[the_old_crowd] HPB: Scenery Chewing

[ewe2]

On Sat, Jul 23, 2005 at 11:17:33AM -0000, pippin_999 wrote:
> Let
> There
> Be
> Spaces
> In
> Your
> Togetherness
> And
> Let
> The
> Winds
> Of Heaven
> Dance
> Between
> You
> -Kahlil Gibran


And
Bad
Stuff
Will
Happen
If
You
Haven't
Read
The
Dagnabbit
Book
Yet
- The Penguin

> 
> You know, maybe the Spinner's End scene seems off because
> Snape and Narcissa are acting. It's a put up job. Narcissa has
> no more idea of what The Plan is than Snape does, and they
> cooked up this scene together in order to protect Draco. Think
> about it -- If Snape were in on The Plan, wouldn't he be the 
> natural one to teach Draco oclcumency? Likewise, if Narcissa
> were an occlumens, she could have taught Draco, and if she isn't,
> it would hardly be safe for her to know about the plan. She's
> the parent of a Hogwarts student and could easily have 
> contact with Dumbledore. 

IMHO the reason Spinner's End seems off is because it is designed to mess with
OUR heads, and _not_ Harry's. None of the details of the scene can have any
bearing on Harry's understanding about any of the players; all he knows is
that Snape made an Unbreakable Vow to Narcissa, what the Vow was for and what
the Vow does. There is no Pettigrew, no Bellatrix, no fingers crossed or
unreadable stares. Seen this way, Spinner's End is designed purely and simply
to test _our_ previous Snape theories. It doesn't exactly let him off the
hook, but I'd be wary of reading more into it, particularly since JKR is less
than encouraging about a DD-Snape plan.

> All Narcissa knows is that the Dark Lord is planning to have 
> Draco do *something* at Hogwarts, and  Draco
> won't tell her what it is. Bella, however, must know The Plan, 
> it could hardly be kept  from Draco's occlumency teacher, 
> after all.
> 
> So Narcissa behaves like the heroine of a bad fanfic because
> that's what she is. She's acting. And Snape's dialogue sounds 
> flat and rehearsed because it *is*. 

It is possible that the whole scene is for Bella's benefit; even so I feel
that it would be largely to rule out possible future objections to the
continuing plot either way. It's a typical Christie "both ways I win"
scenario, which is why I distrust it.

> Theory:  it was Dumbledore's idea that Snape
> take the vow, so that the Dark Lord couldn't forbid him 
> to  watch over Draco without losing his spy. Something of
> a risk, but after all if Voldie wants Snape dead, it's not
> like he hasn't got other ways to kill him.
> 
> But Narcissa's request  that Snape step in  if it seemed Draco was 
> going to fail was unscripted, a little addition of her own. Hence the 
> twitch. And Dumbledore's rueful dialogue about his grand plans 
> being subject to even grander errors.

Certainly this is a possible reading of the situation, if we were given the
story by Snape, for example. How would it look from Bella's POV? If it was a
Pensieve scene, from whose POV?

Does anyone have an idea why Tonks was in the castle? That's bothering me

ewe2, who's finding Ginny less convincing after a reread.

-- 
"I reject your reality and substitute my own!" - Adam Savage