Snape and Dumbledore on the Tower: A Defense of Snape

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 165274

Carol earlier:
> > There is no saving Dumbledore, who would have been killed by the
Death Eaters if Snape or the poison (or Draco under coercion) hadn't
killed him.
> 
Eggplant responded:
> But of course if Snape hadn't taken that vow he could have turned
his wand onto the Death Eaters instead of Dumbledore. It all goes back
to that vow. Your central problem is explaining why a good Snape would
make that crazy vow; and whatever the explanation you come up with it
needs to be HUGE to justify such bizarre behavior. <snip>

Carol responds:
Very true. I thought about bring the UV into the article (it's ot a
normal HPfGU post), but it seemed like a tangent and I wanted to focus
on the tower and subsequent events. I confess I'm assuming that
Dumbledore knows all about the UV based on his comment to Harry after
Harry tells him about the overheard conversation between Snape and
Draco. Dumbledore seems to accept the necessity for the Unbreakable Vow.

As for Snape's reasons for taking the UV, it's clear that his
motivation in taking the vow in the first place relates to the first
two provisions, protecting and watching over Draco. Those are the two
things that Narcissa asked him to do (actually, she said "help" rather
than "watch over," but Snape's idea of "helping" Draco turns out to be
putting Crabbe and Goyle in detention and trying to find out what he's
up to, so I don't think we can fault him there.) So Snape is putting
his own life on the line to protect Draco, whose life he knows or
suspects is in danger. I think that's what Dumbledore would want him
to do, and it would be part of his duty as Head of Slytherin House to
protect him and watch over him in any case. It's only the third
provision, which he clearly didn't anticipate given the twitch, that
presents a problem.

Now I can't see into Snape's mind any more than you can, but I do know
that he'd gone to great pains to protect his cover and provide
explanations for the breaches in his loyalty to Voldemort that a
fanatical DE like Bellatrix would understand (and spread to her fellow
DEs).  That can't be his primary motivation in taking that third
provision, but I think it's a factor. So is Narcissa's state of mind.
She's counting on him to protect Draco, and he can't let her down. In
any case, his wand hand is bound to hers with ropes of fire and
Bellatrix is standing over him with a wand. (True, she expects him to
refuse to take that part of the vow, but what would have happened if
he had? Clearly, there's some reason why he didn't take that risk.)
It's possible that he thinks he can work around the third provision:
If he tells Dumbledore about it, surely, Dumbledore, the most powerful
and wisest wizard in the WW, can figure out a way to prevent a
confrontation with Draco, the only thing, apparently, that can trigger
the vow. And, certainly, DD knows from the beginning that Draco is
trying to kill him (Snape has to have told him) and has taken every
precaution (except, unfortunately, the one that counts) to prevent
Death Eaters from entering Hogwarts and providing Draco with backup.
And almost certainly Snape thinks that if someone *must* kill
Dumbledore, and if it's the only way to save Draco's life, better
Snape than Draco. I think that both Snape and Dumbledore want to
protect Draco from becoming either a murderer or a murder victim, and
if the only alternative is Snape becoming a murderer, so be it. Snape
clearly doesn't want that to happen, as the twitch (and possibly the
argument in the forest indicates), and he later tries to avoid it by
interrogating Draco and following him around (luckily for Draco). But
in the end, Dumbledore seems to accept the necessity or inevitability
for his own death. Snape, who suffers mental anguish, the loss of his
job, his freedom, and his mentor, the loss of trust of his fellow
Order members, and even, probably, a split soul, is not so content.

(I also think, BTW, that Snape became the DADA teacher by default when
Slughorn accepted the Potions position on the same night as the visit
to Spinner's End by the Black sisters, and that the UV--not planned by
Narcissa since she didn't want Bellatrix to follow her--is the DADA
curse falling into place, but, of course, that doesn't answer your
question of why I think that Snape took the Unbreakable Vow. I just
think that the UV in itslef does not prove that he's not Dumbledore's
man.)
> 
Eggplant:
> And then there is the revulsion and hatred etched into the harsh
lines of Snape's face as he murdered Dumbledore, that's a real problem
too; it just doesn't sound like a good Snape to me. <snip>

Carol:
That part is partially answered in my original article. I stated that
they could indicate self-hatred (or fury at Dimbledore for wanting him
to commit murder and keep his vow) and revulsion at the deed he has to
perform. I should add that we're seeing the look of hatred and
revulsion from Harry's pov, not Snape's, so he thinks that they
indicate hatred of and revulsion for Dumbledore. But when have we ever
seen any such feeling for DD on Snape's part? The most we've seen is
resentment when Dumbledore disregards his opinion. And Snape is
insulted when Fake!Moody implies that he may be trying to injure Harry
behind Dumbledore's back: Dumbledore trusts me! (I believe, though of
course I can't prove it, that the trust is merited.) And as I said in
the article and have said on this list, Snape's look of hatred and
revulsion parallels the self-hatred and repulsion that Harry feels in
the cave. The similarity in wording can't be accidental, and Harry,
too, has been coerced into making a promise that he doesn't want to
keep, a promise that could well lead to Dumbledore's death (and did in
fact contribute to it, given DD's weakened state).
> 
Eggplant:
> And I don't quite get your point about Avada Kedavra; I don't much
care if Snape killed him with it or in some other way, the point is he
killed him. 

Carol:
But did he? If the AK is a cover for some other spell, he didn't
actually murder DD; he only allowed him to die from the poison in the
cave, out of reach of Fenrir Greyback and with no need for Harry to
feel that *he* is the murderer.

It just strikes me that the supposed AK doesn't act the way a Killing
Curse is supposed to act. We've been conditioned to expect a blinding
flash of green light since the second chapter of SS/PS, and it didn't
happen this time. And I think it's important that Snape sent the body,
or the still-living DD over the battlements to what appears to be a
soft landing. Had he not done so, Harry would never have gotten off
the tower alive.

Carol, thanking Eggplant for reading her article and agreeing that the
UV is also crucial in determining Snape's loyalties