What If He Didn't Tell All? (very LONG)

[Barry Arrowsmith]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "severelysigune" <severelysigune at y...> wrote:
> Dear masterminds,
> 
> I have the audacity of offering up an essay in defence of a theory 
> (my own, *ahem*) that I haven't encountered anywhere else yet - that 
> Snape was loyal, but not entirely truthful. Features lots of canon in 
> support. By all means tear it apart.
> 
> 

Very good post.
But since you're inviting comments......

I'm playing with possible background as well as considering your post, 
so please excuse the ramblings. The difficulty is that definitive canon is
scarce; in reaching a conclusion it's down to opinions, gut feelings and 
interpretations of who said what and why did so-and-so do that? At
base, how one regards Sevvy will have a big influence on which way
one jumps - and that's not limited to ESE! or Goody!Snape either.

A nice wrinkle in chap. 2 is that Draino's objective is never mentioned,
which sets up doubts in the readers minds - deliberately so, I'm sure. 
On first reading my reaction was "It'll be to do with that Potter kid." 
Bet others thought so too.

Has Voldy actually told Sevvy what he wants Draino to do? Or is Snape
pretending to know more than he actually does and is he assuming that
the target is Harry? If so this would make the DD-icide even bangier. He's
trapped by his own promise into doing something he never envisaged.
This could lead us into an horrendous swamp, very similar to the 'magical
contracts are unbreakable' impasse from GoF - if you didn't agree to 
enter into the contract in the first place, how can it possibly be binding? 
Leading this time to: if an Unbreakable Vow is made but the vowers think 
it refers to different things, what happens? The 'promiser' can be considered
to have fulfilled what he *believed* to have been the vow, can't he? Because
if he doesn't do what he thinks he's promised, he's broken the vow based
on what he thought he was committing himself to.  
Hm. Difficult.

But I think he does know who the target is.
Sevvy gazes into Cissy's tear-filled baby blue eyes - and he's an ace at 
Legilimancy. He knows. He might even see that Cissy means to bind him 
with a UV. 

A mention of timelines.

We've been waiting for two years for HBP, but internally in HP from the 
MoM fight to Cissy and Snape at Spinner's End is probably no more than 
about 3 weeks. Just a few weeks since DD told Voldy 
"Merely taking your life would never satisfy me, I admit -" 
So what would? Total extirpation, body and soul(s).
Did Voldy read the same meaning in it? Oh, yes.

I've moaned before that Voldy has confused goals, he's never really
concentrated on a single objective. First the Stone, then Harry, then the
Prophecy - and now DD. But this time he might have good reason.

In those few weeks DD has been searching for Horseclucks, has found
one and destroyed it. If Voldy knows (probably via Snape; or can Voldy 
'sense' when a fragment of his soul gurgles its last? Seems like a sensible 
arrangement to make, though the Diary is a bit of a problem. He didn't 
notice that one SFAICR. Mind you, he wasn't himself at the time, spending
his days inhabiting rats. That might have something to do with it.) then 
DD is a more immediate danger to his plans and safety than Harry is.
Voldy can't afford to have DD wandering around knocking off bits of his 
soul.

DD is blocking his escape routes, so that when the final showdown 
comes it really is gonna be final.  This would piss him off royally. His well-
thought-out little immortality plan in danger of falling apart around his 
ears. Voldy being Voldy, he'd want something done about it. One good 
thing, DD is injured - yes, I think he knows about this, otherwise Snape 
would never have mentioned it to Bella, and certainly not that the injury 
was received *since* the MoM. This adds a bit of support to the idea that
Snape told Voldy that the ring had been found and destroyed. As soon as
word reached him, Voldy would ask 'how was he injured?' - and he'd never
believe it was by something trivial. Can't be hidden either - DD is walking
around with a withered, blackened hand and Voldy knows what spells he 
put on his little preciouses. 

Just how weakened is DD? send in a volunteer, a disposable volunteer, to
find out. Sevvy may even exaggerated the debilitating effects of the injury 
- just as he denigrates Harry's magical abilities. 

"That's all very well," you'll say, "but stop whittering and say if you think 
Sevvy told DD that he'd promised to do the dirty deed if Draco didn't."

Yes. I think he did.
I think he told him everything.
And DD made his plans accordingly.

Draco is nasty but inept. He has delusions of adequacy. Bet DD thinks so  
too, though he might not use the same words. Draco will fail; DD knows it,
Snape knows it and so does Cissy. DD can't offer Draino help until the little
creep actually tries and fails, and through sheer force of personality DD 
ensures that young Malfoy doesn't even try to pot a sitting duck.

There's Malfoy with a helpless DD at his mercy and he chickens out. Snape
arrives. Now the S. Snape we all know and love - what would be his reaction,
all other things being equal. He'd bully Malfoy. He'd more or less force him 
to cast the AK.  "Fulfill your master's wishes, you horrible little scrote!" That 
way the Unbreakable Vow never gets invoked, Snape is free and clear, Draino
doesn't get special attention from Voldy, DD is dead and all the DEs cheer.  
But that's not what happens; Sevvy ignores Malfoy, except to push him out of
the way; he regards DD. For what? Assessing his physical state? Is DD likely 
to survive that Potion? Then comes revulsion, hatred  and an AK.

Revulsion and hatred for what? For DD or for what has happened to him and 
for he who was responsible for it? I like to think it's the latter. And I also like 
to think that there was a previous agreement between the two - "If I get 
something  terminally nasty - DO IT!" He survives the hand through Snape's 
efforts - even so it can't be cured. What else might he run into? Nothing 
pleasant, that's for sure. ('Course, if the Potion is curable, then we're into
a different ball-game entirely.)    

Right at that moment who will be more use to Harry in the future? 
A dying/dead DD or a strong Snape behind enemy lines? No contest.  
Everyone is expendable - except Harry.

One thing you can say about DD - he plans ahead.
And that plan might include a little extra.
The absence of Fawkes is a sign, IMO. DD attacked and no guardian 
dicky-bird? How likely is that? Not very. Unless it was arranged.
He *chose* to die. No struggle, no avoidance.
Last time somebody did that it put a spoke in Voldy's wheel.
Something to look out for in book 7?

Kneasy