Snape, Voldemort and the DADA position (very long) (Not quite so Long reply)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 165961

Carol earlier:

> > He [Dumbledore] 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.

Goddlefrood, questionint the Fake Veritaserum in OoP:

> 
> The who or the what or the where now? (It was mentioned, but not 
> seen) and yes I know the one about Barty Crouch Jnr. being given 
> it
>
Carol:
I'm not talking about Barty Crouch, I'm talking about Delores
Umbridge, who invites Harry to take tea in her office (such a kind,
friendly gesture) who tries to get Harry to talk about Sirius Black's
whereabouts. Obviously, she's putting something in his tea:

"'Well, now,' she said finally, setting down her quill and surveying
him complacently, like a toad about to swallow a particularly juicy
fly. 'What would you like to drink?'

"'What?' said Harry, quite sure that he had misunderstood her.

"'To drink, Mr. Potter,' she said, smiling still more widely. 'Tea?
Coffee? Pumpkin juice?' . . . .

"Nothing, thank you,' said Harry.

"'I wish you to have a drink with me," she said, her voice becoming
more dangerously sweet. 'Choose one.'

"'Fine. Tea then,' said Harry, shrugging.

"She got up and made quite a performance of adding milk with her back
to him. She then bustled around the desk with it, smiling in a
sinisterly sweet fashion.

"'There,' she said, handing it to him. "'Drink it before it gets cold,
won't you?'" (630)

It could not be more obvious that Umbridge thinks that the liquid
she's added to the tea along with the milk is real Veritaserum.

Unfortunately, we can't tell from this scene whether the Veritaserum
is real or fake since Harry doesn't actually drink the tea, so he's
able to lie about not knowing Sirius Black's whereabouts in any case.
But Snape must have told Dumbledore that the Veritaserum he supplied
to Umbridge was fake, and it would be dangerous and foolhardy to lie
to him on that point.

We know that Snape is an enemy of Delores Umbridge. "You will receive
private 9Occlumency] lessons once a week, but you will tell nobody
what you are doing, least of all Delores Umbridge" (519). Later, Snape
claims that he has no Veritaserum to give her:

"'You took my last bottle to interrogate Potter,' he said coolly,
surveying her through his greasy curtains of black hair. 'Surely, you
did not use it all. I told you that three drops would be sufficient.'

"'Umbridge flushed. 'You can make some more, can't you?' she said, her
voice becoming more sweetly girlish, as it always did when whe was furius.

"'Certainly,' said Snape with a curl of his lip. It takes a full moon
cycle to mature, so I should have it ready for you in around a month.'"

Umbridge insists that she needs it now and informs Snape that Harry
has been using her fire to communicate with someone, at which point
Snape pretends a lack of interest (Potter is always breaking school
rules) but his eyes bore into Harry's.

Umbridge angrily repeats that she wants to interrogate Harry, adding,
"'I wish you to provide me with a potion that will force him to tell
me the truth!'

Snape repeats "smoothly" that he has "no further stocks of
Veritaserum,' adding that he would happily supply her with poison,
which unfortunately for her purposes would act too quickly to give
Harry much time for truth-telling.

Both Harry, who is still desperately trying to communicate with Snape,
and Umbridge, who puts Snape on probation, understand that he's being,
in Umbridge's words, "deliberately unhelpful." (743-744)

Under the circumstances, and especially given Snape's attitude toward
Umbridge as displayed in this second scene, I see no reason whatever
to doubt that the Veritaserum he supplied Umbridge with was fake.

Carol, who was simply noting ways in which DD relies on Snape's
Potions expertise but thinks that these scenes also demonstrate his
loyalty to Dumbledore