CHAPDISC: DH, EPILOGUE

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 185412

seanmulligan wrote:
> > > 
> > >Snape saved Dumbledore's life when Dumbledore's hand was cursed
when Dumbledore put on the locket.
> > 
Marianne replied:
> > 
> > Please forgive me and tell me if I'm wrong, but huh?????  I
thought it was Marvolo's ring that cursed Dumbledore's hand?
> 
Geoff added:
> Quite correct. The Trio got hold of the locket by taking it from 
Dolores Umbridge when they went to the Ministry - in the chapter "The
Muggle-Born Registration Commission".
>
Carol responds:

Sean's point, though, was that Snape saved Dumbledore's life by
confining the curse to his arm. True, it was the ring, not the locket
(which wouldn't have affected DD's *hand* and didn't, apparently, have
a curse on it, the soul bit being sufficient to influence a person's
behavior if worn near his heart), but Sean is right that if it weren't
for snape, DD would have died from the curse and died horribly. Snape
couldn't save him permanently--DD was dying throughout HBP--but he
gave him another year to live. (As for the locket, the poison that DD
drank to retrieve the fake locket further weakened him, but Snape had
no opportunity to try to save him and instead followed DD's orders to
kill him though with obvious anger and revulsion.)

Considering that I accidentally typed something on the Movie list
about Voldemort looking out the back of Snape's head when, of course,
I meant Quirrell's head, I'll give Sean the benefit of a doubt here
and assume that he typed "locket" but meant "ring." After all, most
people don't wear lockets on their hands.

BTW, Sean, as I'm sure you know, a lot of us are already Snape fans
and could happily add to your list of his accomplishments. If he
hadn't mentioned bezoars in his first memorable lesson and scribbled
that note about bezoars as the HBP, for example, Ron would be dead.
True, he didn't anticipate the consequences of those actions, but
unanticipated consequences are one of JKR's recurring motifs. Often,
good comes out of evil and evil out of good. In this case, good comes
out of Snape's knowledge of Potions, which is in itself neutral (like
magic in general in the books).

Carol, thinking that Sean Mulligan would be a lovely name for an Irish
Wizard to go along with Seamus Finnegan 

Carol, just trying to return to Sean's original point