CHAPDISC: HBP30, The White Tomb

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 165793


> 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. 

Pippin:
Whoa! Hermione only knows that Snape made a vow to help
Draco, not to kill anyone. In fact, if Spinner's End is largely 
misdirection, then Hermione's thought processes are all the
clearer for *not* knowing about it. 

She doesn't know of any reason why a cowardly Snape would want
to try to kill Dumbledore, surely not a safe thing to attempt no matter
how weak Dumbledore was. Nor does she know of Snape's supposed
preference for slithering out of action. The Snape *she* knows took
on a werewolf and a convicted murderer singlehanded, and 
undertook a task, with pale face and glittering eyes, that had even 
Dumbledore looking apprehensive.

She also knows that Dumbledore trusted Snape. That doesn't mean
she ought to trust Snape just because Dumbledore did, but as she
says, if she doesn't trust Dumbledore, who is she going to trust?
A trio of wet-behind-the-ears students whom she knows have no 
idea at all of what's been going on behind the scenes? 

She also knows that though Dumbledore has been fooled many times, 
so have the Trio, and that the Trio has never, ever once found out a 
bad guy that Dumbledore still trusted.

I'm sure she remembers Fake!Moody's comment about needing
more than the words and the wand to make an AK work, too. If she
hesitates to say that Snape is a murderer, perhaps it's because she
knows that nothing involving Snape has ever been as simple as it
appeared to be. 

Pippin