Dumbledore as a judge of character (Was:Why DD did not ask Snape to kill him

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 166030

Sherry wrote:
> 
> no matter what supposed orders, a soldier who kills his general, his
commander in chief is a traitor and faces a court martial and likely
execution.  I will not apologize to Snape for following such orders,
if there were such orders, and I will join Alla in considering
Dumbledore quite a vile manipulator, if he gave them.  That is just
not a good Snape scenario I can accept, and I don't think it's a very
good one to put forth to the kids who will be reading this book.  just
my opinion though of course.

Carol responds:

I think we agree that Harry's life is essential to the defeat of
Voldemort. *If* Snape saw the two brooms and correctly deduced that
Harry was on the tower in his Invisibility Cloak, and *if* he knew
from an exchanged glance with Dumbledore that killing Dumbledore
himself (rather than letting the DEs do it) was the *only* way to get
Harry (and Draco) safely off the tower (and the DEs out of Hogwarts),
how could Snape's action not be the right thing to do? 

I'm not talking about Snape's value as a spy or any other reasons why
DD might want Snape to live, nor am I talking about any "plan" to have
snape kill or seem to kill Dumbledore; I'm just saying that *if*
Snape's killing Dumbledore himself was the *only* way to save Harry's
life, and therefore the only way to insure Voldemort's defeat in the
long run, surely it was the right thing to do? Or, at any rate, surely
it's what Dumbledore would want Snape to do?

Please note that I'm not taking my position for granted. But *what if*
there was no other way to save Harry? Surely, taking the hatred of the
WW onto himself to save Harry from the Death Eaters would be what was
right rather than what was easy. Wouldn't *saving Harry's life*
justify what would otherwise be unjustifiable?

Carol, asking Sherry to please answer only the hypothetical point, the
"what if", and not argue that this wasn't Snape's only option, which
is not the point of the post

P.S. I'm half-afraid that my P.S. will detract from my post, which I
really want an answer to, but what kind of "good Snape scenario"
*would* you accept?