Where was Snape?

[melhersheybar]

No: HPFGUIDX 174721

I admit I have not read every post in the last two weeks, but I have 
not seen a discussion of this in the ones I have read.  My question 
is, where was Snape between the time he "did a bunk" prior to the 
start of the first battle for Hogwarts and the time he showed up in 
the Shrieking Shack?  We don't have an answer from the book, and his 
absence has bothered me.  

It does not appear that he realized at the time he fled that VD has 
started keeping Nagini close by because he does not immediately go 
to find Harry and give him the last bit of information that Harry 
contains a piece of VD's soul.  So he runs off, doesn't go to VD, 
doesn't fight on the side of the Death Eaters, and yet, Lucius is 
able to easily find him when VD asks him to.  Only then does he 
realize that, "whoops, I better go find Harry" before it is too 
late.  Does he realize at that point that VD is about to kill him?  
I don't know, but it seems so.

Absent any other explanation, I have to conclude the Jo purposefully 
blurred the plot here so that the whole "passing of the memories" 
and Prince's Tale could take place in a way that made it possible 
for Harry to accept and believe the information.  I know that a lot 
of people have commented about how lucky it was that Harry was in 
the right place in the Shrieking Shack at the right time, and how 
close he came to missing this crucial piece of info altogether.  But 
what is alternative?  What if Snape had been able to simply find 
Harry wandering the grounds and tried to give him the information?  
There is no way Harry would have believed him, he probably would 
have tried to kill him, and the information would have been lost 
forever. 

Mel