Snape's test

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 186430

Carol earlier:
> > As far as I can tell, Dumbledore dies thinking that he and Harry have actually found a Horcrux (he never sees RAB's note), so Portrait!DD would think that HRH already have a Horcrux that they need to destroy.
> 
> Pippin:
> Would a wizard like Dumbledore  need a note from RAB to tell the difference between a crude fake and the real thing? Surely he could sense that there was no trace of Voldemort's magic. He let out a groan when Harry said that at least they got the horcrux.  I very much doubt that Dumbledore was fooled for a moment once he laid hands on the thing. He could tell at once that the diary in CoS no longer held either Riddle's memories or his soul, while even Ron and Hermione could sense the presence within the locket. 
> 
> It's true, Dumbledore knows, or rather hopes,  that Harry *will* need the sword. But the sword must react to present needs, not potential ones. Even in the Chamber, it doesn't present itself until Harry asks for help. 
> 

Carol:
Maybe DD knew that it was fake, but he is in desperate trouble and only stuffs it into his pocket, so it's impossible to tell. But he still knew, as he knew when he wrote the will, that Harry would need the sword when he found the real Horcrux.

And Portrait!DD (who informed Snape of the conditions to be met) must have known from Phineas Nigellus (who knew about the Horcruxes even though Snape didn't) that the Trio were taking turns wearing Slytherin's locket. So DD would know, one way or the other, that the "need" criterion had already been met--present need rather than future need--and that it was time to tell Snape that the sword could only be taken under conditions of need and valor. (Snape, who knew that they needed the sword but didn't know why, also seems to have viewed the "need" criterion as already met and concentrated on creating a test that would require "valor"--at least in the crude sense of finding the courage to overcome danger, difficulty, and discomfort.) The only reason for further delay was that neither Snape nor Portrait!DD knew where the Trio/HH were staying until Phineas reported that they were in the Forest Dean, at which point Snape, who already knew the criteria and had already formed his plan, set out to find them.

Back to present need (to destroy the Horcrux they already had rather than future Horcruxes): The sword, presumably, senses the presence of the Horcrux around Harry's neck just as the Horcrux senses the presence of the sword and tries to strangle Harry, so in allowing Harry or Ron to retrieve it, it *is* reacting to "present need." I don't know what would have happened if it hadn't sensed the Horcrux (would it have vanished?), but Harry's need is not the type that requires the sword to come to him so that he can fight for his life as he was doing against the Basilisk. Calling "help" (or trying to summon the sword) isn't going to work this time. He has to earn it through "valor." And, again, whether diving in to retrieve it would have been sufficient to meet that test, we don't know. All we know is that Ron, diving in to save Harry, met both tests and earned the right to use the sword on the Horcrux that Portrait!DD must have known they already had.

Carol, tempted to check all the scenes in which Phineas Nigellus is present but already taking too much time with today's posts