Snape's the Rescuer - Really? WAS: Justice to Snape

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 170678

Carol earlier:
> > 
> > Instead, like it or not, they owe their lives (and souls) to
Snape. And even if they *could* have saved themselves, they didn't.
Snape did. (Thanks for acknowledging that, Mike.) 
> > 
> > Renee:
> > True, Snape took them to the safety of the Hospital Ward.

Carol:
Yes. Emphatically, yes. And that made it possible for them to be
treated by Madam Pomfrey. Ron's leg was broken. All four of them were
unconscious. Snape had three choices: abandon them to their fates with
a werewolf roaming the grounds, conjure stretchers and take them to
the hospital wing, or take things into his own hands and treat then
himself. He chose the sensible and responsible middle course.

Renee:
> The  question is, what did he save them from? At the moment he woke
up, there was no immediate danger that we hear of, either from the
Dementors or the werewolf. Snape himself actually tells Fudge that the
Dementors were heading back to their positions at the entrances of
Hogwarts when he came round. <snip>

Carol responds:
For one thing, Ron had a broken leg, which needed to be treated. For
another, he didn't know where the werewolf was. He could show up at
any time, and if any of the four were unconscious, they'd be helpless
against the ravening beast. At the very least, he saved them from
lying wounded and unconscious and possibly traumatized from having
faced Dementors, on the Hogwarts grounds. The kids needed to be taken
to the safety of Hogwarts and receive treatment from Madam P.; Black,
in snape's opinion, needed to be handed over to justice. (Snape
thought he was a murderer out to kill Harry, and the "right" thing to
do, as he saw it, was to bring him to justice--not directly to the
Dementors but to the proper authority, Fudge.

> Lanval:
> Yes to all. We last hear of Lupin being anywhere near as Hermione2 
and Harry2 realize that the werewolf is going to run right toward
their hiding spot -- not because he's attacking them, but because
that's where they saw him *taking flight (!!!), howling, galloping
into the forest* earlier, when Sirius chased him off Ron and
Pettigrew. <snip>
> 
Carol responds:
Which does not mean that he can't or won't return to the shrieking
shaack. And Snape doesn't know where Lupin is, only that he's
transformed and can return at any time.

Lanval:
 
> The mere possibility that Lupin *might* have returned from the 
Forest and *could* have attacked unconscious Ron, Harry, Hermione and
Sirius, or that the Dementors *might* have returned, is not quite
enough reason to pin a lifesaver badge on Snape just yet. Especially
since they are IMO just an annoying extra burden to deal with for
Snape; his main objective is to get Black to the castle. Note that he
finds time to bind and gag Sirius before he loads him unto a
stretcher. <snip>

> I'd say if anybody deserved a badge that night it's Sirius, who 
without a doubt saved the kids, Snape and Pettigrew in a true fight 
with the werewolf. <snip>


Carol responds:
No one is taking away from Sirius Black's actions in scaring away the
werewolf (which Snape didn't witness) or from Harry's casting the
Patronus to prevent himself and Black from being soul-sucked in
crediting Snape with saving all four unconscious people. All of their
actions are necessary for events to turn out as they did. But had
Snape not taken HRH them to the hospital wing, Harry and Hermione
could not have Time-Turned and therefore they could not have saved
anyone. The story would have ended with Sirius Black and Harry
soul-sucked (whether or not the unconscious Hermione and the injured
and unconscious Ron survived both werewolf and Dementors with no
TT!Harry to conjure the Patronus). 

Alternatively, Snape *could* have summoned the Dementors to soul-suck
the supposed murderer on the spot and left the kids who had knocked
him unconscious to their fates, knowing that a transformed wereolf was
prowling the grounds. That he did not do so is surely to his credit
and to me speaks volumes about his loyalties. (And while he was
certainly concerned with bringing the supposed murderer to justice,
who's to say that was a greater priority than saving the Prophecy and
two other students from the very real possibility of grave danger?)

If conjuring stretchers to take unconscious kids, at least one of them
seriously injured, to the hospital wing rather than leaving them on
the grounds when there's even the remotest chance of their being
bitten by a werewolf isn't saving their lives, what is it? It's
certainly an act of mercy of some sort and protecting them from
danger. (That he had no kind feelings for or intentions toward Sirius
Black is beside the point. He thought Black was trying to murder
Harry, remember? He took him to Fudge rather than dispatching him
himself, which, for Snape, is an act of restraint.)

As I said before, they could not have Time-Turned without being
brought to the hospital wing and restored to consciousness so DD could
suggest using the Time Turner. Had Snape not saved them, Harry and
Hermione could not have Time-turned and therefore TT!Harry could not
have saved them from the Dementors even though the Patronus *seems* to
come first in the circular time frame of the TT!sequence. Snape had,
in essence, *always* saved them, so they didn't *need* to save
themselves (even if they could have done so, which is doubtful), and
to interfere with his conjuring the stretchers and taking them to the
hopsital wing would have been extremely stupid and dangerous, with
unthinkable consequences.

Carol, glad for HRH's and the story's sake that Snape was there to
conjure those stretchers since no one else could have done so