CHAPDISC: HBP30, The White Tomb

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 165785

> > a_svirn:
> > That's where she turned their conversation eventually, yes. But I 
> > don't see why she needed to repudiate the word "evil" for that 
> > purpose. She could have said something like "you couldn't 
possibly 
> > guess how evil he is, Harry". But she *is* remarkably restrained 
> when 
> > she talks of Snape. Even when Harry calls him "murderer" she 
> agrees 
> > as though against her better judgment, "well
 yes."  And then 
> turns 
> > the subject. It is almost tempting to speculate if she knows 
> > something we don't.
> 
> Magpie:
> I think that could be true. Not that Hermione specifically has 
> information we don't, but it's very like her to have started 
> puzzling things out herself and perhaps realize she's a DDM!Snaper! 
> Hermione's very often the one to figure out what's really going on 
> with what people are doing where Harry only looks at the surface. 
> She might not know Snape well, but she's always trusted Dumbledore 
> and may simply not believe Dumbledore was so fooled. 

a_svirn:
This doesn't look like a sound judgment, though. More like "it cannot 
be true because it can never ever be true". Why can't she believe 
that Dumbledore was fooled? He is only human. 

> Magpie:
Also she's got 
> reason to defend DDM!Snape anyway, having always dismissed Harry's 
> doubts about Snape in the past. 

a_svirn:
This sounds even less sensible. Not to say childish. 

> Magpie:
> I don't just mean that Hermione's pride is at stake so she doesn't 
> want Harry to be right. I mean she may have given thought to this 
> matter in the past just as many readers have each time Harry 
brought 
> up his suspicions, so she's not ready to let them go. 

a_svirn:
Ah, but then they were only suspicions. And Dumbledore was alive. Now 
she has to face facts. And the facts, as she knows them, are as 
follows: Snape was instrumental to the Potters' murder; Dumbledore 
trusted him because he was impressed by his remorse (granted, that's 
only Harry's interpretation, but that's the only one she has); Snape 
made a vow to kill Dumbledore and eventually he did kill him. She 
knows nothing about the circumstances under which he took the vow 
(not that it is very helpful knowledge as far as I am concerned, but 
perhaps she could have spotted something at Spinner's Endwe we all 
have missed so far.) She wasn't at the Tower and didn't see Snape's 
expression, nor did she hear Dumbledore's last words; she probably 
doesn't even know that Snape spared Harry's life when they dueled 
in "the Prince's flight". As far as she knows the facts, Snape *is* a 
traitor and a murderer. Which does rather bespeak evil disposition.  

> Magpie:
She herself 
> never, iirc, called the Prince "evil" either, just a bad influence 
> on Harry, and she may have begun theorizing about things she 
doesn't 
> know regarding Snape and Dumbledore now that the shock is over. If 
> Hermione's anything like me in this respect (and I get the feeling 
> she is), she never wants to be wrong, so she is hesitant about 
> making an extreme judgment too quickly. 

a_svirn:
But she *knows* that Snape murdered Dumbledore. It's not just a 
suspicion of "once a death eater, always a death eater" kind. It 
wouldn't be too extreme to call him "murderer" or even "evil" from 
where she stands.