ricardienne | Nooooooooo!

(Okay, so this entry really should be back-dated to July 17th, that being the day on which I finished Half-Blood Prince.)

Well.
ENTER ANYTHING UNDER PAIN OF BEING SPOILED MASSIVELY FOR HARRY POTTER (And I don’t care if you don’t care about spoilers, Anna. Don’t read it anyway!)

There are so many things to say about this book. There are so many things I should analyze and do, from pondering horcruxes to going back and looking for hints to Remus-Tonks in OoP. But being me, however, there is but one aspect that I can think about. Only one. And I bet you can all guess which.

But first, allow me to gloat a little. Definitely nailed the identity of the HBP. Elementary, my dear Watson. And note that essay I posted a few entries back. The one about Snape. Okay, so I was off as far as the second part went, but did I not nail the Double-Agent business?

Though, in light of recent events, it might have been better to have been wrong. I might have been better for Snape to have been cowering in his dungeon study at Hogwarts for two books.

Because there is very little way around it. Justifications and justifications don’t stand up very well to actions. And Snape killed Dumbledore. Let me repeat that. Snape killed Dumbledore. Avada Kedavra. Quite easily, actually. Just walked in and zapped him. Snape killed Dumbledore.

I want to believe that he isn’t actually evil, I really do. But there’s not much that can be excused and explained away. And no, I am absolutely not buying the “this was all arranged by Dumbledore and Snape from the beginning.” I just can’t see any scenario in which the cause against Voldemort is advanced by Snape’s murder of Dumbledore, making the former appear to be completely in the service of the Dark Lord. What could Harry or the Order possibly gain from this? It loses its leader and its spy. Harry is left without guidance and a good deal of information (because frankly, while he may now know what to do to defeat Voldemort, he doesn’t know how to destroy a horcrux, or even how to do the highly advanced magic that seems necessary to break the enchantments surrounding one. Even Dumbledore seemed to need Snape’s aid there.) There is no way that this can be seen as a good thing. No way, no how.

But. I ask you to consider my nom de plume in this journal. Yes. Snape would not be the first villain I tried to excuse or find good for. Actually, I have had much the same feeling for Richard that I now experience in regards to Snape. The up-and-down, desperately wanting it to be false, but fearing it is true; the spurts of confidence and of resignation; the feeling of having been betrayed personally by the person in question; the crabbiness and anger towards everyone around me to whom I can’t confide. I recognize it all.

There are important differences, however. Richard’s case is closed. It is unlikely that any new information will be found to condemn or exonerate him. Snape’s, however, is both open and finished. We may not know (or may choose not to recognize that we know) his definitive alignment yet, but we will know it by the end, I am sure.

I need not add, I think that Snape and Richard are very different people as well, and yet somehow similar figures. Richard’s attraction is the apparent honor with which he conducted himself for most of his life, and his tragedy a combination of betrayal, impetuosity, and poor decisions. Somewhat like Sirius, perhaps.

It would be ridiculous to call Snape noble, however, and, in fact, I do not like him as a person. I have had him for a quartet coach, though he had cleverly disguised himself as an obese, Hispanic man with a Mexican-New York accent. It is a horrible, thing to be taught by someone so cruel and cutting. But nevertheless, I somehow am fascinated by him. Perhaps it’s that I also make arrogantly snide comments and seek to boost myself up by sarcastically putting others down (and no, that isn’t a good thing!). But I must confess as well, that I bought into the tragic!Snape. His abusive family, his relatively lonely school live (I can sympathize with the latter though not the former), his, as I saw it, ‘inner morality’ in ultimately rejecting Voldemort and turning to Dumbledore. The romance of his tense life as a spy within the Inner Circle of the Dark Lord. And I can’t bring myself to give it up. I can’t bring myself to say: “Dumbledore was completely wrong from the beginning. Snape has never been anything by self-serving and evil.” I expect that I will vacillate many times on this issue between now and the next book, but for now, I must try.

It seems to me that JKR has invested too much into Snape to simply throw him away as evil. She gave him a birthday on her website, for example. And we have seen many comparisons between Harry and Snape, not least of which was Snape’s Worst Memory. Through the Half-Blood Prince, Snape has taught Harry quite a lot about potions and spells. Now, this could be a clever point: that there are similarities between Harry, Snape, and Voldemort, that even evil can teach good something.

A long-standing motif in the series could be summed up as “it’s not Snape, stupid.” Of course, this time, it was Snape. But Harry has never nailed the bad-guy before. Growth? Or a massive red herring?

All right, now it’s time for the Snape Defense.

The Unbreakable Vow.

Let us not forget that Snape, when he knocks out Flitwick and kills Dumbledore, is under an Unbreakable Vow. He must help Draco and, ultimately, perform his task for him. He cannot do otherwise. It’s an Unbreakable Vow. To quote Ron, “you can’t break it.” Let’s assume for the moment that Snape is on Voldemort’s side. Why would Rowling have him make and Unbreakable Vow? ~~To mislead us, of course~~. Yes, Bellatrix and Narcissa asked it under this assumption, but from a narrative point-of-view, what does it serve? It binds Snape into action. It tells us the readers that he is stuck acting a certain way. In a sense, it removes some doubt as to his motives. Why would he make the vow, if he didn’t want to keep it in the first place. But it also allows me to continue to believe that Snape does not do what he does completely willingly.

Until the vow is spoken, he has only agreed to help Draco. And when Narcissa says the final clause, binding him to take explicit action, his hand twitches within hers. He cannot draw away, not without blowing his cover.

Perhaps Snape does not even know to what he is swearing. He himself never claims to be high in the Dark Lord’s confidences, to be exceptionally trusted, to be any of the things Narcissa flatters him to be. He might be desperate for details of Voldemort’s plans, and see this as a risk that he hopes will give him necessary information. But this, too, is unlikely. Snape must have some idea. His responses make too much sense for him to be completely bluffing. And it is only logical that he, as the adult DE at Hogwarts, and one in a position to help Draco, would be told of it. Particularly if the Dark Lord “always intended for me to do it in the end.”

But once Snape, however it turns out, realizes what he has vowed to do, we have to imagine that, if he is good, he informs Dumbledore. Remember that Draco will not tell Snape of his plan with the Vanishing Cabinets. And Dumbledore continues to trust Snape until the end, though he knows that Malfoy is trying to kill him. Ergo, Snape must be investigating this and informing Dumbledore of his results. Or course, he would do nothing less to preserve his cover as Dumbledore’s man.

Let’s pause for a moment, and discuss why Dumbledore trusts Snape.

“’I know,’ said Harry… ‘Snape passed Voldemort the information that made Voldemort hunt down my mum and dad. Then Snape told Dumbledore he hadn’t realized what he was doing, he was really sorry he’d done it, sorry that they were dead.’”

This does fit with Snape’s assertion to Bellatrix that ‘I spun him a tale of deepest remorse when I joined his staff, fresh from my Death Eater days…’

It would not be out of character for Dumbledore to take Snape’s word and trust him solely on that. Or would it? Dumbledore has been trusting Snape for fifteen years. He took him in not this most recent year, when one might say his powers have been waning, but fifteen years ago, when he was (presumably) as strong as we have ever seen him. And Dumbledore does not trust everyone, contrary to popular belief. He never completely trusted Tom Riddle, as we have seen.

As for Dumbledore’s exact words on the subject, they are these:

‘You have no idea of the remorse Professor Snape felt when he realised how Lord Voldemort had interpreted the prophecy, Harry. I believe it to be the greatest regret of his life and the reason that he returned--‘

‘But he’s very good Occlumens, isn’t he, sir?’ said Harry, whose voice was shaking with the effort of keeping it steady. ‘And isn’t Voldemort convinced that Snape’s on his side, even now? Professor … how can you be sure Snape’s on our side?’

Dumbledore did not speak for a moment; he looked as though he was trying to make up his mind about something.” At last he said, ‘I am sure. I trust Severus Snape completely.’

That last comment is troubling. Is Dumbledore unsure, but unwilling to admit he has been wrong? But, he does not link the reason for Snape’s return to his reason for trusting Snape.

My belief is that Lord Voldemort sent Snape to Hogwarts with Draco’s mission. Yes, he got in initially on the “oh-so-sorry-will-reform” line, was acting as a double agent to “prove” himself to the Order, but at some point, he ended up face to face with Dumbledore, reading to carry out his true master’s orders. And he couldn’t, at that time, kill the Headmaster. Just my personal theory.

I guess that I also don’t want to believe that Dumbledore has been wrong all this time about Snape. I don’t want to believe that he’s screwed up so badly.

Now, let’s move on to The Thing Itself. and its aftermath

We’ve already determined that Snape is not exactly acting freely, being bound by the Unbreakable Vow. But this is a very feeble defense. Choice is so important to JKR’s world. I just cannot believe, however much I want to, that such a major plot point would revolve around a character who is “forced” to do something. Because you always have a choice. Even in regards to prophecy. To be sure, that other choice might be death – if Ron is correct, it is.

As soon as Dumbledore is dead, Snape breaks up the party, so to speak. He grabs Draco, start’s shouting “It’s over,” and runs. Why? With Dumbledore dead, the school and the Order will be in confusion. What better time to take out a few more aurors and enemies? There is no question of keeping anyone’s cover any longer – all allegiances are out in the open. Yet Snape could be said to try to limit the damage to Dumbledore’s death.

The Duel with Harry

It is notable that Snape does not fight Harry. He is blocking spells before Harry can even think them, yet he throws none of his own. He could easily send an AK his way, I think. True, his master has reserved that pleasure for himself, but I doubt the Dark Lord would mind terribly if Severus Snape brought him not only Dumbldore’s death but a Stunned or Paralyzed and helpless Harry Potter. Snape even lifts the Crucio that another DE puts on Harry – and not out of the goodness of his heart, I’m sure. It’s as though Snape wants to keep Harry safe as far as he can. ‘No Unforgivable Curses fro you, Potter,’ Snape shouts. While he later qualifies with ‘You haven’t the nerve or the ability,’ the first remark has a schoolmaster’s tone. A warning for Harry that his strength lies in never descending to the Dark Arts?

Here’s a very interesting (and, to us Snape apologists, hopeful) exchange:

’Kill me, then,’ panted Harry, who felt no fear at all, but only rage and contempt. ‘kill me like you killed him, you coward –‘

‘DON’T –‘ screamed Snape, and his face was suddenly demented, inhuman, as though he was in as much pain as the yelping, howling dog stuck in the burning house behind them, ‘— CALL ME COWARD!’

“As though he was in as much pain…” Though Snape disputes the label of “coward” earlier as well, the pain shows up only when Harry confronts him with the murder of Dumbledore. And dehumanizing pain is not what one would expect from an unrepentant, evil, Death Eater. Snape also appears to completely lose it at this point – he finally throws a curse at Harry. Perhaps Snape does realize that he’s a coward – that he should have chosen death by not fulfilling an Unbreakable Vow over killing Dumbledore. That guilt and anger would explain this best piece of evidence for his non-evilness very well. (And isn’t it pathetic that this is the best we’ve got?)

So there you are. But I can’t convince myself completely. Can there really be forgiveness for the man who killed Albus Dumbledore? I fear not.

Nooooooooo!

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