Two Plot Problems

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 187633

geoff_bannister wrote:
> > > Going off at a tangent, one interesting thought which occurs to me is why Snape arrived through the door of the bathroom so quickly after the spell was cast. Has anyone commented on this previously?
>  
> > Bart:
> >     Unbreakable Vows can do strange things to people (for the subtlety challenged: Snape was keeping an eye on Draco).
> 
> Geoff:
> I'm aware of that. The point I was trying to make was the speed of Snape's response. After all, the incident occurred on one of the upper floors, some way from the Slytherin dungeons and even if Snape was keeping some sort of eye on Draco, via a mind link even, the seriousness of that had happened might not have been immediately clear to him.

Carol responds:
I agree that Snape's response was surprisingly fast and that it's quite a coincidence that he (the inventor of the spell and probably the only person who knows the countercurse) was on hand to cure it.

However, Moaning Myrtle (I accidentally typed "Moaning Murder") was quite literally screaming bloody murder, and Snape is usually the first or one of the first on the spot when a commotion arises. For example, he rushed out of an Occlumency lesson, wand raised, when he heard Trelawney screaming, admittedly only one floor above. In this instance, knowing that Draco was up to something, he may have been prowling the halls rather than marking essays in his office. He may even have known that Draco had taken to hanging out in that bathroom.

I wonder, too, and there's no way of knowing unless JKR tells us, whether the Unbreakable Vow (made using ropes or chains of fire) warned Snape when Draco was in danger by, say, causing his arm to burn. He certainly knew where to find Draco after the DEs arrived even though he wasn't in on the Vanishing Cabinet plan.

At any rate, it's an interesting question. Was Snape following Draco? If so, why didn't he do it all the time (when he wasn't teaching or eating) instead of sitting in his office, as we know he was doing on several occasions because of the Marauder's Map? I suspect that, having placed Crabbe and Goyle in detention and most likely used Legilimency on them, he knew quite well that Draco was spending time in the RoR and that C and G were guarding it, Polyjuiced as girls, but, of course, he could not have entered it to see what he was up to any more than Harry or Dobby could. And, as I said, he may also have known that Draco was spending an inordinate amount of time in that bathroom (restroom, loo, whatever we should call it).

Sorry to ramble. I agree with Geoff that keeping an eye on Draco because of the Unbreakable Vow (and possibly keeping an eye on Harry, too, for other reasons) is not sufficient explanation for his highly convenient appearance. The Vow itself may have had some sort of magical power; after all, if Draco had died, Snape would have died, too, for breaking the vow.

Carol, hoping that others will contribute their thoughts on the matter