Will the Real Severus Snape please step forward?

[julie]

No: HPFGUIDX 167796

> 
> Goddlefrood:
> 
> Here's somewhere we differ. I do have a little snippet for you:
> 
> '... the door to the ramparts burst open once more and there 
> stood Snape, his wand clutched in his hand as his black eyes 
> swept the scene, from Dumbledore slumped against the wall, to 
> the four Death Eaters, including the enraged werewolf, and 
> Malfoy.'
> 
> ...
> 
> 'Snape gazed for a moment at Dumbledore and there was revulsion 
> and hatred on etched in the harsh lines of his face'
> 
> Both from p. 556 - HBP, Bloomsbury Hardback Edition.
> 
> The pleading occurs between the two. The possibility, although 
> perhaps slight, exists that when Snape swept the room Dumbledore 
> caught his eye for just long enough to read the hatred in Severus 
> at that time. The mask of Occlumency had slipped for those few 
> moments on the tower due to Snape's boiling anger, which he 
> contained to the extent of showing it in no more way than the 
> revolted, hating look on his face. There was no time for his
> trademark tirade, IOW :)

Julie:
I snipped most of your replies, because as you say, anything is
possible when it comes to Snape. But your theory is built on a
lot of "slight" possibilities like the one above, as you admit
yourself. The slight possibility that Dumbledore could have caught
Snape's eye and deduced Snape's unexpected betrayal just as Snape
momentarily dropped his Occlumency shields. Added to the slight
possibility that Irma Pince looks much more aged than she really
is (if she was Snape's schoolmate), added to the slight possibility
that Snape has some relationship with her even though they don't
have a single scene together in the books to foreshadow such a
critical plot element...

Which leads to the complete lack of the exposition which Magpie
so eloquently showed is very typical of JKR's writing, and I
can't see this theory as anything but a very remote possibility. 
But that's just me ;-)

Julie