Villain!Dumbledore (was: re:HatingDH/Dementors/...Draco/.../KeepSlytherin Ho

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 177721

> Betsy Hp:
> Interestingly enough, I agree. <g>  What I loved about, what 
intrigued me about, both Snape and Draco was their promise.  And as of
DH, IMO, neither promise was realized.  Snape was reduced to (or
turned out to be, since the Snape I imagined wasn't the canon Snape at
all, unfortunately) a rather pathetic little man, blindly following
the instructions of a portait, while obsessing over a dead woman. 
(OMG!  Snape is Kreature!!) <snip>

Carol responds:

"Blindly following the instructions of a portrait"? Funnily enough,
the last thing we see him do is to tell that portrait not to worry,
that *he* has a plan. So the whole doe Patronus/Sword in the well plan
is Snape's. And he *chose* to continue to risk his life to protect the
students, help Harry, and defeat Voldemort. He could have chosen to
flee (at which, being Snape, he'd have been more successful than
Karkaroff) or to join Voldemort, or to refuse to kill DD. But even
after he learned that they'd been protecting Harry only so that Harry
could be "killed" by Voldemort and the soul bit destroyed, he
continues to *choose* to fight against Voldemort without recognition
or thanks, to lie and spy and face peril because not to do so would be
cowardly.

Snape is not Kreacher (who, in turn, is not the pathetic caricature we
thought him) but an important character without whom there would not
be a story. Had he not asked (not begged) Voldemort to save Lily,
probably wording the request as a reward for his services (he could
harly let LV know that he loved any woman, much less a "Mudblood"),
Lily would not have had the choice to live which activated the ancient
magic without which Harry would be dead and Voldemort would not have
created his own enemy. Had he not revealed the Prophecy, he would not
have felt the remorse that caused him to turn to Dumbledore and risk
his life as a spy. Granted, it's "only" the love of Lily that causes
him to do so (Harry is nothing to him and James is his enemy), but we
don't see any other DE risking his life or changing his loyalties. And
love for JKR is the most powerful and admirable of motives (witness
the effects of Lily's and Harry's self-sacrifices--though, of course,
Harry only thinks he's going to die). Love and remorse together prompt
him to protect a boy he doesn't even like and regards (not without
reason as a mediocre wizard and a rule-breaker). After years of
helping and protecting Harry and risking his life lying and spying for
DD, he does what only he can do--kills DD at DD's own request, saving
Draco's life and soul into the bargain. In DH, besides protecting the
students as headmaster (imagine what would have happened with a loyal
DE in his place), he sends help (the doe Patronus and the Sword of
Gryffindor) that enables Ron to save Harry, retrieve the Sword of
Gryffindor, and destroy the locket Horcrux. At the end of his life, he
gives Harry the message without which LV cantot be defeated. His role
is so important that the book is inconceivable without it.

In between the crucial beginning of the Harry/LV cycle (which he
begins with an evil act that he repents for the rest of his life) and
the final act that perhaps redeems him in his own eyes even though he
has long since atoned for his sins, he does whatever he can to fight
LV, protect Harry, and still fulfill his duties at Hogwarts. In GoF,
he has the choice of fleeing like Karkaroff when LV is about to return
but chooses to remain because, unlike Karkaroff, he's not a coward. He
persuades LV through half-truths and Occlumency that he remains loyal
and then does what only he can do, providing LV with what seems like
important information while withholding the essentials. In DH, chapter
one, we see him standing calmly as LV looks into his eyes, searching
for the lie he's concealing and failing to find it--and we learn
exactly what that entails when we see LV actually entering the mind of
Gregorovitch as if it were a Pensieve. Snape, and probably only 
Snape, can withstand that invasion unscathed and undetected. 

In HBP, we saw him saving Draco and learned of his also saving Katie
Bell and Dumbledore himself (feats underplayed by DD but without which
those characters would be dead). We learn in the Pensieve memories in
DH that Snape was right about James being an "arrogant toerag," that
"Snivellus" was an unearned nickname, that Snape's remorse for his
role in Lily's death was deep and anguished. While he at first
protected Harry for Lily's sake, he also acted (perhaps unknown to
himself) on other convictions and concerns, reproaching DD for putting
on a cursed ring and showing shock that he would train Harry as a "pig
to the slaughter." We learn that Snape has watched many people die but
"lately, only those whom I could not save," a remark made before he
saves Katie Bell or Draco, indicating that he has saved other unnamed
people, not on DD's orders, not to protect Harry, not for Lily, but
only because he himself wants to save them. His last act may not seem
like a heroic feat to you, but it gives Harry the knowledge he needs
to defeat Voldemort and at the same time to understand and appreciate
what Snape has done.

You seem to want to ignore the Snape who has gone before, the one who
helped to defeat Barty Jr. and left to return to Voldemort on DD's
orders and sent the Order to the MoM and lied to Bellatrix about his
loyalty to LV and put his life on the line for Draco by taking the UV
and saved three people in HBP through his healing skills combined with
his knowledge of the Dark Arts and invented all those spells and
Potions hints as a mere teenager and got the DEs out of Hogwarts and
gave Harry a last-second lesson even as Harry was calling him a
murderer and coward, as if "the Prince's Tale" somehow negates that
Snape rather than supplementing and partially explaining him. But we
can't ignore him. That Snape still exists, and he is not the product
of your imagination. He's right there on the page. 

In DH, Snape is necessarily off-page most of the time, with occasional
red herrings to make us think that he's loyal to Voldemort and clues
(such as the doe Patronus and the detention with Hagrid) to indicate
that he's really still a good guy--I'd say DDM, but you'd read that as
a weakness). We see him quietly trying to talk McGonagall into letting
him see Harry and brilliantly fending off her murderous attack when
she defies him. (Whom should we prefer, McG, who approves Harry's
Crucio and uses an Imperius Curse without urgent need, not to mention
throwing conjured daggers at Snape, or Snape, who uses a Shield Charm,
tosses back the suit of armor at them to protect himself, and finally
flees rather than futilely fighting five people and possibly hurting
someone?)

To see Snape clearly and see him whole, we must look at the whole
picture, from his  first searching look at Harry in SS/PS, which Harry
mistakenly thinks causes his scar to hurt, to the Albus Severus
segment of the epilogue. It has taken Harry seven books to understand,
appreciate, and honor Snape. And he does so because of the very
revelations that you seem to think make him less than you thought he
was. "Probably the bravest man I ever knew" is the highest compliment
that Gryffindor Harry and would-be Gryffindor JKR can give. It does
not denigrate his other contributions or the revelations of HBP. It's
just the part that's important to Harry.

Carol, who agrees that Kreacher's story somewhat parallels Snape's,
but only because Harry learns to see them both without the blinders
imposed by his preconceptions