Wand Lore / Luna / Alchemy

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 181626

Catlady wrote:
> 
> In previous discussions, some listie pointed out that it was foolish
of DD not to realise that he was setting Snape up to be killed by LV
in LV's attempt to become master of the Elder Wand. If DD can lie
after he's dead (in the 'King's Cross' chapter), maybe he did realise it.

Carol responds:

I don't think that JKR would have DD lie when she's tying up the loose
ends of the plot. What would be the point and how could the reader
know? I think we're supposed to take Dead!DD, who, after all, has
nothing more to hide, at his word. He's telling Harry *everything* (at
least, everything as JKR defines that word). And he says that Snape
died because of a flaw in the plan.

Also, DD was counting on Snape not only to take over as headmaster of
Hogwarts and protect the students, aiding Harry along the way with
details like the Sword of Gryffindor, but he also needed him to
deliver that last message to Harry when Voldemort started protecting
Nagini. He could not have expected Snape to be killed at that point
because he needed Snape to be alive to deliver the message. And, of
course, he could not have anticipated Snape's being bitten by Nagini
in Harry's presence, which enabled Snape to deliver the message as he
could not have done if he'd been AK'd.

Just how DD intended for Snape to avoid being killed when LV
discovered that he was the supposed master of the Elder Wand is
unclear, but he may have been counting on timing--Harry finding and
destroying the Horcruxes before LV solved the mystery of the Elder
Wand, obtained it, and realized why it wasn't working for him (which,
BTW, is absurd--it worked just fine).

Several things happened, aside from Draco's Expelliarmus, that
living!DD could not have anticipated and Portrait!DD probably didn't
know about. First, Lucius Malfoy's wand was destroyed when Harry's
wand went off of its own accord, causing Voldemort to torture
Ollivander for more information and sending him to hunt for the Elder
Wand. Unless Snape knew what had happened, and I don't think he did, I
don't see how Portrait!DD could have known about it. (The kids don't
talk about it in front of Phineas Nigellus, either.) Nor could he have
anticipated or known about Harry's dropping the portrait of
Grindelwald at Bathilda's house, which eventually tipped off Voldemort
as to the golden-haired thief's identity. Had it not been for those
two unexpected incidents, Voldemort might never have gone off to hunt
for the wand, or, if he did, he might have been stymied by the
identity of the thief. As it was, he had time to obtain the wand and,
ostensibly, time to realize that it wasn't working for him (even
though it killed a lot of people and conjured Nagini's bubble; it
didn't really stop being effective until Harry's willing
self-sacrifice, which occurred after Snape's death--and because of
Snape's message.)

DD also set up a possible counter-measure by giving Harry the option
of going after the Elder Wand himself, which, of course, would have
prevented Snape's death, whatever the consequences for Harry. (Someone
else can explore that if they're interested.)

At any rate, I think the combination of DD's regret for "poor
Severus," the implication that he wanted Snape to have the wand (but
presumably not use it or be its master), the unexpected events that
speeded up LV's hunt for the Elder Wand, and, especially, DD's need
for Snape to deliver that message to Harry, which could only be done
if he were alive, indicates to me that he didn't expect Snape to die. 

It would have been wise, however, for Portrait!DD to trust McGonagall
with the secret of Snape's loyalties. Had Snape not been "sacked," he
might have been able to talk to Harry in McGonagall's presence, asking
him about the snake and then telling him about DD's message, if
necessary via a Pensieve visit in McGonagall's presence. (I really
don't know how DD expected Snape to deliver the message, but he
couldn't have anticipated memories released from the mind of a dying
Snape.)

Anyway, DD probably counted on Harry finding the Horcruxes and LV
putting Nagini under his protection before LV found the Elder Wand and
discovered that he wasn't its master. He (DD) may have thought that
Snape was safe as LV's trusted lieutenant (the DEs in general were
rather short on brains) and that even if LV obtained the wand before
the Horcruxes were destroyed and figured out that Snape was supposedly
its master, he would remember that both Grindelwald and DD became
master of the wand without killing the former master and merely Disarm
him and perhaps keep his wand. Or DD might have assumed that Voldemort
would not AK the supposed master of the wand for fear that the AK
would rebound on the caster. (He certainly didn't anticipate death by
Nagini as an alternative.) Alternatively, DD may have thought that the
Elder Wand would lose its powers altogether if he died as he wished
to, at the hand of Snape without the Expelliarmus from Draco
interfering with the plan, in which case, LV would have found a
useless stick in DD's grave and thought that it was a fake, that he'd
been tricked. Snape, of course, was not present at DD's funeral and
could not have had a hand in the "trick," so he would have been safe.

Carol, who thinks that JKR's plot needs, not Dumbledore's plan,
resulted in Snape's dying when (and how) he did