Caring about people

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 184565

Magpie wrote:
<snip> Why is it assumed that Snape not telling Voldemort about the
date change would reveal him as unworthy but not Snape not telling
Voldemort about the 7 Potters? How come Snape could get away with his
"unnamed source"  not telling him that but not get away with him not
knowing the date?  <snip>

carol responds:

I've already answered most of your other questions in another post,
and I don't want to duplicate, so I'll just answer these.

Voldemort has already used Legilimency on Snape, invading his mind to
see his conversation with his source, who is (for whatever reason)
still providing information to Snape despite the belief of most of the
Order that Snape killed Dumbledore. (Maybe Snape has convinced
Mundungus, who, after all, was in Azkaban when DD was killed, that
he's under deep cover and wants people to believe that he killed DD
but that, say, Amycus or Yaxley actually did it.) All we know is that
Snape *does* have a source that LV knows about, and that LV has
invaded his mind to see what the source told him. (The source could be
someone other than Mundungus, but I don't know who it could
be--certainly not Portrait!DD--imagine LV penetrating Snape's mind and
seeing *those* conversations!) What LV would *not* have seen is the
part we know that he doesn't know about, the part that Snape concealed
through Occlumency, the part that he himself planted in Mundungus's
brain. He can say quite truthfully that his source didn't know that
part of the plan; it must have been decided on at the last minute,
after the conversation with the source that LV will have witnessed in
Snape's mind.

LV, having used his ultra-powerful Legilimency on Snape and found
everything exactly as Snape said it was (you don't lie outright to the
Dark Lord and live), he's not going to realize that Snape is once
again "hoodwinking" him. (Remember his words to Bellatrix in
"Spinner's End"--he is, indeed, fooling the greatest Legilimens who
ever lived. LV has already looked into Snape's mind. He knows what
Snape was told. He has no reason to suspect that Snape was also told
about the Seven Potters plan but is concealing it, and even less to
suspect that it was Snape who planted the idea in Mundungus's head.

But to conceal the date and time after he's told LV that he has a
confidential source, knowing that LV will use Legilimency on him to
see what he knows (and will be furious if Snape claims that the source
has told him nothing) would be folly. LV trusts no one, not even the
man who killed Dumbledore, and a misstep could prove fatal. And even
if it isn't, if he's only Cruciod for disappointing the Dark Lord,
Snape can't let Yaxley or any other DE take his place as LV's
right-hand man. Dumbledore is counting on him to become headmaster,
and even a misstep in the Seven Potters chase could destroy their
plan. (Or so DD thinks; Snape is willing to take that particular risk.)

BTW, Magpie, the same question you asked about Snape having a
confidential source despite having been revealed as a supposedly loyal
DE and DD's "murderer" occurred to me as I read DH for the first time.
However, if the source is Mundungus (and who else can it be?), he was,
as I pointed out earlier, in Azkaban when DD was killed. He can only
have heard second-hand, distorted reports of events. He's not
particularly bright, anyway, and completely unscrupulous. It would be
easy enough for Snape, who is a great deal brighter than Mundungus, to
convince him that he, Snape, was under deep cover, and only Mundungus
could be trusted to know that. And then he could buy Mundungus a
drink, slip him some Veritserum, and learn everything he needed to
know about the Order's plans. (He must have met him more than once;
the Confundus incident occurs after Snape has revealed the Order's
plans to Dumbledore but before he reveals the time and date to LV.)

Anyway, I'd be interested in other people's theories regarding Snape's
source. I've said everything I can think of regarding the Seven
Potter's plan in about three other posts.

On another note, I was thinking about the apparent inconsistency
regarding Apparition being suddenly traceable and thought about Mike
and his plothole filler. Where are you, Mike? Any ideas on this one,
or any old posts you can point us to?

Carol, winking at Montavilla and thanking her for being persuaded by
Pippin's and my arguments regarding Portrait DD's plan