[HPforGrownups] I reckon Snape is a Goody

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 170983

From: adamearthenergy <adamearthenergy at yahoo.co.uk>
>Hi, I think that Snape will turn out to be a goody. He killed 
>Dumbledore because he had to protect Malfoy, under Dumbledore's 
>instructions that night when the baddies got in through the cabinet. 
>Think about it, Snape had to kill Dumbledore because Dumbledore as a 
>good head master, had to, protect all his pupils including Malfoy. 
>Even though Malfoy was treacherous that did not matter to Dumbledore. 
>When Dumbledore said "please" to Severus Snape, he was not 
>saying "please save my life", he was saying "please kill me to save 
>Malfoy". Get back to let me know what you think. PS In real life, I 
>have owls outside my window. There are two young ones. In the winter 
>it is great to hear the Owls hooting.

Bart: 
I'm in the "Dumbledore had already been killed by the ring" crowd (the theory that destroying the ring horcrux would have killed him already except for the intervention of magic, probably from Snape, which was only delaying the inevitable, that time was running out, and Dumbledore's only luxury was to choose the moment that Snape removed the magic, and did so at the time his death would do the most good).

However, that does not mean that Snape is good, any more than Dung is good. Snape can be (and probably is) evil, but nowhere NEAR as evil as Morty. 

And, as long as we're on the subject, I'm going to give my own interpretation of the Snape reformation timeline:

1) Cooking Sherry makes the prediction.
2) Snape tells Morty the first part.
3) Harry is born.
4) For reasons still not quite revealed, Snape decides he screwed up and goes to DD. 
5) The Potters go into hiding, being warned that Morty is after them.
6) PP the rat tells Morty.
7) Morty kills James, Lily, and, very nearly, himself.

The key here is that James and Lily went into hiding because they knew Morty was after them. It is reasonable to assume that DD knew that Morty was after them because of the info he received from Snape. This would also explain Snape's continuing animosity towards Sirius; not only did Snape believe, for years, that Sirius had screwed up his plan to save the Potters, but that in reality, through his inaction, he kept the real culprit from being caught. 

Bart