Snape's involvement in the murder of Sirius

[Zara]

No: HPFGUIDX 169188

> Betsy Hp:
> <BIG SNIP>
> > Again, it's a bit of a fine line, because I don't see Snape as 
> > Dumbledore's mindless drone.  But I do think that once Dumbledore 
> put 
> > his foot down (ie, "Lupin *will* be the new DADA professor") 
Snape 
> > would acquiesce.  Not *gracefully* of course. <g>  There'd be 
tons 
> of 
> > mutterings and/or acid asides, but Snape would still do as 
> Dumbledore 
> > wished.
> > <SNIP>
> 
> Alla:
> 
> But he didn't acqueiesce, did he? Cool word :) I mean, first chance 
> and he did strike about Lupin's condition. 

zgirnius:
He did acquiesce. Both by cooperating, and by not sabotaging the 
hiring. He made the potion Lupin would need to be safe all year. 
Despite knowing before the school year started who was going to be 
hired, and knowing that someone was a werewolf, he did not (for 
example) write to all the Slytherin parents with his concerms, etc. 
He still argued about it, naturally, but BetsyHP concedes as much. 
His actions, what he *did*, were to acquiesce.

Retaining a desire to prove Dumbledore wrong is not a failure to 
acquiesce, it is having a mind of one's own. Dumbledore did not 
convince him hiring Lupin was a good idea; Snape went along with it 
anyway because Dumbledore is the boss. Snape only acted on his desire 
once he was convinced he had the proof he needed that Dumbledore was 
wrong. In my opinion, naturally, but I do think he was quite sincere 
at the end of the book.