Suggested timeline for the Battle of the Ministry

Mon Apr 16 17:28:59 UTC 2007

No: HPFGUIDX 167620

From: Dana <ida3 at planet.nl>
>I am not arguing Snape being responsible for Sirius death just to 
>make that clear, well not in this context. What I am arguing is that 
>Snape as an Order Member should have been more concerned with Harry 
>safety and letting Umbridge take Harry into the Forest without an 
>apparent reason still falls within that category and if he had taken 
>this a little more seriously instead of just waiting to see if they 
>ever come out of it, then yes he could have prevented a lot of the 
>things that happened that night. 

Bart:

A) Snape almost certainly knew the Pink Toad was not a DE.
B) Toadie didn't take Harry & Hermy into the FF, it was the other way around.
C) Snape, having heard the account from the Slytherin Squad, figured that it was a distraction, knew that Hermione (and even Harry) could easily outsmart the Toad. 

It was only when they didn't come back that Snape realized there was a problem. Now, the timeframe was purposefully kept vague by the authoress, but we can figure that it was at least 2 hours between Snape getting the head's up and the attack on the Ministry, and probably more like 4-5 hours. So I'm guesstimating the following timeline:

Hour zero - Harry informs Snape about the problem. 
00:15 - Hermione tricks the Toad.
00:20 - Snape determines that Harry was sent a fake message. Does not yet send out a general alert.
00:30-01:00 - Snape is informed as to Hermione's plan; the earlier time is if he goes to the Toad's office, the later time is assuming that he was called in to help by the slitherings (does Draco have a cousin Ralfoy who is always telling jokes?). 
1:20 - H&H are saved from the centaurs by Grawp.
1:40 - Dumbledore's Army of Five Fighting Youngsters start gathering Thestrals.
2:00 - DAFFY is on their way. 
2:00 - Snape figures that even Harry could have outsmarted Toadie by now. 
3:00 - 4:00 DAFFY arrives at the Ministry
4:00 - Snape, realizing that the DAFFY's have gone to the Ministry, says "Oops!" and alerts them. 
4:20 - The daffies start fighting the deathies.
4:30 - The deathies take one look and also say, "oops!" 

Bart

>
>If you have the specific care of a person and he is in the presence 
>of someone that has tried to destroy him all year even if she is 
>supposed to be one of the good guys, then would you leave that person 
>out of your sight long enough to let that someone take him to a 
>location that is known to contain some pretty dangerous creatures? 
>No, you wouldn't, at least I wouldn't. I see a lot of but Snape 
>couldn't have done this or that or couldn't have known this or that, 
>but it was his job to find out one way or the other and the 
>resourceful mind will find a way to do it even if it seems 
>impossible.  
>
>The Order don't let Harry out of their sight, not even if he goes to 
>Hogsmeade with a large group of friends so why does Snape let this 
>happen without trying to find him because according to DD Snape never 
>went looking for him but just intended to search the forest at the 
>moment he already suspects him to be off to the DoM and yes, I do 
>agree with Neri, the time it takes the Order to arrive is suspicious 
>especially because DD wants us to believe Snape alerted them 
>immediately after he found out Harry's gone missing. So when did 
>Snape start worrying after half an hour, an hour or just when it 
>started to turn dark and the 4 others that have gone missing too, 
>that were not in the care of Umbridge did not arouse Snape to go look 
>for them sooner either? 
>
>I did look at the scene again and Hermione never tells Umbridge were 
>the weapon is hidden, Ron tells Harry he saw them enter the Forest 
>and they followed. So if we assume DD is correct that Snape waited 
>for Harry to return from his trip with Umbridge, there is still 
>something not quite right. 
>
>This is what DD says and unless we should assume DD is lying then 
>this information is a correct account of what Snape did. 
>
>Pg 732 UKed Paperback
>
>`When, however you did not return from your trip into the Forest with 
>Dolorus Umbridge, Professor Snape grew worried that you still 
>believed Sirius to be a captive of Lord Voldemort's. He alerted 
>certain Order Members at once.'
>
>End Quote from Canon. 
>
>If this is truly Snape's account of events then how does he know they 
>went into the Forest? He could not have known unless he watched 
>either Harry himself enter the Forest or the other 4 kids. If so then 
>he should have followed and not just sit back and wait. It took him 
>an awful long time to start getting worried because as we see on how 
>long it takes the Order to arrive at the DoM and Snape's supposed 
>immediate alert and the immediate departure of the Order to the DoM 
>indicates Snape waited a very long time for Harry's return that never 
>came. 
>
>He should have made it his business to see to it, Harry remained safe 
>and if he had, then Harry would not have ended up at the DoM. 
>
>So in that sense Snape's actions, to me, still makes him responsible 
>for the whole event to take place but not for the individual actions 
>of other people in these same events. Well at least not at this 
>moment. We could find out in DH Snape's timing was deliberate because 
>he knew the time DD was about to arrive at HQ from his previous 
>contact with Sirius and why he choose that moment because he knew if 
>DD was not there, it would make Sirius rush out to go to Harry's aid 
>and no one but DD could stop him and waiting would have given the DEs 
>enough time to finish the job (although we see they failed miserably 
>at it). Snape could not have foreseen Bellatrix killing Sirius off 
>but the chance that Sirius would have been caught by the MoM was ever 
>so great as we have seen with other Order Members on watch duty, 
>especially if the DEs would have left before the Order arrived. 
>
>I am not saying this will ever be but canon does not dispute Snape's 
>own claim in HBP that he was responsible for Sirius death and to 
>answer your question would Snape feel bad Sirius died? No, he 
>wouldn't he would consider it justice being served finally, just as 
>we see him actively trying to get Sirius soul sucked in PoA, I do not 
>believe his feelings changed about it one bit and why he is happily 
>boosting about it in HBP. (he is still claiming it lying or not so 
>either he did actively participate or is just so happy about it that 
>he just wished he did, there was no need for him to even claim it) 
>
>JMHO
>
>Dana 
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