Snape, **SPOILERS??** Options

[moose]

After re-reading the GoF I have found some very interesting hints as to why Snape is acting with the Order, not the Death-Eaters.


If you look @ pg 651 in GoF it is the scene where Voldemort is talking to the DE's in the graveyard he says 6 are missing. 3 dead, one too cowardly to return (Karkaroff), ONE WHO HE BELIEVES HAS LEFT HIM FOREVER (SNAPE??) that will be killed, and his most faithful servant who is @ Hogwarts and is responsible for Harry being there(crouch).

Then near the end of the book in the hospital wing Dumbledore says this to Snape: "Severus, you know what I must ask you to do. If you are ready....If you are prepared..." Snape says "I am" While looking paler than usual and his cold, black eyes glittering strangely.


It is obvious that Dumbledore wants him to go and act as a double again. In the beggining of HBP Snape tells Lestrange that Voldemort trusts him. Since Snape is so good @ occlumency he might have been able to hide the fact that is really with the Order from him and said that he had been waiting for his return while staying at Hogwarts.



That's why I think Snape is still good.

[Bunnyc]

Dumbledore's hand wasn't getting any better and I think he knew
it was going to kill him.......I think maybe Snape was able to prolong
DD's life (using his 'stopper death' technique) just long enough for DD to find
as much information as possible on the remaining Horcruxes and teach
Harry the importance of searching for and destroying them, and what a dangerous
task it would be.
Does anyone remember JKR saying once that Harry might get another
pet at some later time? I wonder if that will be Fawkes.
Speaking of Fawkes, the reason he didn't heal DD's hand with
his tears, is another reason why I think there was nothing anyone could
do for that hand........that it was fatal and DD knew it.

[teelbee]

I also think Snape is on the good side. I'm just going to turn in a little different direction from the notion that his actions were necessary to avoid blowing his cover. I think it was someone else impersonating Snape using Polyjuice Potion or some similar magic. It may even have been Voldemore himself, disguised as Snape.

Now that notion may just as well be way off base, but here are the niggling parts that lead me to entertain that supposition.

One thing I've not seen mentioned is the idea that Snape was not the Half-Blood Prince after all. I think Harry has jumped to conclusions again regarding Professor Snape (as he has so many times in the past, only to be proven wrong).

There is an inconsistency about Snape being the HBP. If Rowlings resolved this inconsistency in the book, I've missed it.

At the Weasley's Cristmas party, Lupin tells Harry to check the publication date of the Advanced Potions book as a clue to discovering the identity of the book's prior owner.. Harry does check and learns the book was published ~50~ years earlier. It's specifically pointed out on page 337: "... Harry delved into his trunk and pulled out his copy of Advanced Potion-Making before getting into bed. There he turned its pages, searching, until he finally found, at the front of the book, the date that it had been published. It was nearly fifty years old. Neither his father, nor his father's friends, had been at Hogwarts fifty years ago."

Snape was a classmate of Harry's father, so it seems inconsistent to conclude he is the HBP.

I'm fuzzy on Voldemort's age, but I think he's older than Lilly and James who would have been at school about 20 to 25 years earlier. That makes Voldemore a candidate for being the author of the notes in the Advanced Potion-Making book.

I also see some potential inconsistencies in the duel between Snape and Harry at the end of the book. It's not so clear cut though. "Snape" claims to be the author of Levicorpus (and, possibly, Sectum Santorum). But, if Snape was the true author of Levicorpus, it seems unlikely that James would have been able to successfully use that curse against him when they were 15. Indeed, Lupin tells Harry that Levicorpus was a widely known and "currently in vogue" spell when he and James were at school. This suggests that the spell pre-dates Snape's time at Hogwarts (why would the student body adopt a spell created by such an unpopular classmate?). So, it seems to be within possibility that was a Snape impersonator battling Harry at the end..

Frankly, I see this as a fairly weak theory; but I have not found any other explanation about why Rowling made such a point of the Advanced Potion-Making book pre-dating Snape's attendance at Hogwarts.

~~~teelbee

.

[Dobian]

The book was likely Snape's mother's, which explains the fact that it was fifty years old. It was Snape up on that tower. Someone impersonating Snape would blow the dramatic flow of the story (i.e., when Harry confronts Snape again in book 7 and gets the real story of what happened up on that tower and DD's black hand - which wouldn't happen if it wasn't Snape on that tower). Also, someone impersonating Snape would have dealt with Potter very differently out on the grounds.

[hpfan69]

The book was likely Snape's mother's, which explains the fact that it was fifty years old.  It was Snape up on that tower.  Someone impersonating Snape would blow the dramatic flow of the story (i.e., when Harry confronts Snape again in book 7 and gets the real story of what happened up on that tower and DD's black hand - which wouldn't happen if it wasn't Snape on that tower).  Also, someone impersonating Snape would have dealt with Potter very differently out on the grounds.
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i am sorry, but i have to ask you a question. how old do you think snape is? and another question, what do you think happened in chapter 28, the flight of the prince, and what was said? i am most courious as to your answer's.