Snape's involvement in the murder of Sirius

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 169166

> Carol responds:
> 
> The only problem is, there is no such plot in canon. The only plot 
> is to get Harry to the MoM using a fake Sirius (a phony vision) as a
> decoy. 
<snip>
> 5) Snape certainly gave *some* information regarding Black, probably
> that he had seen him in Animagus form at Hogwarts just before his
> return, and he no doubt used that bit of information to claim a
> share in Black's death, but it really made no contribution to  
> Black's death at all.


Jen:  Threads take on a life on their own once initial thoughts are 
proposed, but I wanted to say that my initial post wasn't intended as 
theorizing a plot by the DE's and Voldemort to kill Sirius.  Others 
have researched the night at the DOM far more than I have and could 
probably make a case for it.  I was proposing more of a personal 
thing between Snape and Sirius, where Snape 'accidentally' let slip 
information that Voldemort used in his plot to lure Harry to the MOM.

Snape has control of information and how it's presented and a spy 
must pass information to be credible.  Snape knew quite a few things 
by the middle part of the year in OOTP about Sirius, like that Sirius 
was in London, that he'd stayed in London even after his animagus 
disguise was found out and that he was ordered to remain at GP by 
Dumbledore.  Now these are all things Kreacher knows as well but we 
don't know specifically what Kreacher has been ordered to keep secret 
re: the Order, so it's difficult to say what part of that information 
he would be able to pass.  Nevertheless, LV's plot hinges on it being 
credible that Sirius is trapped in the bowels of the DOM and that 
Harry, trapped at Hogwarts with almost all access to outside 
information limited, can check and find it believable Sirius really 
has gone missing from Order headquarters.

The other idea I mentioned was that Kreacher was not the one to pass 
all the relational information about Sirius & Harry that Dumbledore 
credited to Kreacher at the end of OOTP.  Besides not demonstrating 
that kind of insight into the relationships of the humans around him 
in my opinion (post #169113), Kreacher was also not around at 
Christmas to witness Sirius when he was out of his blue period and 
showing more affection to those around him, including Harry.  

So Dumbledore did obtain correct information from Kreacher, found it 
to be true via Legilimency, but he was incorrect to think all the 
information moved from Kreacher to Narcissa rather than some of the 
information moving in the direction of Narcissa to Kreacher in my 
opinion.  If that's the case, then Narcissa got her information from  
Voldemort.  I'm particularly interested now in a piece of information 
that Kreacher reported which can only be second-hand:  "Kreacher's 
information made [Voldemort] realize the one person whom you would go 
to any lengths to rescue was Sirius Black." (The Lost Prophecy 
Chapter, p. 831, Am. Ed.)

In one post I mentioned Snape having access to more information than 
Kreacher because of the fight with Sirius in GP when Kreacher was 
missing.  For example, Snape learned that Sirius was protective of 
Harry and vice versa and that Sirius would be willing to leave GP if 
Snape (or perhaps anyone) messed with Harry.  That last bit wasn't 
integral to Voldemort's plot but it could have been important 
information to Snape.

To borrow from my post yesterday, this theory is an attempt to answer 
a certain area of canon:  Snape said he passed information that 
helped dispose of Black in front of the woman whom Dumbledore 
credited with the passing of information that led to the same death.  
Snape said this outside the awareness of the main POV character and 
there was no explanation within HBP to reconcile the different 
views.  To me that's fertile ground for theorizing a way to reconcile 
the two pieces of information.

Jen