Thoughts Regarding Snape

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 171206

vmonte wrote:
> Hmmm. Am I right in thinking that the "Snape is Dumbledore's Man" 
supporters believe that Snape knew Draco's plan and told Dumbledore
about the plan before school started? 
> 
> I wonder why Dumbledore didn't approach Draco earlier in the school
 year? 
> 
> If Dumbledore knew what was going on with Draco you would think that
he would have at least approached Draco after he was almost killed in
the bathroom.

Carol responds:
Speaking only for myself and not for DDM!Snapers in general, whose
interpretations of Snape's motives and the events on the tower are
quite diverse, I believe that Snape told Dumbledore about both Draco's
assignment to kill DD and about all three provisions of the
Unbreakable Vow. That's different from either of them knowing about
Draco's *plan*, however. It seems quite clear from the conversation
between Draco and Snape that Harry partially overheard that Snape is
trying to find out exactly what Draco is up to (and to prevent him
from any further dangerous tactics like the opal necklace). Draco,
suspecting Snape of trying to "steal his glory" (surely an idea
planted in his mind by Aunt Bellatrix), refuses to cooperate with
Snape and even blocks Snape's Legilimency with his easily detectable
Occlumency (in contrast to Snape's more sophisticated version, which I
believe allows him to "hoodwink" the Dark Lord). 

IOW, while I think that *Voldemort* not only knows about Draco's plan
to repair the Vanishing Cabinet and let the DEs into Hogwarts as
backup but expects him to use that method, not desperation measures
like the necklace and poisoned mead, to attempt to kill DD, I don't
think that DD or snape knows about the cabinet. They have, together,
taken measures to find out as much as they can (I'd be surprised if
they don't know, without Harry's help, that Draco is up to something
in the RoR and Polyjuicing his cronies Crabbe and Goyle to act as
watchmen), and DD has placed as many protections on the castle as
possible, but I don't think either of them suspects that Draco has
found a way to let DEs into the castle despite all those extra
precautions.

BTW, I realize that DD's words to Draco on the tower, "Of course that
is what he would tell you Draco, but--" have been used to suggest that
snape didn't tell DD about the Unbreakable Vow, but he seems
completely unsurprised by Harry's story of what he overheard between
Draco and Snape, and I believe that he's right when he implies to
Harry that he knows more about the matter than Harry does. And *of
course* Snape *would* tell Draco that he was protecting him and
watching over him at Draco's mother's request. He's not going to tell
him that he's doing it out of loyalty to Dumbledore.

As for why Dumbledore didn't approach Draco after Draco was placed in
the hospital wing, I suspect that he was trying to protect both Draco
(in danger of being murdered by LV for failure to carry out his
mission) and Snape (in danger of being killed by the UV). I don't know
whether visiting Draco in the hospital wing, where he couldn't
possibly carry out his task of killing DD (who could easily disarm him
if he reached for his wand), would trigger the UV or not, but probably
DD didn't want to take any chances. Nor would hae want to place Draco
in the position of having failed to kill him even without the Vow and
its consequences for Snape. I believe that part of DD's and Snape's
plan was to make sure that DD and Draco were never alone together.
Needless to say, DD's decision to fly to the Astronomy Tower and await
the DEs (not to mention his weakened condition and Harry's presence on
the tower) changed the circumstances drastically from what either
Snape or DD could have anticipated. (BTW, unlike DDM!Snapers who are
sure that Snape and DD had a definite plan, I'm still not sure why DD
chose to fly to the Astronomy Tower, where he must have known he'd
encounter DES thanks to the Dark Mark set above it.)

Carol, noting that knowing Draco's task (to kill DD) and knowing his
plan for carrying it out (the Vanishing Cabinet) are two different things