Unbreakable Vows

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 165628

Snow wrote:
> > As others have noticed, as well as me, Draco seemed to be quite
pre-occupied with the cabinets if his main objective was to kill
Dumbledore "himself" from the get go. Granted, attempts were made on
Dumbledore's life but they were quite feeble attempts, like his heart
really wasn't in it, if Dumbledore was `his' main objective.
> 
> Magpie:
> The Cabinets *are* Draco's method of killing Dumbledore himself. He
gets backup to get himself to Dumbledore, and then he has to do it.
The Cabinets are a way of working on killing DD, but also something
putting it off, because the Cabinets aren't the killing part.

Carol responds:
Right. The "job" Draco has been given, the part that Snape and DD know
about, is to kill Dumbledore. Draco also has a "plan" (known to
Voldemort, who is lending him DEs to intimidate Borgin and eventually
infiltrate Hogwarts) that Snape *doesn't* know about, fixing the
Vanishing Cabinet. When Snape agrees to "do the deed" if it appears
that Draco will fail, he's agreeing (against his will but evidently
seeing no alternative) to kill Dumbledore, not to fix the cabinets or
get DEs into Hogwarts. Draco's attempts to kill Dumbledore using the
cursed necklace and poisoned mead are desperation measures that he
resorts to because his "plan" is taking longer than he expected (how
hard can it be to fix a Vanishing Cabinet) and he's starting to feel
the pressure. Snape, who IMO doesn't want Draco to kill Dumbledore or
anyone else, successfully discourages such "amateurish" tactics but
fails to find out how Draco expects to get his backup ("better help"
than Crabbe and Goyle) into Hogwarts. It's clear, however, that Draco
*does* need DE back up. He can't just run up to the staff table and
murder Dumbledore in front of the whole school; he's unlikely to
encounter him alone in the corridors; and he doesn't know the password
to Dumbledore's office. 

So if Draco is going to kill Dumbledore, he's going to need DEs behind
him to make sure that there's no interference and that the powerful
Dumbledore doesn't blow Draco off the map the moment draco starts to
lift his wand. No one--not Snape, not Dumbledore, not Narcissa, not
Voldemort, not Draco himself--expects Draco to AK the greatest wizard
in the WW, and a Legilimens at that--without the help and support of
experienced Death Eaters. And Dumbledore, thanks to Snape's
information, has put extensive new protections on Hogwarts to keep
them out. Unfortunately for him and for Snape, neither of them figures
out what Draco is up to in the RoR with his polyjuiced cronies
standing guard, though I'd bet money they know where he's going and
who the "little girls" are.

Snow:
> > Was Draco just under some delusional concept all along that he
would never have to kill Dumbledore at all, that the Deatheaters would
be there to help fulfill his assignment? That wouldn't be cocky that
would be stupid.
> 
Magpie:
> The Deatheaters *are* there to help fulfill his assignment. They are
his backup who will make it so that all he has to do is point his wand
and do the curse. The delusional concept is that killing is as easy as
pointing a wand and saying the words. It is somewhat stupid, but
despite Malfoy not being one of the world's great thinkers, it's not
all that dumb for a naive adolescent. He doesn't have all that many
choices from his pov, so he pretty much has to go forward as far as he
can. <snip>
> 
Carol responds:
Exactly. "Killing isn't as easy as the inocent believe." Not that
Draco is innocent; he's certainly guilty of trying twice to kill
Dumbledore and of recklessly endangering fellow students with the mead
and necklace, not to mention endangering the whole school by bringing
in the DEs and making the murder of Dumbledore not only possible but
inevitable, but actually casting an AK on a helpless old man who's
standing there talking to him is harder than he expected (just as it's
harder than Harry expected when he points his wand at Sirius Black,
though Draco has the advantage of knowing the spell), and it gets
harder with every moment as Dumbledore expertly manipulates him into
talking about it, explaining his situation and almost bragging about
the coins and the cabinet and how he's succeeded in spite of all the
adults who expected him to fail. 

Unlike Magpie, I don't see any remorse on Draco's part for almost
killing Ron and Katie, but he's had a recent brush with death himself,
Harry's Sectumsempra curse, and when it comes time, he can't make
himself commit murder, even when the DE backup arrives. He just stands
there "irresolute," not putting down his wand and refusing to do the
"job" now that the "plan" has succeeded, but unable to go through with
the actual killing. He's not cocky now. He's just a kid on the verge
of realizing that being Voldemort's man is neither glorious nor
exciting. It's just doing the dirty work of a vicious dictator who's
as cruel to his own supporters, his *servants*, as he is to his enemies.

Snow:
<snip>
> > Narcissa's phraseology still leaves a doubt in my mind because I
don't give her that much credit to be brilliant enough to entrap Snape
the way you propose.
> 
> Magpie:
> I'm not following that--where is she trapping him? It seems like
she's just asking him what she's been hinting at all along, and he
knows it.
> 
Carol:
I'm not quite sure that I agree. Narcissa clearly didn't plan to trap
Snape with an Unbreakable Vow when she first went to beg him for his
help, or she would have invited Bellatrix to come with her. Bella only
follows her because she doesn't trust Snape. If she hadn't done so,
there would have been no Bonder to perform the UV.

Narcissa gets her brainstorm for the UV after she's asked Snape to
protect Draco, and her "phraseology" suggests that he will only be
binding himself to "help" and "protect" Draco. ("Help," as we know,
can be interpreted rather loosely. Snape doesn't help Draco work on
the Vanishing Cabinets. His idea of "help" is trying to talk Draco
into confiding in him and putting his helpers in detention.) And the
first two provisions require him to do what he would have done in any
case, "watch over" and "protect" Draco.

But that third provision, to "do the deed" if it should appear that
Draco will fail, wasn't part of Narcissa's request. He wasn't agreeing
to *that* when he agreed to take the vow. She sneaks it in after he's
already kneeling on the floor in front of Bellatrix, his wand hand
bound to Narcissa's by ropes of fire. My own view is that Snape had
become, at that very moment, the DADA teacher because at that very
moment Slughorn had accepted the Potions position, and Narcissa's
inspiration in presenting the third provision is the stroke of doom
for Snape, the DADA curse falling into place. The hellish imagery
emphasizes his mistake in agreeing to the vow. He is *bound* by the
vow to perform a terrible deed that he doesn't want to perform (as
indicated by the twitch) or die. He is already, I think, in  his own
private hell, which by the time Harry calls him a coward is scarcely
endurable.

Magpie:
> There's absolutely nothing preventing it from being straightforward:
Draco's given the task of killing Dumbledore. Narcissa goes to Snape
and asks him to intercede so Draco doesn't have to kill Dumbledore.
Snape vows to protect Draco and kill Dumbledore if it seems Draco
won't be able to do it, since they all know he won't. (God knows why
he vows this, but he does.) Meanwhile, Draco is eager to prove himself
by killing Dumbledore. He has a special plan to do so, due to his
knowing about Montague. He will fix the Cabinet so that he can get a
whole team of DEs into the castle to do the fighting and give him his
clear shot at Dumbledore, which he will then take. When the Cabinets
aren't easily fixed he tries other ways of killing. The pressure gets
worse, everything gets more real, and we get the end we get.

Carol:
That's pretty much the way I see it, too, only I think I understand
why Snape took the UV (it's only the third provision that prsents a
problem, in any case). His whole motive, IMO, was to protect Draco at
whatever cost. But I think he thought the cost would be to himself,
not Dumbledore, who was still, despite the injury to his hand, the
most powerful wizard in the WW at that time.

Carol, who finds it interesting that DDM!Snapers disagree with each
other about the UV as much as we disagree with the ESE!OFH! faction