CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chamber of Secrets Chapter 18: Dobby's reward

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 189275

Joey wrote:
> 
> I presume DD's schedule and chores as a headmaster forced him to delegate the job to a teacher while he retained his accountability (for we learn that he had discussions with Fake!Moody about the curriculum). I think his fear of Snape going back to his old ways outweighed his disappointment in Lockhart due to which he chose Lockhart.

Carol responds:
I'm pretty sure that DD's supposed fear that Snape would return to his old ways was a cover story for the young, newly hired Snape (already spying for DD) to tell Voldemort (who was not vaporized until the end of the following October) and any curious DEs. (Compare the lies, half truths, and cover stories that Snape gives to Bellatrix and Narcissa in HBP.) DD's real reason would almost certainly be to protect Snape from the jinx. He needs him at Hogwarts, and he needs an expert Potions teacher, so keeping Snape as Potions master (and HoH of Slytherin) serves two useful purposes until the time comes to let him teach DADA. If Draco hadn't been ordered to kill DD *and* DD hadn't doomed himself by putting on the ring Horcrux (from which Snape could only temporarily save him), I think DD would have continued to put off giving him the position, knowing that the jinx would, at the very least, reveal him as a (supposedly) loyal DE.

As for disappointment in Lockhart, DD probably knew from the start that he was a fraud, but hiring an inept teacher was the price he had to pay for retaining Snape. (The idea that Snape would return to Voldemort after Voldemort had killed Lily probably never crossed his mind, especially after all the risks that Snape had taken and all the services that he had performed even as early as CoS.)

Carol, noting that Snape and DD share a propensity for half truths