The Continuing Tragedy of Severus Snape: Reflections on Books 1-

[Unspeakable]

No: HPFGUIDX 165314

> Cassy:
POA:
Well, the result of Snape *totally* losing it in the Shrieking Shack
<snip> is that the real culprit, Wormtail, escaped... to rejoin
Voldemort. Sirius Black is (still) the Most Wanted, Remus Lupin is a
disgraced werewolf and Fudge thinks that Dumbledore employs deranged
staff. Nice one, Severus... still it's good to know you're (supposed
to be) on our side! 

> Nikkalmati:
This statement really has me puzzled. Lupin and Sirius are about to
tell their story, Snape comes in and some things about their past and
his character are revealed, Snape is knocked out, the Marauders
continue their story, convince the Trio, and all leave the Shack.
Snape's arrival interrupts the flow of the story, but nothing happened
in the Shack or afterwards that would not have happened, if Snape had
not come out after Lupin, except that Snape rescues unconscious Harry,
Sirius and Hermione. 

> Cassy:
With apologies to Severus Snape, whom I agree did the right thing in
conjuring the stretchers to save Harry, Ron and Hermione (and Black!)
from the Dementors; my point is that if Snape had played it
differently in the Shack, he could have captured Wormtail that night
... and he knows it. IMHO, it's terribly tragic that Snape, Lupin &
Black were unable to understand one another sooner ... a cornered rat
(even one so catastrophically underestimated as Pettigrew) should have
been no match for three powerful members of the Order of the Phoenix,
even without the (not inconsiderable) talents of the teenage trio. Yet
they failed ... (as the Marauders had failed before) ... and this
time, Snape was in a large measure responsible for the failure. 

I have no wish to malign DDM!Snape (whom I admire greatly following
HBP) but it's hard to overstate the magnitude of the disaster here ...
"You – you've got to hear me out," he [Black] croaked. "The rat – look
at the rat –" (POA19) This was the dangerous corner, if you like, the
moment when one future was lost: "The Dark Lord lies alone and
friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained
these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight ... the Servant will
break free and set out to rejoin his Master. The Dark Lord will rise
again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible that ever he
was. Tonight ... before midnight ... the servant will set out to
rejoin his Master...". Now we know that the prophecy did not *have* to
come true. Pettigrew's escape made Voldemort's return possible and
Pettigrew's escape was only possible because Snape failed to listen to
Sirius & Lupin and to unite with them at this moment. If he had done
so then (even with the added complications of lycanthropy and the
Dementors), I have little doubt that Wormtail would now be in Azkaban. 

Of course, there are some major justifications for Snape's behaviour
in POA19. One could ask: why should he listen to Lupin & Sirius? He is
rightly concerned for the students' safety, 'out of bounds , in the
company of a convicted murderer and a werewolf'; he blames Sirius for
the Potters' deaths with an intensity of feeling matched only by Harry
in the last-but-one chapter (thus supporting the hypothesis that he
loved Harry's mother); and he believes Sirius to be capable of murder
for the very good reason that (as Snape says) "he [Sirius] once tried
to kill *me*". (To add to which: he apparently believes that HRH have
been the victim of a Confundus Charm.)

However, I would argue that JKR also points to Snape's culpability in
this scene. There is evidence that he is too strongly motivated by a
desire for revenge (and for personal vindication from Dumbledore),
which leads him to take maverick action without reasonable precautions
(why oh why did he not send a Patronus to DD before rushing to the
Shack?): "I've told the Headmaster again and again that you've been
helping your old friend Black into the castle ... I shall be quite
interested to see how Dumbledore takes this ... Vengeance is sweet ...
How I hoped I would be the one to catch you ...".  In a shocking
moment, Snape even threatens to "call the Dementors once we get out of
the Willow" though thankfully (after being knocked out) his sense of
justice reasserts itself. We know that Harry, Ron & Hermione were
starting to come round to Black & Lupin's version of events before
Snape appeared, but the evidence suggests that Snape could not even
begin to make the necessary mental adjustments. (After all, Harry
Potter has every reason to hate the godfather whom he thinks betrayed
his parents ... and yet *Harry* does ultimately listen to reason.)
There is no sign that Snape had benefited from a year in Lupin's
company or that he was prepared to credit DD's trust in Lupin (though
this is not wholly his fault). Most telling, perhaps, is the language
that JKR uses to convey Snape's (precarious) mental state in POA19:
'quite deranged', 'mad glint', beyond reason', 'madder than ever' etc.
In the circumstances, HRH have little option but to subdue him  ...
with the effect that Snape is 'still hanging, unconscious, in mid-air'
when Lupin transforms, Sirius defends the trio & Wormtail escapes.
This is hardly the part that gallant DDM!Snape would have wished to
play in events. (My point is not that Snape is evil but that *had* he
been serving Voldemort at the time, he could hardly have done worse
... a point JKR uses to her advantage in HBP.) 

Of course, Snape was not alone in believing that Sirius Black was
guilty (though interestingly, he seems to have been one of the only
people to suspect Black *before* the events at Godric's Hollow), nor
was he privy to the crucial first half of the conversation between
Black, Lupin & HRH in POA17/18, but his refusal to listen cost them
dearly all the same. What is clear is that he acted in good faith – I
don't for a moment believe that he was playacting to save Wormtail.
After all, we know how anxious he was to have been *right*: "You
surely don't believe a word of Black's story?" Snape whispered, his
eyes fixed on Dumbledore's face. (POA21) And after Black's escape, he
is 'beside himself'. 

So what would Snape's reaction have been to his debriefing from
Dumbledore at the end of POA?  To the knowledge that he has a)
unwittingly aided Voldemort's servant to escape, b) so helping to
fulfill a prophecy of Voldemort's return, c) allowed Voldemort's spy,
*Wormtail*, to witness his immoderate fury, d) almost sent an innocent
man to a fate he would not have wished on his worst enemy and e)
potentially involved Dumbledore, Harry etc. in serious (no pun
intended!) trouble with the Ministry? Of all the 'unseen scenes' so
far, this is the one I would have most desired to witness since it
would settle the question of Snape's loyalties once and for all! I
think he would have been appalled. And for all the extenuating
circumstances, he would have blamed himself. 

Sometimes, IMHO, Snape is not well served by his apologists ... in
this case, I think we need to acknowledge his level of responsibility,
not to blame Snape, but in order to understand the resultant anguish
which drives his actions in subsequent books. If Snape had ever
hesitated on that memorable night in GOF36 when he set out to rejoin &
deceive Voldemort, then the shame & humiliation of Wormtail's escape
would have strengthened his resolve, IMHO. And now he has to live with
Wormtail in Spinner's End, as a permanent reminder of what should have
been ...

> wynleaf 
I read a lot of Cassy's website and notice that she believes Snape
will die and Harry will forgive Snape as he dies. ... Harry can
forgive Snape in a dying!Snape scene. But it takes time to build
trust. So I think that Harry will have some time over the course of DH
to overcome his hatred, forgive Snape, *and* learn to trust him. So no
forgiveness while Snape is dying -- it's too quick. 

> Cassy:
Actually, I agree with you! I'm just not sure – given the fact that
JKR has so much to resolve, when it comes to destroying Horcruxes,
defending Hogwarts & defeating Voldemort etc. – that we'll be able to
& *see* Harry & Snape together much in DH. They have very different
paths to follow now, IMHO ... 

In fact, I doubt we'll see them together until near the end ... though
I suspect the question of Snape's loyalty will be resolved quite early
on *for the reader*, separating us from the main protagonists once
again: http://book7.co.uk/one/

... I used to favour a huge dénouement scene between Snape and Harry,
at wand-tip, with some startling new information being revealed to
explain Snape's role in HBP, but I now believe that Dumbledore will
have found some way of communicating the essential fact of Snape's
innocence to Harry *before* Snape & Harry meet again. In case you're
wondering, it involves time-travel between HBP & DH:
http://book7.co.uk/nine/

So instead I envisage a climatic scene in which Voldemort unmasks
Snape and leaves him for dead, with Harry (and Lupin?) arriving too
late to save him, but in time to learn some crucial information from
Snape. (In these circumstances, Harry would genuinely regret Snape's
death and attempt to offer him absolution. Snape would be content to
die, if he could tell Harry the location of the last Horcrux before
expiring.) But to prevent this being another Aragorn/Boromir moment, I
see Snape's final revelation as very troubling for Harry:
http://book7.co.uk/fourteen/

> Carol:
... Snape's death could serve no purpose. I hope I'll step on no toes
when I say that Sirius Black was a character without a future but
Snape is another matter. 

> Cassy:
Oh dear! At the risk of being unpopular, I see Snape's storyline as
steadily building towards a climatic atonement from which there is no
way back. (& I think he's too integral to the plot to have received a
last minute reprieve.) He strikes me as already posthumous ... 'past
oriented' as LL has said. Ironically, Wormtail for whom I feel
nothing, is the one I'd nominate to survive unclichéd(!) as he really
needs to *start* coming to terms with what he's done, IMHO (he hasn't
earned redemption & I don't believe his 'debt' will be so easily paid:
http://book7.co.uk/fifteen/) ... Snape knows & that's enough.
Probably, after HBP, Snape envies Sirius the 'easier' death in the
field ... & I think that's probably what awaits him in the end ... 
however, torturous the road. (For what it's worth, I think it *will*
be torturous (involving Bellatrix & Malfoy etc.) but that ultimately
Snape will lose his life in the heroic, decisive action which he has
always craved (& I think he will break Voldemort's wand!)

Cassy V.
http://book7.co.uk/ 
evidence-based synopsis