Wand Lore / Luna / Alchemy

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 181755

> ---, "a_svirn" wrote:
> 
> > >:
> > Well, if I were Voldemort I wouldn't believe to such proof.
> > Especially if the wand wouldn't work for him as it should.

Jayne:
> Did Voldemort actually really trust Snape anyway ? Would he acccept
any proof from Snape. I think he just wanted him dead and out of the way.

Pippin:
Voldemort didn't really trust anyone, but he did have absolute
confidence in his ability to tell whether someone was lying to him.
Snape's truthfulness would not be doubted, only his facts. Voldemort
would want to be sure that his servant had not been deceived by a ruse.

a_svirn:
Or would it be "dying on his own terms"? After all, he made sure
thatHarry force-fed him.

Pippin:
Good point, Dumbledore can't really be sure what will persuade the
wand. It is a unique object so there's no way for Dumbledore to be
sure in advance that his theory is correct. Therefore it would be a
good idea for  the wand to go to Snape so that Snape and portrait!DD 
could deal with matters if the wand was not disabled. Which, of
course, they did, but not in a way that Dumbledore felt would be
improved if Snape took possession of the wand. 

If we are trying to unravel Dumbledore's intentions, then we have to
look at the best case scenario under Dumbledore's primary plan,
because that would be the clearest reflection of what Dumbledore
wanted. And under the primary plan, no Death Eaters were expected to
enter the castle, and Draco was not expected to make any further
attacks without backup. Even Harry had to admit that -- he assumed
Draco would get help from Snape. 

So under the primary plan, Dumbledore's death might remain secret, at
least until his portrait appeared in the Headmaster's Office, and as
we have seen with Snape, that could be delayed as long as necessary.
As Dumbledore had a habit of disappearing for long periods, it would
take awhile for anyone to become suspicious that he was dead. 

Dumbledore ensured that Harry would find out about the Hallows, but he
also made sure that two of them would not be found until Harry had
done at least some of his homework. Harry would not be able to obtain
the stone unless he believed that he was about to die. He would not
know he needed to die unless Snape gave him the message, and Snape was
not to give him the message until Voldemort had discovered his
horcruxes were being attacked. 

As for the Elder Wand, Ollivander and Gregorovitch had disappeared,
while Grindelwald was in a maximum security prison. It was hardly
likely that Harry could track them down and discover what had become
of the wand before Voldemort could. Harry only discovered for sure
that the Elder Wand was real when he encountered Ollivander, and he
only learned that Dumbledore been its master through Voldemort. If
Dumbledore's murder had been kept secret from Harry, then he wouldn't
have expected Voldemort to go to Snape next and he wouldn't have found
out that Snape had the wand until  Voldemort claimed it.

I've already shown that it wasn't logical for Voldemort to assume that
he had to kill Snape. It was in character, but only for Voldemort's
paranoid side, which was to the forefront because Voldemort had
discovered his horcruxes were being destroyed (and perhaps that the
Slytherins hadn't joined him after all.) If Voldemort's
confident side had been ascendant, Snape might have survived one more
time. 

Voldemort switches back and forth unpredictably. He hid in Albania for
twelve years, certain that the aurors would catch him if he ventured
out, even though he had the ability to possess unwilling people
undetected. Then a possible servant presented himself, and he decided
that meant fortune would favor him. 


If you are just trying to say that keeping Snape alive was not DD's
highest priority, I agree with you. Dumbledore assumed that Order
members consented  to give their lives for the sake of other Order
members whose missions were of higher priority, or to save innocent
lives. Isn't that what Sirius meant when he told Pettigrew that he
should have died, as Sirius and his friends would have done for him?

That does not mean that Dumbledore *wanted* Snape to die. But  the
increased danger of being the apparent master of the Elder
Wand was as nothing compared to the danger Snape was already in. Like
Harry, being given a dangerous mission would not increase the odds of 
his  being murdered to any great extent -- just as throwing a match
into a house that's already fully on fire isn't likely to endanger it
further. 

Pippin