CHAPDISC: DH33, The Prince's Tale

[Zara]

No: HPFGUIDX 184833

> jkoney65:
> I think that Dumbledore was trying to prod Snape into being a 
better 
> person with all his little "digs" at him. I think he wanted Snape 
to 
> stand up for himself and show what type of person he could be and 
to 
> leave the petty stuff behind him. Unfortunately Snape never did 
this 
> as he showed when he wanted to know what Dumbledore was telling 
> Harry. It took some massaging of Snape's ego at that point to keep 
> things on track.

Zara:
I disagree that Snape wanting to know what Albus was telling Harry 
was primarily about ego. Snape's life mission was, at that point, to 
help Albus to protect Harry so Harry could live, as Lily would have 
wanted. WE only saw Snape complaining about being in the dark about 
this in the HBP part of the timeline. Specifically, well after Snape 
had agreed that he would, before the year was out, kill Albus to 
spare him a worse death at the hands of other Death Eaters.

How Snape was supposed to accomplish his mission of protection 
without Dumbledore, and without any idea of what Harry was up to, I 
personally cannot see. Snape must have thought that he needed to know.

In the conversation after the argument in the Forest, I would not say 
he particularly massaged Snape's ego. On the contrary, he insulted 
him. However, the information he did provide (that Harry had to die) 
changed Snape's mission. It was no longer to protect Harry, but to 
stay close to Voldemort so he would know when to pass the information 
on to Harry.

The one extended conversation of 'The Prince's Tale' in which Albus 
was reasonably pleasant to Snape is the one they had right after 
Snape saved his life. Snape's action, as Albus knew well, actually 
saved a great deal *more* than Albus's life. If Snape had failed, 
Albus would have taken his knowledge of Riddle's Horcruxes into his 
grave. He was indeed, very fortunate to have Snape in that scene.