Comparing Secret Keeper plan and UV plan (Re: Why DD did not ask Snape)

[Zara]

No: HPFGUIDX 166164

> Jen:  
> Thanks for elaborating, I couldn't quite put it together the > It's 
difficult for me to equate pledging to risk your own life out of 
loyalty and 
> a desire to protect good friends and vowing to potentially kill 
another person in order to 
> protect someone.

zgirnius:
The parallel is only present if Snape's intention in taking the Vow 
was DDM!. Some combination of he believed he could get out of it with 
Dumbledore's help, he believed it would help shore up his spying 
role, he believed it would help protect Draco, and he believed it 
could help control Draco's plot by winning the trust of Draco and 
Cissy. If he never planned to carry out the third clause, he was 
putting his own life on the line for loyalty and the protection of 
friends.

Jen:
>  Is it morally okay to agree to potentially 
> kill someone via a dark magic vow even if the reason a person is 
doing so is good and the 
> man whose life is in question doesn't mind?   

zgirnius:
What makes this possible in my eyes is the possibility that Snape 
knew he was lying when he took the Vow. The twitch could indicate a 
recognition that since he would certainly not kill Dumbledore, his 
consent to the the final clause of the Vow could mean his own death.

> Jen: 
>  It's not 
> canon that the UV was directly or indirectly agreed to by 
Dumbledore, nor whether 
> Dumbledore believed it was the best possible plan to protect 
Draco.  It's possible Snape 
> made this choice entirely on his own.  I don't see the UV as 
comparable to Peter taking 
> over as Secret Keeper because the Potters agreed to the change and 
they were the ones at 
> risk.  

zgirnius:
I think Snape did make the Vow on his own initiative. There was only 
a plan (to deal with Draco) after he made it. Dumbledore had the 
choice in the sense that when Snape told him what he had done 
(promptly, before the school year even started) Dumbledore had the 
choice of how to handle the problem. The choice he made was not the 
only way it could have been managed, and Snape accepted his decision 
on that. If Snape had no intention of killing Dumbledore, the plan 
chosen by Dumbledore posed potential dangers for Snape. Specifically, 
if Dumbledore was wrong about Draco, and Snape did his best to stop 
Draco from succeeding, he'd wind up dead. (This is actually what I 
believe the argument in the Forest was about - Snape's worry about 
the plan, which Dumbledore dismissed with a 'you agreed to do it'.)

My opinion on what the plan was hinges on the Tower scene. From what 
we see there, the plan appears to have been for Snape to try and keep 
Draco from hurting anyone else, but leave Draco free so he would be 
forced to face Dumbledore alone. No Death Eaters, because *surely* 
Draco could not insert them into the situationn no Crabbengoyle 
because Snape would interfere with them. Then Dumbledore would 
convince Draco that he is 'not a killer' and hide him and his family 
from Voldemort.