Justice to Snape WAS: Re: Werewolves? There Wolves!

[julie]

No: HPFGUIDX 170635


> 
> Toonmili:
>   There was no way he could have known.  Lily and James trice 
defied 
> Voldemort. I doubt they went about advertising it that Lily was 
> expecting.
> > 
> > How do you think they knew it was someone close to them who was
> > spying.  They only told a very few amount of people and somehow 
> Voldemort found out they had a child.  Unless you think that Lily 
> wrote Snape and told him that she was having a baby. There is no 
way 
> he could know that was expecting unless they were in touch.  And I 
> think we can assume that they weren't.
> 
> 
> Alla:
> 
> Yep, I specifically said that as canon stands right now he did not 
> know. As canon states right now, he delivered **unnamed couple and 
> their baby** to Voldemort.
> 
> But do I exclude the possibility that he may have known? No way, 
> especially since I believe that Snape having an obsession about 
Lily 
> will be disclosed in some way, shape or form. 
> 

Julie:
I don't think the Prophecy is actually clear enough for 
Snape to have known he was delivering an unnamed couple 
and their baby to Voldemort. *Especially* if Snape only heard
part of it. Not only is the first part not completely clear
on whether this person who "approaches" is already in existence
or not, the "either must die at the hand of the other" doesn't
come until the second part of the Prophecy.

Thus Snape's thought process might have anything from 1.
"The Dark Lord will no doubt ignore this, since prophecies
are idiotic anyway, but I'll stay in his good graces since
he sent me specifically to spy" to 2. "Hmm, someone may in
the future be a threat to the Dark Lord, so this information 
will help him come up with a game plan to protect himself
*should* that threat materialize" to 3. "This must refer to a
baby who will soon be born, and no doubt the Dark Lord will
believe this Prophecy fully and will want to immediately
kill this helpless baby and his family instead of waiting
around to see if the kid grows up to be some sort of threat.
Not that he could ever kill the Dark Lord...AS IF!!!" (Snape
only heard part of the Prophecy as far as we know, remember).

Which thought is more likely from 20(?) year old Severus
Snape, follower of Lord Voldemort? I suspect Thought One
is at least as likely if not more likely than Thought Three.
Because Snape is little more than a teenager, he still sees
the world and everyone in it from his perspective--"If *I* think
seers and prophecies are for fools, then everyone else must
think so too.) And even if he thinks Voldemort might buy it,
he could still reasonably suspect Voldemort would want to 
"monitor" the situation to see if any child starts to show
some incipient power that could be a threat to him. 

Which leads me to the most likely possibility, that Snape
thought Voldemort would file away the information for a 
later date, perhaps with a plan to neutralize this potential
threat to his power should it ever appear. This would be 
true especially if Snape didn't hear the part about "either 
must die at the hand of the other for neither can live 
while the other survives." Without that part, the Prophecy
is not a death threat but a threat that Voldemort might be
deposed from his seat of power. (Or Snape could have even
assumed Voldemort might try and recruit this threat to
his side, and *use* that power, an action that is fairly 
standard for evil lords.)

The point is that Snape hearing part of the Prophecy and
reporting it to his boss as it were, does not indicate
that he knew or even suspected that Voldemort would 
immediately hunt down and kill a baby who couldn't have
yet begun to manifest any power. (And, yes, we know that
Voldemort is a paranoid who will preemptively and coldly
murder a baby at the mere sign of a potential threat--
and I think the older and far more experienced Snape we
either loathe or love--or both!--would expect the same
thing--I don't think the younger and inexperienced Snape
understood Voldemort's way of thinking at all, until it 
was too late of course.)

Julie, who also figures Thought Three fits well with a
genuinely remorseful DDM!Snape, *if* that is who Snape
turns out to be.