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

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 157799


Snow:
So you see it was never about Draco at all, Draco was a bonus prize.

Magpie:

Yes, I get that the point here is to make it never about Draco but about the
Cabinets and [insert complicated master plan of Voldemort that follows
around X reader's preferences].  Some of us are arguing that story actually
is about Draco, who changes.

Snow:
In the end, can we simply assume what the plan was when it has not been
fleshed out in detail?

Magpie:
The plan only matters to understand the plot, for which we need to know
Draco has been told to kill Dumbledore.  The question of why Draco doesn't
tell Snape has been covered over and over in this thread--most eloquently in
Sydney's posts, imo, which all relate to a comprehensible emotional arc and
not a series of decisions by an off-page character pulling everyone's
strings.

Snow:
nstead what we saw was a-cocky-little-son-of-a-Lucius who wanted all the
glory for himself  but wait.this wasn't glory about killing Dumbledore no,
no, this was glory for letting the deatheaters into the castle by means of
his cabinets.

Magpie:
Actually, that's not what we saw.  Or at least it's not what I saw.  I saw a
much better story that made good sense and was compelling.  Oh, and it was
about killing Dumbledore, the Cabinets being only one of a number of
potential ways.  (This thread is wonderful just for the reference to the
Polynesian native with the blow dart!)  Draco ends the book without the
"glory" promised for doing Voldemort's bidding, because he doesn't kill DD.

Snow:
If Draco was being subjected to a life and death situation (his life) and
yet his primary concern was for those damn cabinets, wouldn't you
automatically question his priorities?

Magpie:
Again, please see Sydney's posts explaining what's going on.

Snow:

To make a theory from what one may consider questionable dialog, one must be
willing to admit defeat on parts that have been proven unacceptable along
with those parts that can enhance a theory.

Magpie:
Not sure what "proven unacceptable" means. None of the scene is unacceptable
to me.  The whole plot is pretty tight.  None of the objections to that plot
have been proven unacceptable at all from what I've seen.  Unacceptable to
individual readers who need the Cabinets to be hugely important to Voldemort
and don't like the Malfoy's as a target, maybe, but everyone in canon
accepts it.  The alternate theory has certainly been shown to not be hinted
at in canon at all, but that doesn't seem to matter.

Carol:
Surely, if it's a suicide mission, [the DEs in the Tower's] orders wouldn't
be to let the boy kill Dumbledore.

Magpie:
Why wouldn't they be?  Voldemort wants Draco to try first.  It's a suicide 
mission because the idea of this kid killing Dumbledore is ridiculous. 
Ultimately everyone's surprised to find the kid standing over a wandless, 
weak Dumbledore.  It's not a suicide mission due to the orders being "Tell 
Draco to kill Dumbledore, but make sure he doesn't do it."   If Draco fails 
to kill Dumbledore and is still alive and free he can be killed as 
punishment any time (I'd imagine Voldemort would do it along with his mother 
to make it more fun.)

You seem to think "suicide mission" refers to Draco thinking he's supposed 
to kill DD but really he's ordered to fix the cabinets and the DEs will show
up and kill him and DD.  But the idea actually seems to be that it's suicide 
because it's impossible and Draco will be killed by somebody else.  Then
there's the added fact that if he fails as punishment he can be killed with 
Narcissa at any time after that.

Carol:
What's really odd is that the DEs don't seem to have planned to kill either
Draco or Dumbledore themselves. They seem to have expected Draco to kill
Dumbledore and their job was to make sure that he did it.

Magpie:
Almost as if nobody ever thought they'd get to a situation where Draco was 
so close to doing it because he was expected to get killed or caught
earlier!

-m, thinking the suicide mission really does fill up all those holes if you 
let it.