It's That Man Again: issues of trust (was: Re: My HBP Review )

[dungrollin]

A hag goes into an apothecary's

Hag : Hello, I'd like a pound of liver, please.
Apothecary : That'll be 16 galleons, please.
Hag : 16 galleons?! That's outrageous! What kind of liver is it?
Apothecary : Dragon's liver.
Hag : Oh! I don't want Dragon's liver, no no. Pig's liver.
Apothecary : Pig's liver?! This is an Apothecary's, we don't sell 
pig's liver!
Hag : Oh. (pause) I'm terribly sorry, my mistake.
EXIT HAG

The next day, the hag comes back.
Hag : Hello, I'd like a pound of pig's liver, please.
Apothecary : Look, I told you yesterday, we don't sell Pig's liver! 
This is an Apothecary's!
Hag : Oh. (pause) I'm terribly sorry.
EXIT HAG

The next day, the hag comes back again.
Hag : Hello, I'd like a pound of pig's liver, please.
Apothecary : Look, if you come back in here one more time asking me 
for bloody pig's liver, I'm gonna nail your feet to the floor!
Hag : Terribly sorry...
EXIT HAG BACKWARDS, NERVOUSLY

The next day, the hag comes back again.
Hag : Hello, have you got any nails?
Apothecary : No I bloody haven't! 
Hag : Oh, well I'll have a pound of pig's liver then.

SPOILER SPACE ENDS

 
> Eloise:
> Just a thought from one furiously grasping at straws (part 2 of 
the Leaky interview has done nothing to raise my spirits)....
> 
<snip> 

> One of the things I find most disturbing about all this is what 
she said herself about DD being too willing to trust in the Leaky 
interview.
> 
Dungrollin:
No no no.  This is what happened (from mugglenet/leaky interview 
part 1):

ES: I know Dumbledore likes to see the good in people but he seems 
trusting almost to the point of recklessness sometimes.

JKR: [Laughter] Yes, I would agree. I would agree.

That doesn't mean that Dumbledore *is* reckless in his trust, it 
just means that she agrees he sometimes *seems* that way. And even 
if DD has been reckless, it doesn't mean it won't pay off in the end.


Eloise:
> Part of my reasoning for thinking that Snape *must* be on the 
right side was precisely the fact that Dumbledore has emphasised his 
trust in him so much (and note, he *didn't* trust TR, so it's not an 
> indiscriminate trust). Now I know JKR isn't primarily writing a 
series invested with deliberate messages addressed to young people, 
but there *are* issues she directly addresses. To go through an 
entire series depicting someone as incredibly wise and then to say 
in the end that through *trust* he made this gigantic error which 
nearly cost the entire WW just seems to be such a negative message. 
There is far too little trust in this world already. Is Mad Eye 
Moody's policy of trusting no-one really the model we she thinks we 
should adopt?
> 

Dungrollin:
I agree, wholeheartedly. It would be rubbish. And DD still refused 
to tell Harry why he trusted Snape (chapter 25, The Seer Overheard). 
I can think of only two reasons why. Either it was something 
intensely personal to Snape that he didn't want anybody else to know 
(and we are dragged, kicking and screaming towards LOLLIPOPS), or it 
was something so absolutely confirmatory of Snape's loyalty to DD 
that to tell anyone would risk it getting back to the DEs. If DD 
thought that Snape might be put in a position where he had to appear 
to be loyal to Voldy, and after which DD might not be around to 
vouch for him to the other Order members, he might not have been too 
inclined to share it just then. If the Order continued to trust 
Snape after he's bumped off DD, Voldy would certainly smell a rat. 

Snape's gone back to Voldy to fulfil one final task for DD, 
something that can only be done from within the DE's circle. As far 
as I can see, HBP gave us no clue as to whether DD had told him 
about the hors-d'oeuvres, though I suppose it's possible if Snape 
saved DD after the hand incident, so it could be to do with them. 

(By the way, that injury was caused by the protective spells around 
the ring at the Gaunt House, wasn't it? Rather than by its 
destruction, which happened later. So it's also possible DD didn't 
tell Snape where he'd been, or what he'd been up to.)

Or, it could simply be to have somebody there right at the end, who 
can tip the scales in Harry's favour.  I'd like to think DD and 
Snape are better planners than that though. 

It could be to continue passing information - Snape might be able to 
convince the Order with a patronus message, though I doubt it.

The big question for me, is how he's going to get Draco out of 
trouble with Voldy without making Voldy too cross. That damn vow 
means that if Voldy kills Draco (which was the price of failure as I 
understood it) then Snape's dead too.  Perhaps the kudos awarded by 
murdering DD would allow Snape to ask Voldy a favour, or perhaps 
since Voldy undoubtedly knows about the vow from Bella, Voldy's 
really not so stupid as to kill off the only competent member of 
staff he's got.

He's *not* ESE. It would be rubbish. Have a badge.
D.E.L.U.S.I.O.N.A.L.
(Death Eaters Laughably Unsuspicious, Snape Is Obviously Not A Louse)

Dungrollin