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

[zgirnius]

No: HPFGUIDX 157838

> Julie:
> 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...

zgirnius:
I would like to suggest

4. Like Dumbledore's comment that he did not believe it possible that 
Death Eaters could be gotten into the castle, this could serve as a 
clue that Dumbledore and Snape were not expecting Draco's plan to 
come to a head as it did that night. So, Dumbledore assumed Snape was 
asleep because it was late, he was not on guard duty while Dumbledore 
was away from the school, and there was no other particular reason 
for Snape to stay aware.