First lesson WAS: Re: Marietta, was Slytherin's Reputation

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 185771

Alla wrote:
> 
> LOL. You seriously think that Snape would have wanted to be in  Azkaban?
> 
> I would think he would not have lasted very long there, but of
course just speculating.

Carol responds:
I know that you were addressing Pippin, but I just want to react here.
It seems to me that Snape was in no danger of being sent to Azkaban.
Many people, including Order member Sirius Black, never knew that he
had been a Death Eater. (McGonagall appears to have found out when
Snape showed his Dark Mark to Fudge.) Barty Crouch Sr. accepted
Dumbledore's version of events--Snape had been a Death Eater but was
now risking his life spying for the good side. The Wizengamot seems
not to have made Snape's past public for obvious reasons. Rita Skeeter
seems not to have been present at Karkaroff's hearing (in contrast to
Ludo Bagman's). If she knew about Snape's past, she would certainly
have listed him along with paranoid ex-Auror Moody and werewolf Remus
Lupin as among Dumbledore's questionable hiring choices.

Granted, Snape tells Bellatrix that Dumbledore's protection has kept
him out of Azkaban all these years, but that's not quite the truth.
He's no longer on their wanted list, having long ago been cleared of
all charges. He wants her to think that he's in roughly the same
position as Lucius Malfoy and others who claimed that they were under
the Imperious Curse to stay out of prison but remained loyal to
Voldemort. Obviously, Snape's real position is very different, and he
has been risking his life pretending to be loyal to Voldemort but
really working for Dumbledore. (Bella suspects that he's Dumbledore's
man and she's right; he's trying to undo her suspicions by answering
her questions as he had already answered Voldemort's.)

That aside, we know that Barty Crouch Jr. would have died in Azkaban
had his mother not taken his place and died for him, but Wnape is no
Barty Jr. We also know that Sirius Black survived Azkaban and retained
most of his sanity in part by clinging to the idea of his innocence
but mostly through his ability to transform into a dog and escape the
Dementor-induced depression through the dog's less acute mental state.
Snape, too, had a skill that would have enabled him to survive Azkaban
without going insane, his exceptional ability as an Occlumens. If he
can conceal secrets from Voldemort, he can certainly block the Dementors.

Carol, responding only to this one point for the sake of simplicity