Is Snape way too brilliant or is Voldy a dunderhead? :-)

[littleleahstill]

No: HPFGUIDX 184729

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "happyjoeysmiley" 
<happyjoeysmiley at ...> wrote:
>
> Voldy was there behind Quirrell's head and was able to hear what 
was 
> going on when someone spoke to Quirrell. Snape was pretty clearly 
> asking Quirrell to decide where his loyalties lie and Quirrell 
also 
> explained to Harry that Snape was protecting Harry during the 
Quiditch 
> game in the climax. So, how *on earth* did Voldy trust Snape??? I 
> don't think even Spinner's End in HBP answers this question 
> convincingly. Do you concur?

Leah: Nothing in what Quirrelmort heard or saw contradicts Snape's 
explanation that he saw 'only a mediocre wizard' who was out for 
himself.  Snape will also have told Voldemort what he tells 
Bellatrix, that he remained at Hogwarts after Voldemort's fall to 
avoid Azkaban. In that case he would have to be seen to be obeying 
Dumbledore's orders and protecting the boy who lived.  It is 
surprising that Snape didn't sense the presence of Voldy in 
Quirrel; you would thought it would activate the Dark Mark but 
obviously didn't.

Snape also has a problem with the whole Shrieking Shack incident, 
where Wormtail can report that although everyone believed Sirius to 
be a Death Eater, Snape was threatening him and doing his level best 
to have him arrested. Snape may have been able to pass this off as 
personal hatred towards Black.

The fact that Wormtail is at Spinners End (and may well have been 
there over the previous summer as well) suggests Voldemort is still 
keeping tabs on Snape.  Wormtail can spy but also having Lily's 
betrayer in the same house as Snape will be a test as to how much 
Snape has actually forgotten her in favour of women of purer blood. 
So the trust is not 100% (is it ever with Voldemort?).

On the other hand, Wormtail as Scabbers will doubtless have 
overheard a number of conversations in the Gryffindor dormitory 
about the 'greasy git' and how badly he treats Harry, so if 
Voldemort extracts those from Wormtail via Leglimancy, there is some 
balance.  If Lucius Malfoy is acting as Snape's friend at the time 
of GOF/OOTP, then he would have similar information to report via 
Draco. 

I also think Voldemort wants to trust Snape. Perhaps he has some 
fellow feeling for him - they're both clever, dirt-poor half-blood 
boys. 

Looking at why Voldemort trusts Snape short-term on his return at 
the end of GOF, I think it is expedient for Voldemort to do so. 
Snape certainly has years of information on Dumbledore, as he tells 
Bellatrix, and he also has the thing that Snape himself says is his 
greatest value to the Dark Lord, Dumbledore's trust.  Voldemort 
wants to seize power once he has been resurrected.  He has the 
Ministry just over two years after that resurrection and it would 
probably have been quicker if he hadn't faffed around with the 
Prophecy and wanted to slowly torture the Malfoys by giving Draco a 
school year in which to kill Dumbledore. In that sort of time frame, 
Voldemort is not going to be able to install another spy at 
Hogwarts, who will gain Dumbledore's trust to the same extent as 
Snape has, if at all.  So IMO there is a sense in which Voldemort is 
pre-disposed to believe Snape (but still applies the Wormtail test). 

Long-term, Voldemort's trust is reinforced by the 'kill Dumbledore' 
plan.  Voldemort will expect Dumbldore to want to live to fight him, 
so if the plan has been betrayed by Snape, Dumbledore should be 
taking steps to thwart Draco.  In fact, he does not appear to be 
doing anything, even after Ron and katie suffer collateral damage. 
Then, of course, the killing of Dumbledore installs Snape as 
Voldemort's right hand man.      

The key however must be Snape's skill at Occlumency. There is 
nothing Voldemort sees in Snape's mind that contradicts what Snape 
is telling him.  If you are perhaps the greatest Leglimens the world 
has ever seen, you must get to rely on what you can pull out of 
people's minds. If everything in Snape's mind supports what he tells 
Voldemort, then Voldemort will trust him. So the answer probably is, 
Snape is brilliant at Occlumency, and Voldemort's belief in his own 
powers and superiority allow him to be fooled.

Leah