XPOST: Lupin is Ever So Evil Part One -- The Prank (long)

[Barry Arrowsmith]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "fritter_my_wig" <eloiseherisson at a...> wrote:
> 
> Eloise:
> Ah. This brings us onto something different. Do you then believe that 
> Voldemort *knows* that Snape has left him, that he's not a double 
> agent, but just a spy? How then is he able to have contact with 
> Lucius? If you leave Voldemort, you're *dead*.
> 

Kneasy:
Oh, yes. Voldy knows all right. If DD stands up in court and tells everyone
that Modest-hero!Snape has been working against Voldy for at least a year,
then he's not going to be on Voldy's Christmas card list. Next time he sees
Sevvy it'll be "Ooh! Look at the pretty green lights!" Theories abound of
double- and triple-agent activities, but it gets so horribly complicated that
as you keep going round in circles there's a danger of vanishing up your 
own chuff.

I don't even think that he's a spy, not in the normal use of the word. A
blown spy is about as much use as pockets in a shroud - but if he were 
acting as, say, an agent of influence, attempting to split Malfoy et al away 
from Voldy (either "come on in, the water's fine!" or "a plague on both their 
houses; don't fully commit yourself until you're sure who'll win") then it would 
make sense. Of course if he should happen to pick up a nugget of information
while reminiscing about the good old days....
And it may be working - "Lucius, my slippery friend..."

> 
> Eloise:
> AFAIC, Snape is a character in search of a father. Those particular 
> Pensieve memories accorded with what I already pretty much believed 
> about his back story, so yes, I do take them at face value. And I 
> believe the reason he knew all those curse was because he hated his 
> father so much and had been practising what he'd *like* to do to him.
> 

Kneasy:
Um. With DD as surrogate? Or is it a diabolical fluffy plot so  that at
the end as Harry kneels by Snape's broken body, Snape can launch into
a  cringe-making speech, telling how he identified with Harry because
they both grew up without fathers, or identifying Unc. Vern with Snape's 
own Murdstone-like pater? Argh! Please, no! Leave the man some dignity,
he's a prime example of a miserable old swine, let him ascend to his
personal Valhalla muttering imprecations at the idle, uncomprehending
ineptitude of Potter Jnr.
  
> 
> Eloise:
> 
> I can buy that. But I prefer my Snape both vindictive *and* watchful. 
> Just makes him more interesting. Which of course biases me.
> 

Kneasy:
He's vindictive, right enough. But I reckon that it's aimed at Voldy. He
wants Voldy humbled, brought low, ground into the dust so that he can
caper joyfully on the squidgy remains. And usually folk only have room
for one real hate figure at a time; two seems excessively self-indulgent
and detracts from spending long hours in the dark watches of the night
refining imaginative retribution. It's a full-time job, hating.