to be asleep because he had 
put some sort of sleeping spell on Snape purposely, perhaps to
keep Snape from knowing about or protesting the dangerous 
cave expedition. This explains why Snape would be sleeping in
his office still wearing his robes, but leaves the question of how
the spell was removed. If Dumbledore expected Harry to be able
to wake Snape, he must have used a spell he could remove from
a distance, or one that would end if anyone attempted to wake 
Snape directly. 
 
3. It's a mistake by JKR, and the inconsistency was missed by the
editors. In which case, it will just be another minor red herring  that
won't ever be addressed in the story. And that leaves us to choose
for ourselves which alternative above fits our individual  perspectives
on the story and both characters...
 
Julie, figuring picking one over the other is rather like choosing  the
task or the cabinet first ;-)
 
 
 


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