Could Harry have saved Snape? (was Reacting to DH...)

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 178036

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Zara" <zgirnius at ...> wrote:
>
> > Potioncat:
> > After the shock of DH had worn off, when the list had opened up, 
> and 
> > someone wrote that Snape was dying from poison, I thought poison 
> > would have been ironic given Snape's comment to Umbridge,--
> something 
> > along the line of, "Unfortunately, most poisons leave very little 
> > time for truth-telling."  
> 
> zgirnius:
> The exact line was "The only trouble is that most venoms act too fast 
> to give the victim much time for truth-telling."
> 
> I think the irony was fully intended; Rowling already knew Snape was 
> going to die of the bite of avenomous snake when she wrote that line.
> 
> > Potioncat:
> > I agree with Pippin. That neither Harry nor Hermione tried to save 
> > Snape was tragic.
> 
> zgirnius:
> Indeed, a futile attempt to put some dittany drops on the wound would 
> have been nice.
>
Carol responds:

I'm staying out of the debate on what Harry and Hermione should have
done. They were both in shock and thought that Snape was a murderer,
and they did do what he requested, which was not to save him but to
collect the memories and, in Harry's case, look into his eyes. Whether
this action was reprehensible or merely understandable under the
circumstances, I leave to the individual reader. It was certainly tragic.

As to whether Snape died from the venom or the loss of blood, I'd say
that Zara's evidence is fairly persuasive. Apparently Nagini was not
attacking Arthur to kill (despite JKR's original intentions) any more
than she was trying to kill Harry in the Bathilda chapter, but in
Snape's case, she was ordered to kill (just as he ordered the Basilisk
to kill Moaning Myrtle, only not by a look).

However, there's also the location of the bite or bites. Arthur was
struck in the ribs, one of which was broken. Snape was bitten on the
neck, and venom or no venom, if his carotid artery was sliced open, he
would have lost blood quickly and died within minutes without help. We
know from the second chapter of DH, where Harry cuts his hand on the
mirror, that he hasn't learned to heal a wound magically, a deficiency
in his education that you'd think he would remedy by consulting a
book, or consulting the walking book, Hermione, who, if she didn't
know the spell herself, would at least know where to find it. Instead,
we have foreshadowing that Harry is going to need that spell and not
know it.

But even in the case of Ron's splinching (when did splinching ever
cause bleeding before? Susan Bones didn't bleed, IIRC), Hermione uses
dittany (which presumably heals the skin but doesn't replace the chunk
taken out of Ron's arm). Again, we have an inconsistency; in HBP,
Sectumsempra (admittedly, Dark magic that apparently requires a
countercurse that only Snape knows) is healed by a spell, and Snape
recommends dittany only to prevent scarring. DD heals a cut on his
hand with a presumably different silent spell; no dittany involved. In
DH, dittany suddenly assumes healing properties that it didn't have
before and the healing spell disappears. Yet Hermione, who has dittany
in her bag, doesn't think to produce it (rather like Slughorn, who
doesn't think to produce a bezoar when Ron is poisoned).

Snape himself would know a healing spell if there was one, but he was
presumably too weak to lift a wand. Either the spell was too complex
to teach them instantly or he chose not to tell it to them. The
memories were more important to him, and after that, he was perhaps
too far gone, or maybe he knew that the venom would prevent the
healing spell from working.

It's tragic. It's ironic. It's a misunderstanding resolved too late.
My only consolation is that Harry was there to fulfill Snape's last
requests and that Snape succeeded in giving him those messages, one of
them crucial for Harry's mission, the others crucial for understanding
Snape and setting aside his desire for vengeance. (That and the
afterlife: he died redeemed and, I like to believe, woke to find Lily
looking into his eyes.) At least he died accomplishing something
important. Think how he would have felt had he failed in that last
mission and died alone.

Carol, thinking of "Physician, heal thyself" and wishing that Snape
could have done so