CHAPDISC: DH30, THE SACKING OF SEVERUS SNAPE

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 184532

Potioncat wrote:

<snip>
> Snape seems very calm to me, very cool, in a distant sort of way. He
asks about the Carrows. McGonagall thinks he is asking about their 
welfare, but really he's asking about their status. (Out of 
commission or on the loose.) <snip>

Carol responds:
Yes, on one level, he's outwardly quite cool and smooth, which I think
must have been his typical manner as headmaster--nonconfrontational
and respectful to old faculty members who were older than he was and
had in fact been his own teachers (how he handled the Carrows, we
don't know--more in a Voldemort's right-hand man,
the-Dark-Lord-would-not-approve sort of way, I suppose). But there are
signs that he's operating on auto pilot with McGonagall, that he's
concealing his agitation (as I think he also did in "Spinner's End"
and perhaps habitually does, except when it's safe to let off steam
through sarcasem or a burst of anger, through Occlumency and
"acting"). He's looking around, obviously for Harry. "Snape stepped
nearer, and his eyes flitted over Professor McGonagall into the air
around her, as if he knew that Harry was there" (DH Am. ed. 597). And
again, "snape pretended not to hear her. [Maybe he's not pretending
because his mind is elsewhere?] His eyes were still probing the air
all about her, and he was moving gradually closer, *with an air of
hardly noticing what he was doing."  Then he looks into her eyes
(legilimency, as you say), and says, "Have you seen Harry Potter,
Minerva? Because if you have, I must insist--" (598).

It seems clear to me that the only thing on his mind is talking to
Harry. Fortunately, he can read her reaction either through
Legilimency or his DADA expertise and knows that he has to fight
(defensively) and get out of there--she's not going to help him talk
to Harry, and she's no longer willing to negotiate or accept his
authority. (Her reaction also tells him, I think, that Harry is indeed
there. She would not suddenly have become dangerously defiant otherwise.) 

Potioncat: 
> I've forgotten who suggested this, but by leaving Hogwarts, he 
> couldn't be made to open Hogwarts. And I suppose he couldn't yet 
> reveal his loyalties to McGonagall.

Carol responds:
It was Pippin's suggestion, and it's as good as any other, but it's by
no means definitive. My view is that he had no plan except to escape
and then to find Harry. That he's still desperately trying to do so
even as Voldemort is talking about the wand (he asks three times to be
allowed to find Potter/the boy, even after going deathly white on
hearing that LV stole the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's grave. He has
to deliver that last message, all the more urgent now that he's seen
Nagini in her bubble. And he's so determined to carry out that one
last desperately important act that forces memories out of his own
head as he lies dying.

As far as I can see, there's no contingency plan to leave the castle
without intending to return as headmaster (which, of course, LV would
expect him to do). I feel certain that the headmaster's office would
still let him in; the portraits, especially Dumbledore's, know what he
has to do. I think that he could not have returned after McGonagall's
rebellion, not because of the portraits but because the staff and
students thought that he was a Death Eater. Only when the battle was
over, with Voldemort defeated, could he return and reveal the truth.
(How that would have worked, I don't know, unless Harry vindicated him
publicly while both were still alive, or Dumbledore's portrait
revealed the truth to McGonagall. Or maybe he'd have sent his doe
Patronus to McGonagall and her allies, letting them know that he was
on their side, and then literally flown to join them in openly
fighting the DEs. That's what I would have liked. At least if LV had
killed him under those circumstances, he'd have had a valid reason,
and Snape would have fought back heroically. No other DE could have
killed him, that much I'm sure of.)

As it is, his actions and his words indicate that he has only one
pressing thought, one thing that he *must* do whatever happens
afterward, and that is to deliver DD's message to Harry so that the
soul bit can be destroyed.
> 
> > 
> > Carol, preferring to interpret Snape's motives and actions her own
way rather than having JKR's "definitive" version!
> 
> Potioncat:
> You know, you have a very good point there.
>
Carol again:

Thanks! :-)

Carol again, wondering what Snape would have done if he'd successfully
revealed his true loyalties to Harry and delivered the message without
dying