'Deathbed Confession' / Ron's H-H insecurity/Did Severus Murder/Did DD Like

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 183178

Zanooda wrote in
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/183142>:
> 
> << Just out of curiosity, how do you know that Snape committed 
murder? >>

Catlady replied: 
> I don't recall any canon nor even JKR statement that Severus
committed murder, but I am sure he did. I believe Voldemort required
all his Death Eaters to commit a murder (as part of a group of
murderers) to prove they aren't wimps, to earn their Dark Mark, to
assure them that turning their cloaks would not get them in good with
the Ministry (which would want to send them to Azkaban for murder). 
> 
> Voldemort being Voldemort, he probably just killed the ones who
refused to do it and the ones who set out to do it but failed. 
> 
> There may have been a few serving him who were too valuable to risk
loosing their services in that manner, such as spies or saboteurs who
were valuable because of their position in highly secret parts of the
Ministry. I'm sure he valued Severus as a potions genius, but I don't
think he valued Severus enough to spare him from murdering like
everybody else. <snip>

Carol responds:

But, as you say, we have no canonical evidence and no evidence from
interviews that Snape ever killed anybody. I doubt that he'd be so
concerned about the state of his soul after killing DD had he done so.
And DD asks him how many people he's watched die, not how many people
he has killed.

The GoF Pensieve scene with Karkaroff suggests that at least some of
the top DEs had specialized jobs: some specialized in torture, some in
murder, some (Mulciber, for example) in the Imperius Curse, some
(notably Rookwood) were spies. Snape, too, seems to have been a spy,
and he was sent to apply for the DADA post for that reason.

I don't think that Voldemort routinely required new DEs to commit
murder as an initiation. Draco was a special case--Voldemort was
punishing the Malfoys and expected him to die in the attempt. (Not
that he didn't want DD dead, but he expected Snape to do it when the
boy failed.) I doubt that Regulus was required to commit murder, either.

Carol, who suspects that Voldemort recognized Snape's talents just as
Lucius Malfoy did and put them to what he considered good use (deadly
potions and possibly some useful spells, as well as spying), leaving
murder to the likes of Dolohov and Travers