Stand Aside and DRIBBLE SHADOWS (was: Dumbledore's Unspeakable Word)

[susiequsie23]

GulPlum:
The crux for me is the "stand aside" bit. As his attitude towards Cedric 
showed, when Voldy's on the warpath to get an individual, he doesn't care 
about collateral damage. So why the hell didn't he simply blast Lily out of 
existence instead of giving her the *chance* to sacrifice herself? JKR is 
going to have to pull an extremely huge (and hopefully unfluffy) rabbit out 
of her hat to cover that discrepancy without it sounding ridiculous.


SSSusan:
I totally agree, Richard.  Every time I've brought this up over on Main, I get protestations that Voldy didn't really *mean* he was willing to allow her to live -- more that he was just anxious to get Harry taken care of first or whatever.  But I think it *has* to be significant.  "Kill the spare" came without a second's hesitation re: Cedric, and yet there he faced Lily Potter, a woman who had thrice defied him, and he says "She didn't have to die"??  No, I think there is some reason for this offer on Voldy's part, and I hope to heck it's not one of those bits JKR will end up leaving untied .


GulPlum:
This doesn't mean to say that I've not spent *any* time thinking about it, 
and I am convinced that Snape was there. Whether as a goodie or a baddie, I 
don't know, although I have a suspicion that events at GH are at least part 
of the reason that Dumbledore is so certain of Sevvie's loyalty. I like to 
think that for one reason or another, Snape turned up to repay his 
life-debt and failed. Which, given his slightly twisted sense of his 
position in the world, only increased his animus towards anyone answering 
to "Potter" as their surname...

SSSusan:
I have debated whether to bring up a TBAY I wrote over at HPfGU here.  ::shudders, contemplating the rather high-powered company she is presently in here::  But this is a nice little segue, so what the hell.  And, stop sniggering over there, Kneasy!

I also think Snape had a role to play in and around the events of GH, and that this role is very definitely the reason that DD (and Hagrid, for that matter) trust Snape so.  In fact, I think Snape discovered that Voldy planned to attack the Potters and went to DD with that information, prepared to leave Voldy and to help protect them (why is open for debate).  My theory is DRIBBLE SHADOWS [Dragon's Resistance In Blood Brings Life-saving Effects:  Snape, Hagrid And Dumbledore's Ointment Was Supplement], which was moved along by some excellent crewmanship by Jen Reese & Potioncat (and some countering by Neri).  Main posts are 128717, 128778, 128795, 128892, 129079, 129098.  

A lot of you are members of both groups, so I won't set out the full theory here.  But anyhoo... the gist of this is that Snape, DD & Hagrid worked together to develop a potion... er, ointment (so's I could spell SHADOWS, natch) that involved dragon's blood -- DD providing the knowledge of dragon blood's utility, Hagrid providing the actual dragon blood, and Snape providing the skills in potion-making.  This ointment was to have been applied to Harry before the attack but the attack came too quickly.  DD, however, believing Voldy to have not truly been killed, decided to take the step of applying it to Baby Harry **after** the events of GH, in hopes of providing any kind of supplemental protection he could manage.  This application is what delayed Harry's arrival on Privet Drive for 24 hours. 

Anyway, I don't know that Snape was there that night, but I totally agree that he had a major role to play in informing DD of Voldy's plans, in attempting to protect the Potters, and in providing supplemental protection to Harry after GH.

Siriusly Snapey Susan


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