Snape's Remorse

[pippin_999]

Magda: 
> I don't view it that way.  I think Snape's sentence is the same kind
> of coded sentence he used at the end of OOTP when he told Crabbe not
> to strangle Neville as it would involve paperwork.  It was a coded
> message to Harry (that Harry missed, natch) that he would intervene
> to save a Gryffindor (Sirius/Neville) from a Slytherin
> (Voldemort/Crabbe).  Neville isn't really in danger of dying at
> Crabbe's hand but Sirius, if he's caught, is in danger of death from
> Voldemort.  It's a sentence that makes the reader think "Huh?" and
> then the light goes on.

Pippin:
Canon does say that Neville "was trapped in a stranglehold by Goyle
and looked in imminent danger of suffocation." I don't think that was
a secret message from Snape to Harry, I think it was another
indication that Snape is willing to risk blowing his cover in order
to save a student.

Magda: 
> The sentence above is designed the same way.  We (and Harry, who
again misses it by a mile) know because we saw the pensieve scene
that it was NEVER 4 on 1, that Lupin was an unwilling bystander,
that Pettigrew would never risk his neck, that at most it was 2 on 1. 
And Snape knows Harry saw the pensieve scene too.  We're supposed to
say "Huh?  What did he mean by that?"


Pippin:
I think from Snape's PoV it was four on one. Lupin was more than an
unwilling bystander because he was a prefect. It's one thing for a
civilian not to get involved  and another for a policeman.  I get the 
impression James would have been just as happy to pick on Snape 
because Pettigrew was bored as because Sirius was. And contrary
to what Sirius said, Pettigrew has shown that he will take risks 
for no immediate gain. He bit Goyle, remember? 

It's interesting that in his dialogue with Harry, Snape mentions
James twice but Dumbledore not at all. I think Snape is trying as
hard as possible not to think about what happened on the tower. 
I don't think he believes  that  he killed  Dumbledore.  I think he's 
burning to find out what did happen, but knows that if he tries to
find out, he'll sacrifice what Dumbledore died to save. 

IMO, if Snape had killed Dumbledore for some evil purpose, or had
it together enough to pretend   that he'd done so, he'd be showing 
elation. Instead, he adopts the mask of anger, because in his
confusion about what just went down, it's the role that's 
easiest to perform. 

He's got to get the DE's off the grounds before they hurt someone 
else. Dumbledore's protections are lifted, the school has never
been so vulnerable as it is now,  and Harry, by trying to make them 
stand and fight, is nobly doing exactly the wrong thing, dagnabbit, 
just like his  ever-so-saintly father. 

Snape doesn't know that Harry has found out that he was the
eavesdropper.  And then Harry says "like you killed him" and
just for a moment, IMO, Snape reveals his true self.

It's canon, or at least Dumbledore's word, that Snape did blame 
himself because Voldemort went after James. What we don't know 
is what convinced Dumbledore that Snape's remorse was genuine. 

I agree with you that Snape tried to warn James, but I don't 
think that he considered himself absolved on account of that,
because it didn't work. James didn't believe him. 

Pippin