[HPforGrownups] Re: The remaining Horcruxes....

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 169048

From: coriandra2002 <coriandra2002 at yahoo.com>
>I was outraged at first that Dumbledore apparentally died pleading for
>his life with a Death Eater, but that may not have been the case. 
>Maybe when he was saying "Severus... please..." he was pleading for
>Snape to *kill* him which Snape didn't want to do, but it was
>necessary  in order to destroy the horcrux that Dumbledore had made
>himself and to "prove" his loyalty to Voldemort, making himself a more
>effective spy for the Order of the Pheonix.
>
>Has anyone else ever considered that?

As far as Dumbledore asking Snape to kill him, many believe that; it is key to the so-called DDM!Snape theory (summary of major Snape theories for newcomers to the group follows). However, creating a Horcrux requires a murder, so I don't believe that drinking the potion can turn someone into a Horcrux; it's a mite too Rube Goldbergish for my taste.

Basic theories of Severus Snape (with some subtheories):
DDM!Snape: DDM stands for "Dumbledore's Man". Snape remains loyal to the Order of the Phoenix (note that this does NOT mean that Snape is a totally or even basically good person, evil people, like Dung Fletcher, can team up with good people to stop a far greater evil). The basic subtheories about the Tower are: 
A) Dumbledore WANTED Snape to kill him; a popular subtheory is that Dumbledore was already living on "borrowed time", anyway, with the most common piece of evidence his apparently dying hand and arm and that Snape was the one keeping him alive in the first place.
B) Snape, stuck in an untenable situation, determines unilaterally that the best bet is to kill Dumbledore. The "Severus, please" might have been Dumbledore giving permission, or might have been asking for help determining a way out.
C) Snape did not kill Dumbledore; the AK spell was a fake. DD either died from something else (such as the potion), or, through some loophole in JKR's statements to the effect that DD is not just merely dead but really, most sincerely dead. 

ESE!Snape: The easiest theory to describe. Snape used no trickery at Spinner's End, he did kill Dumbledore, and Dumbledore's mysterious reason for trusting Snape was a cross between a macguffin and a red herring. JKR is doing a double-twist, effectively saying, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." 

OFH!Snape: Snape is playing a dangerous game, playing both sides of the fence, hoping that he comes out on top regardless of who wins. Note from American History: When Alexander Hamilton was a college student at King's College (later Columbia University), there were student protests. During the protests, the students attempted to do harm to the College President, but some students managed to spirit the President to safety. Some accounts list Alexander Hamilton as the leader of the protesting students; others list him as the leader of the group who spirited the college president to safety. The best evidence is that both accounts are correct. Just showing that there IS RW precedent for OFH!Snape. 

Bart