Snape, Voldemort and the DADA position (very long)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 165900

Goddlefrood wrote:
> 
> As long ago as October 2005 I put together a little piece on Snape
and the DADA position. I believe he never wanted it and still hold 
that view. He certainly did not apply every year, and my reasoning is 
> in the referred post below. <snip>
> 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/141829

Goddlefrood earlier:

> One matter that has bothered me somewhat throughout the series of
Harry books, and more so since the release of HBP is Professor
Snape's hankering after the DADA job. I do not agree with
speculation regarding this position as being some kind of addiction
for Snape, rather I believe that Snape may not have wanted the
position until the time was right or at all.
<snip>

> The first relevant matter to my theory is contained in HBP, Chapter
Twenty –Lord Voldemort's Request, page 418:

> "You see, we have never been able to keep a Defence Against the Dark
Arts teacher for longer than a year since I refused the post to Lord
Voldemort."

> <snip> I postulate that Dumbledore figured out that he could not
keep a DADA teacher for more than a year within a short time of his
interview with LV. Why then would Dumbledore give the job to a useful
man like Snape? Clearly Snape, despite his faults, is a competent and
able teacher and is particularly gifted at Potions as indicated by his
identity as the Half-Blood Prince. Dumbledore as an intelligent man
would have wanted Snape to remain at Hogwarts for longer than one year.

> It is also worthy of note that Dumbledore did not believe Voldemort
was finished and he would, therefore, want to maintain one of his
most useful spies in case LV returned as we know he subsequently did.
<snip>

Carol responds:
I agree with you here. So long as Voldemort has not returned, that is,
up until the end of GoF, Dumbledore would undoubtedly want Snape on
hand in his other area of expertise, Potions, and to watch over Harry
and keep contact with Death Eaters, such as Lucius Malfoy. But during
GoF, it becomes clear that Voldemort is getting stronger (Snape
reports that his Dark Mark and Karkaroff's are getting darker, and
there are other signs). Snape and Dumbledore plan for Snape to return
to Voldemort when the time comes, Snape prepares a version of events
that Voldemort will accept ("If you are ready, if you are prepared"),
and Snape goes off, risking torture and death, to report to him before
returning to Dumbledore, ostensibly as a double agent loyal to LV.
Voldemort would expect him to continue as a teacher. How else could he
spy on Dumbledore? 

And Snape has his excuse for teaching Potions rather than DADA, the
same one he gives to Bellatrix in "Spinner's End," that DD thinks the
position will bring out the worst in him. LV, having jinxed or cursed
the position himself, will readily believe this lie. And DD still
wants Snape safely at Hogwarts, directly exposed to Voldemort and the
DEs only when it's absolutely necessary. He still needs Snape's
Potions expertise, just as he has in previous years (the Potions
riddle and curtains of fire in SS/PS, the Mandrake Restorative Potion
in CoS, the Wolfbane Potion in PoA, Veritaserum in GoF, fake
Veritaserum in OoP. (We still see his Potions expertise in HBP via his
old Potions text and the Bezoar incident, but we also his DADA-related
skills, heretofore mostly concealed from Harry because he wasn't
teaching that class--or healing injuries related to Dark curses that
we know of.)

I agree with you that the DADA position is indeed cursed and that DD
doesn't want to give it to Snape until he has no other choice (despite
Snape's qualifications and any desire he may or may not have for a job
that he must know is jinxed or cursed). In SS/PS, Voldemort is not yet
back, and DD gives the DADA position to Quirrell, who taught it for
one year (going by the remark you quoted above), went off to Albania
looking for personal experience with Dark creatures, and got more than
he bargained for when he encountered Voldemort, who was presumably
possessing small animals at the time--or perhaps inhabiting his dear
Nagini. (FWIW, Quirrell is not actually carrying Voldie around in his
head when Harry first meets him; that doesn't happen until he botches
the Gringotts robbery and Voldemort actually possesses him as
punishment.) Snape keeps an eye on Quirrell, determining before
Halloween that he's after the Stone. 

At the end of the year, with Quirrell dead (he dies as Voldie leaves
his body, not killed by Harry as in the film), DD hires Gilderoy
Lockhart, who certainly has an impressive resume, having written
seven(?) books on killing or defeating Dark creatures. Whether DD
knows that Lockhart is a phony or not, Snape suspects him immediately.
He shows him up in the duelling club (not incidentally teaching the
students Expelliarmus) and again near the end of the book, when he
tells Lockhart that now is his chance to show his expertise by
battling the monster and rescuing Ginny. (Overhearing this remark
inspires Ron to suggest that he and Harry go to Lockhart, setting the
Basilisk sequence in motion.) 

In PoA, Dumbledore finally hires a qualified teacher, one who not
coincidentally is a former friend of the escaped convict, Sirius
Black, who is supposedly out to murder Harry. Snape, knowing that
Lupin is a werewolf and suspecting that he's trying to help his friend
Black get into the castle to murder Harry, watches him closely, too.
(Jealousy of the DADA position and the old "grudge" are red herrings
here, IMO. Snape, like DD, believes that Harry is in danger and knows
full well that Lupin is concealing a magical parchment of which he is
one of the manufacturers. Why he doesn't tell DD about it even after
he uses it at the end of PoA is unclear. Plot needs, probably.)

In GoF, DD again hires a qualified DADA teacher, his old friend,
Mad-Eye Moody, who has real experience fighting and bringing in Dark
wizards. Unfortunately for DD and Harry and all concerned, the "Moody"
who's teaching the students about Unforgiveable Curses, even
performing the Imperius Curse on them, is not the real Moody (as such
behavior ought to have indicated). Whether Snape suspects him of being
an imposter or just dislikes him for personal reasons is not clear;
he's sidetracked by the suspicion that *Harry* has been breaking into
his office to steal Polyjuice ingredients or he might have arrived at
the correct conclusion before DD did. (Too bad Snape didn't pick up
the map instead of Fake!Moody and see the name Bartemius Crouch on th
map!) But whatever antagonism exists between Snape and "Moody" is
initiated by Moody's searching Snape's office, ostensibly looking for
Dark artifacts but really looking for Potions ingredients, and his
insinuating that he'd like to meet Snape in a dark corridor. No
jealousy of the DADA position that I can see, though Snape may resent
the temporary usurpation of his role as DD's righthand man. He
certainly resents "Moody's" insinuation that he's not to be trusted
and his hints in front of the invisible Harry (whom Snape knows full
well is present) that he, Snape, might have placed Harry's name in the
Goblet of Fire. Plenty of reason to hate the evil madman without fully
realizing who and what he is and without coveting the DADA position
per se.

So far, so good. We can see why Snape reacted to them as he did, and
we can see why DD would hire these people rather than Snape, whether
Snape wants the position or not, for a position that DD knows to be
cursed or jinxed. But why allow the MoM to bring in Umbridge, who is
clearly a spy for Fudge and who intends (as DD must know from the
booklist) to teach a useless theory-based DADA course? DD knows that
Snape is much more qualified to teach the course than Umbridge is. Why
not give it to him instead of her? The answer can only be that he
wants Snape to remain with him at Hogwarts. It's not yet time to give
him the cursed position. The danger hasn't reached crisis level
because Voldemort is still sidetracked by the Prophecy, and there's
the whole side problem of the MoM trying to take control at Hogwarts.
DD can't, IMO, give Snape the position and give away the game too
soon. He's got to deal with Fudge et al. first. Snape is still too
useful as Potions master and Occlumency teacher and Order member to
lose him now. Better Umbridge as useless DADA teacher and even High
Inquisitor than Snape away from Hogwarts. And Snape, who gave her fake
Veritaserum and is reporting Harry's "progress" at Occlumency as
revealed by DD's knowledge of the lessons at the end of the book, is
probably giving him reports on Umbridge as well after DD leaves. (They
are certainly still communicating, as again indicated by the post-MoM
interview between DD and Harry.)

But with Umbridge gone, there is quite literally nobody left to teach
DADA except Snape (unless DD can persuade the real Moody, who has
spent nine months in a trunk and is performing other duties for the
Order to try again). Voldemort is back, no longer sidetracked by the
Prophecy (which he thinks has been destroyed) and bent on revenge
against the Malfoys, complete with a plot to have Draco kill
Dumbledore (which Snape has clearly revealed to DD--there's no other
way he could know about it). DD needs a qualified teacher who will
teach the students to protect themselves (including nonverbal
defensive spells and alternate methods of dealing with Dementors). And
he no longer needs Snape's Potions expertise if he can get Slughorn,
whom he wants at Hogwarts for other reasons, to teach Potions (and be
ready to take over as HoH of Slytherin after the DADA curse forces
Snape out of Hogwarts). 

What DD does need, in addition to a knowledgeable DADA teacher in a
time of crisis, is Snape's expertise in Healing and the Dark Arts,
exactly the qualifications a DADA teacher should have for duties
outside the classroom. (It was Lockhart's *duty* to try to find and
destroy the Basilisk, or at least figure out what it was, as Snape
reminds him near the end of the book, just as it was Snape's duty, not
Lockhart's, to brew the Mandrake Restorative Potion and Sprouts's to
grow the Mandrakes. It was Lupin's duty to sit in the Hogwarts Express
supplied with chocolate in case the Dementors came on board. It was
"Moody's" duty to watch over ex-DE Karkaroff and the Durmstrang
students and make sure that the Hogwarts students, especially Harry,
were safe from them. And it's Snape's duty as DADA teacher to deal
with the cursed necklace and stop the curse from killing Katie.) And,
of course, there's the whole business of watching over Draco, but
Snape as HoH would be doing that whether he were Potions master or
DADA teacher. (Healing the Horcrux curse had to be done by Snape
whether he had agreed to be DADA teacher or not, but I think he
already had. All that was needed was Slughorn's acceptance; everything
else was in place, including the plan for Snape to return to Voldemort
at the end of the year if the DADA curse forced him to do so.)

I agree that Snape seems not to know, when he talks about OWLs in OoP,
that he won't be back as Potions master next year, or that DD will
want him as DADA teacher instead, but the battle at the MoM has not
yet occurred, and Voldemort has not yet assigned Draco to kill DD. By
the end of OoP, Dumbledore surely knows that it's time to hire Snape
as DADA teacher, and the encounter with the ring Horcrux clinches the
matter. (Snape may not know of DD's decision even when he talks to
Bellatrix and Narcissa is "Spinner's End," but more likely, IMO, it's
not official until Slughorn actually accepts the Potions position. Or
Snape may just be lying to Bellatrix and Narcissa, concealing
information he doesn't want them to know yet, just as he conceals his
role in sending the Order to the MoM, the nature of DD's "serious
injury," and the fact that he saved DD's life.

Goddlefrood:

<snip> [JKR:] He's not a particularly pleasant person at all. However,
everyone should keep their eye on Snape, I'll just say that because
there is more to him than meets the eye and you will find out part of
what I am talking about if you read Book 4."

> I have been taking this advice seriously and keeping an eye on
Snape. The matter we discover about Snape during GOF is, I believe,
simply that he was a Death Eater. <snip>

Carol:
You're overlooking a wealth of other information about Snape that
comes from GoF, notably that he "returned to our side" (what does that
mean, anyway?) and began spying for Dumboedore "at great personal
risk" before Voldemort was vaporized. (The charges against him were
dropped; they don't seem to have been publicized, in contrast to
Malfoy, Nott, Avery, Crabbe, and Goyle, all of whose names appeared in
the paper after they claimed to have been under the Imperius Curse.)
He shows up in Moody's Foe Glass and helps DD expose and deal with the
Fake Moody. He shows his Dark Mark to Fudge in a vain attempt to prove
to him that Voldemort is back. And he goes off, pale-faced and with
glittering eyes, into danger so great that Dumbledore can't even speak
for a few minutes afterwards, his apprehension is so great. And unlike
Karkaroff, who flees in terror when he feels the Dark Mark burn, Snape
remains with DD, just as he said he would do during the Yule Ball.
("Flee, then. Flee! I will remain at Hogwarts.) IMO, GoF is *the* book
that reveals to us (but not to Harry) exactly where Snape's loyalties lie.

Goddlefrood:
> Almost immediately after the release of Book 5 a further question
was asked regarding Snape <snip>

> {Question:]Professor Snape has always wanted to be Defence Against
the Dark Arts teacher. In book five he doesn't get the job. Why
doesn't Professor Dumbledore let him be the DADA teacher?

> JK Rowling:
That is an excellent question and the reason is
 I have to be
careful
 not to say too much. However, when Professor Dumbledore
took Professor Snape onto the staff and Professor Snape said he'd
like to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts please and Professor
Dumbledore felt that it might bring out the worst in Professor
Snape, so Dumbledore said: "I think we'll let you teach potions and
see how you get along there."'

> The question suggests that the questioner believed Snape always
wanted the job. I disagree with the questioner as I am sure that
Dumbledore would have mentioned to Snape that he could not keep a
DADA teacher for more than a year and other than just thinking that
the position would bring out the worst in Snape, as it possibly did,
he would have persuaded Snape to accept the Potions position or
Snape may have actually wanted the Potions job. This position is,
after all, one at which Snape excels and Dumbledore would know that
Snape was a marvelous potioneer. <snip>

Carol:
As indicated earlier, I agree with you that Dumbledore wanted and
needed Snape at Hogwarts, and not only as Potions teacher. And I agree
that he didn't want Snape in a cursed position--not yet, not till it
was unavoidable and it was time to send Snape back to the DEs at the
end of the year, not till the need for his DADA expertise overrode the
need for his Potions expertise and everything else. But I disagree
that DD really feared that the position would bring out the worst in
Snape or he certainly would not have hired him in Harry's crucial
sixth year, with Voldemort back and making a bid for power. It's
important, I believe, that Snape really *is* teaching DADA to the best
of his abilities in HBP, not just to O students (as he would if he
were teaching NEWT Potions) but to anyone who scraped an Acceptable,
and is even apparently giving remedial lessons to Crabbe and Goyle.
(Draco, who respected him as Potions Master, sneers at him as DADA
teacher, thinking that "we" don't need protection against the Dark
Arts. But he's wrong, as Sectumsempra shows, and *defense* against the
Dark Arts is exactly what Snape is teaching.) 

JKR's explanation in he interview, which matches the one that Snape
gives Bellatrix, doesn't fit the facts. DADA does not bring out the
worst in Snape or he'd be using methods resembling Barty Crouch's,
murdering and torturing spiders and Imperioing his own students. Like
the explanation of DD's injury as the result of slowed reflexes and
the grudge against James as the explanation for all of Snape's actions
from rescuing Harry in SS/Ps to his rage in the Shrieking Shack to
cancelling Occlumency lessons, it appears to be a cover story that
Snape and DD have agreed upon. And Snape's applying, or supposedly
applying, for the DADA position (the one that LV sent him to apply
for) year after year would fit with this cover story.


Goddlefrood:
> Everyone knows Snape is after the DADA position do they? A carefully
disguised ruse in my opinion to cover the fact that Snape actually
is content to be the Potions Master.

Carol:
Ruse, yes, but "content to be the Potions master" is hardly a
sufficient reason for a ruse. I think that Snape and DD together want
people to think that he's watching the DADA professors closely out of
envy and that he stays on as Potions master because DD doesn't trust
him to take the DADA job. The fact of the matter, IMO, is that Snape,
unlike Quirrell, Lockhart, and even Lupin, is too valuable to lose.
(As for Moody, he was hired for a single year to begin with. The
others probably were as well.) Dumbledore needs Snape at hand, and not
just to teach Potions. No one else could do the jobs he does,
especially finding out for DD what Voldemort is telling the Death
Eaters ("Occlumency," OoP). 

Goddlefrood:

> Up to the end of the first book then we have no indication to
disprove that Snape longed for the DADA position, however this
position changes into line with my theory in CoS. As we all know
Gilderoy Lockhart is appointed as the DADA teacher in book 2, but
why would this be if Snape, a seemingly more suitable candidate, was
constantly applying for the job? As Hagrid says about Lockhart in
Chapter Seven – Mudbloods and Murmurs, page 88:

> "He was the on'y man for the job"

> If this is true, and perhaps Hagrid's expostulations should be taken
with a pinch of salt, then Snape could not have applied for the DADA
job for Harry's second year. Apparently only Lockhart applied.

Carol responds:
*To Hagrid's knowledge*, only Lockhart applied. And, whether Snape
wanted the position or not, Dumbledore wasn't ready to give it to him.
As for his being "a seemingly suitable candidate," his qualifications
are vastly superior to Gilderoy Lockhart's pretentions. Lockhart is
repeatedly exposed as inept (the Cornish Pixies, the bones removed
from Harry's arm) and admits himself that he's a fraud near the end of
the book. Snape makes an idiot of Lockhart in the duelling club (see
my published works, erm, my post on that topic) and leads the other
teachers into forcing Lockhart to show his (empty) hand at the end of
the book. But we first see that Snape may well be qualified for the
position in this book, with his "teeny bit of knowledge of duelling"
(as Lockhart puts it to Snape's ire). Expelliarmus. Serpensortia.
Finite Incantatem ending every hex in the room. Whether he applied or
not, he *should* be teaching the DADA class--except for that small
matter of the curse on the position. (I'm by no means denying, BTW,
that he loves Potions and is an expert in the subject. But he's an
expert in DADA as well, as we see again with his detailed answers on
the DADA OWL in "Snape's Worst Memory" and his easy, nonverbal
deflection of Harry's curses in "Flight of the Prince.")

Goddlefrood:
> Not long after this Snape himself says to Lockhart (Chapter Nine –
The Writing on the Wall, page 110:

> "Excuse me" said Snape icily, "but I believe I am the Potions Master
at this school."

> This is after Lockhart says he could make the Mandrake Restorative
Draught for Mrs. Norris. Snape himself seems proud at this point
that he is the Potions Master and able to remedy a condition through
his skill in Potions. It is not reflective of Snape envying Lockhart
his position as DADA teacher, although quite likely Snape is aware
that Gilderoy is incompetent.

Carol:
This is an important moment because it shows that the teachers have
duties related to their positions other than actually teaching the
classes. It's not Snape's job as Potions master to try to go after the
Basilisk (though he may be consulting with DD about it in private and
 apparently tries to find out whether Harry is the Heir of Slytherin
by having Draco cast Serpensortia), but he certainly knows or suspects
that Lockhart is inept. He can't expose Lockhart just yet, but he can
certainly prevent him from infringing on his (Snape's) territory as
Potions Master. I agree that Snape isn't envying Lockhart here, but he
certainly holds him in contempt.

Goddlefrood:
> In Chapter Eleven – The Duelling Club, page 142 some further author
misdirection is thrown at us where the following is found:

> `Snape's upper lip was curling. Harry wondered why Lockhart was
still smiling; if Snape had been looking at him like that he'd have
been running as fast as he could in the opposite direction.'

> I understand from this that we are supposed to believe that Snape is
acting as he does because he is envious of Gilderoy's position as
DADA teacher. An equally plausible explanation is that Snape is well
aware of Gilderoy's incompetence and is looking forward to
humiliating him in front of the entire school body. <snip>

Carol:
Exactly. And Snape demonstrates his own DADA expertise at the same
time, teaching the students the most useful defensive spell in their
repertoire, Expelliarmus, at the same time. 

Goddlefrood:
> In the same Chapter at page 72 further emphasis is put on Snape's
known proclivity for the DADA post while Snape is looking at Lupin:

> `It was common knowledge that Snape wanted the Defence Against the
Dark Arts job, but even Harry, who hated Snape, was startled at the
expression twisting his thin, sallow face.'

> <snip> The twisted expression noted here is more probably due to
Snape's continued bitterness regarding the werewolf caper than his
disgust at not being appointed DADA teacher as we are supposed to
believe. <snip>

Carol:
The evidence indicates that Snape believed that Sirius Black was
trying to murder Harry and he already suspected that Lupin, Black's
former friend, might be his accomplice, or at least that he was not to
be trusted. The "grudge" is another red herring. Snape's hatred and
suspicion has, IMO, a much stronger basis than the so-called Prank,
relating to Godric's Hollow and James Potter's "arrogance" in trusting
Black over Dumbledore. Snape thinks he's saving Harry from the
murderer and his werewolf accomplice (and he does conjure stretchers
to get HRH safely back to Hogwarts). 

Goddlefrood:
> Reinforcement to the red herring regarding Snape hating Lupin
because of the appointment as DADA teacher is found in Chapter Eight –
The Flight of the Fat lady, page 107 where we find:

> `Snape was in a particularly vindictive mood these days, and no one
was in any doubt why 
 His eyes flashed menacingly at the very
mention of Professor Lupin's name, and he was bullying Neville worse
than ever.'

> At this point Snape already suspects that Lupin is assisting Snape's
nemesis Sirius to get into the castle. He goes so far as to voice
this suspicion to Dumbledore in the Great Hall. More misdirection in
other words and a bolster to my belief that Snape wanting the DADA
job has been perhaps the ultimate red herring throughout the series
so far. <snip>

Carol:
Agreed that this is misdirection, but I see no evidence for or against
Snape's wanting the DADA position. What's clear is that his antipathy
toward Lupin is being attributed to the Boggart incident (which may
well have increased it but is not the cause of it) rather than to
Snape's suspicions that the werewolf is in league with the murderer.
The quotation you cited occurs immediately before, not after, the
attack on the Fat Lady, but Snape voices his suspicions to DD in the
following chapter and indicates that they came before the attack on
the Fat Lady, which confirms Snape's suspicions of Black's murderous
intent and his being helped into the castle. (We can hardly blame him
for not recognizing Crookshanks as Black's accomplice.)

Goddlefrood:
> Two chapters later in Chapter Fourteen – The Unforgivable Curses,
page 185:

> "You know why Snape's in such a foul mood, don't you?" 


 "Yeah" said Harry "Moody."

> Still further misdirecting us on the DADA position. We are to
believe that Snape is once again disappointed to have missed out to
Moody. A more likely explanation of Snape's foul mood is twofold.
One Moody has searched his office, about which he is far from
cheerful and two he is annoyed that Harry continues to do all that
is loathsome to Snape, for instance being picked for the Tournament.
<snip>

Carol:
I agree that this is more misdirection, but I'm not sure about the
part about Harry's doing everything that's loathsome to Snape. He
suspects, or seems to suspect, that Harry put his own name into the
Goblet of Fire, which, of course, makes him angry because he wants
Harry to be safe, having repeatedly saved or tried to save his life.
He resents Harry's constant rule-breaking, but he may also suspect
that someone is trying to kill Harry--at least after Fake!Moody says
his piece about a skilled witch or wizard Confunding the Goblet.
What's clear, and I agree with you here, is that Snape's "foul mood"
has nothing to do with a man he still thinks is an Auror having been
appointed DADA teacher to keep an eye on Karkaroff and keep Harry
safe. (Or, if he does resent Moody's appointment, it's because keeping
Harry safe is *his* job. Nothing to do with DADA per se, but there's
some evidence that he sees "Moody" as an interfering usurper on the
floor-prowling, Harry-protecting front.)

Goddlefrood:
> The problematic passage is contained in Chapter Seventeen –
Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four at pages 323-4:

>`"You applied first for the Defence Against the Dark Arts post I
believe?" Professor Umbridge asked Snape
"Yes" said Snape quietly.
"But you were unsuccessful?
"Obviously."
<snip>
"And you have applied regularly for the defence Against the Dark
Arts post since you first joined the school, I believe?"
"Yes," said Snape quietly, barely moving his lips. He looked very
angry.
"Do you have any idea why Dumbledore has consistently refused to
appoint you?" asked Umbridge.
"I suggest you ask him."'

> Unless of course Snape is being less than honest and covering the
real reason he has not become DADA teacher. As we know Snape follows
orders and he would have to apply for the DADA post if LV wanted him
to. 

Carol responds:
Exactly. It *does* appear from this passage that Snape has applied for
the position, knowing full well that DD would refuse his application,
since he first arrived at the school, Hagrid to the contrary. It seems
(IMO) to be part of the agreement between Snape and Dumbledore to make
it appear that Snape covets the DADA post. But while Snape is
certainly far superior to most of the other DADA teachers (Lupin may
be more knowledgeable about minor Dark Creatures if the Kappa remark
is of any importance, but I doubt that Lupin could match Snape's
duelling performance in HBP), he's unlikely to want a cursed position.
(Lupin, in contrast, is glad of a job even if he knows it's likely to
last only one year.) As Snape tells Bellatrix, he has a "comfortable
job" at Hogwarts, and, of course, if he's going to work with DD
against Voldemort and his henchmen, he needs to keep that job as long
as possible. 

So while he might or might not prefer DADA to Potions (at which he's 
unquestionably an expert but in which he has to put up with
"dunderheads" who don't appreciate the subject), as long as the DADA
position is cursed, he's probably content to teach Potions--and help
to expose the ineptitude or iniquity of the current DADA teacher on
the side (he undermines Umbridge by giving her fake Veritaserum and
telling Harry not to let her know about the Occlumency lessons, not to
mention dismissing Harry's garbled message about Sirius Black as
"nonsense" worthy of someone who's drunk a "babbling beverage" and
then informing the Order about Harry's delusion).

Goddlefrood:
> Or did LV want him to? After all LV would know of his own curse
on the position and only if he anticipated Snape staying only a year
or he lifted the curse could Snape last beyond a year in the post. I
contend that Snape is not being entirely truthful. The passage does
not say, however, that Snape applied every year since he joined the
staff, only that he has applied regularly. To have applied every
year would be inconsistent with the matters noted in this article.
Even to say he applied regularly is a bit of a stretch as clearly,
from Harry's year 2 until his year 5 (four full years), Snape
probably did not apply for the job.

Carol:
I think "applied regularly" can safely be read as "applied every
year." However, LV would certainly have known that the position was
cursed, having cursed it himself. If he did send young Snape to apply
for it, he probably intended him to teach for a short time, possibly
to supply information on Dumbledore that would make it possible for LV
to kill him. Alternatively, Snape could have suggested the idea to LV
himself as a way (ostensibly) to spy on Dumbledore. Either way, DD
would have told young Snape (who was already spying for him "at great
personal risk") that the position was cursed and given him Potions
instead, Slughorn having conveniently retired, and they would agree
upon the tale of the DADA position supposedly tempting Snape back into
his old ways. Voldie, if he even knew that Snape had been assigned
Potions instead of DADA, would have no objections. Snape was still at
Hogwarts. But Snape and DD would want to maintain the ruse, keeping
alive the rumor that Snape wanted the DADA position just as DD
encouraged the rumor that the Shrieking Shack was haunted to disguise
the fact that it was being used to shelter a teenage werewolf. (If it
comes to a choice between protecting someone and telling the truth, DD
will choose protection over truth every time.)

Goddlefrood:
> Finally we reach book 6 and Snape is appointed to the DADA job. We
continue to be assured that Snape has craved the position for years.
In Chapter Eight – Snape Victorious on page 159 is says:

> `How could Snape be given the Defence Against the dark Arts job
after all this time? Hadn't it been widely known for years that
Dumbledore did not trust him to do it?'

> Sorry? It had been widely known for years that Dumbledore did not
trust him to do it[?] Where exactly did this come from, if not the
Royal Albert Hall Interview – 26th June 2003 at which it was first
mentioned by JKR. It seems like a little covering up to me and
inconsistent with just about all other canon information. It is also
through Harry's perspective and Harry tends to be a little blinkered
where Snape is concerned.

Carol:
Exactly. Misdirection. Harry doesn't know about the UV and has only
the dimmest idea what Draco is up to, and JKR is trying to arouse the
reader's suspicions, too. But whatever grim satisfaction Snape feels
about finally receiving the position that he also lets Bellatrix think
is his favorite, I don't think it has anything to do with wanting a
cursed job or preferring DADA (which he *does* excel at) to his other
favorite. and much safer, subject, Potions. It has to do, IMO, with
finally dealing with the matter at hand, Voldemort. Finally, he has a
chance to teach the students what he thinks they need to know
(Potions, except for Bezoars and antidotes, not being of much use in
the battle, or at least not as much as a good knowledge of what
they're up against and how to fight it). Finally, his job will allow
him to use his combined knowledge of Healing and the Dark Arts if a
Dark object somehow slips into the castle (as seems likely, with Draco
trying to kill DD). Ultimately, whether he wants to do so or not, the
job will force him out, into Voldemort's camp, where Dumbledore wants
him, but at least he'll have the chance to teach the job for a year
when Dumbledore most needs him to do so.

Goddlefrood:
> Personally I think Snape is only out for himself, but in the matter
of the DADA job he did not always want it and probably now regrets
ever having been appointed to it.

Carol responds:
Without question, Snape regrets the consequences of taking the DADA
job, which, IMO, include the third provision of the Unbreakable Vow
coinciding with Slughorn's acceptance of the Potions position. Snape
doesn't, I'm sure, regret having had the chance to teach DADA, though
he's angry with Harry for not mastering nonverbal defensive spells,
but he certainly regrets being a wanted murderer who has to feign
loyalty to Voldemort to stay alive and out of Azkaban. 

I don't for a moment think that Snape is out for himself. If he were,
he'd have been utterly stupid to take a vow that would either kill him
or make him a wanted criminal if he could find no way around it.
People who are out for themselves don't go out on a limb or risk their
necks for other people or a cause. He didn't want to kill Dumbledore,
as both the hand twitch and the expression of hatred and revulsion
indicate (as well as his reaction to "Kill me like you killed him, you
coward!"). There was nothing to gain *for himself* by killing
Dumbledore. Better to die from breaking the vow or be murdered by
Death Eaters than to live the life he's living now. He killed DD, IMO,
because allowing anyone else to do so would have made matters even
worse for everyone except Snape himself. 

But without question, in my view, he'd rather be teaching Potions with
Dumbledore still alive. If only he hadn't accepted that cursed
position. If only he hadn't taken that vow. If only he hadn't revealed
that Prophecy to Voldemort. If only he hadn't joined the Death Eaters
when he was young and angry and foolish. If only.

Carol, wishing that young Severus had gotten a job doing research for
St. Mungo's instead of joining the Death Eaters