Dumbledore's Man
This wasn’t actually written as a reply to silverhill’s essay, but I suppose it could work as such.

This is about Snape in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It’s chock full of spoilers, so I won’t say anymore above the cut…


Dumbledore’s Man

Severus Snape is, was, and most likely always will be my favourite character in the Harry Potter series. The mysterious tortured soul, the one-time Death Eater who deflected for reasons still unclear, the utter bastard who bullies his students, holds grudges for twenty years, yet fights for the good guys – he is absolutely fascinating. So Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was pretty much book Heaven for me. However, in the days following its release I have been utterly amazed at the outpouring of hatred that has been levelled at Snape. His actions may have been the most seemingly evil we have yet seen from him, but I have never been more convinced of his allegiance to the good side.

What? I hear you all cry. But he murdered Dumbledore! Actually, he killed Dumbledore, but I don’t think he murdered him. Is it really murder if the person you are killing knows beforehand what you are going to do and, in his last moments, asks you – even tells you – to do it?

But I’m getting ahead of myself. The deconstruction of Snape’s actions in this book must start at the almost-beginning. Chapter two of this book, Spinner’s End, is possibly the most interesting scene we have ever had with Snape because, for the very first time, we are seeing him through the eyes of an omniscient third-person narrator rather than the limited third-person narration we usually get, seeing everything through Harry’s eyes. We see Snape’s home – a run-down terraced house in a Muggle neighbourhood in what appears to be an old, likely Northern, industrial town. We see him interact with Bellatrix and Narcissa, the latter of whom believes him to be a loyal Death Eater, the former of whom distrusts him.

When Bellatrix questions him, he gives the sisters very plausible explanations for his apparent allegiance with Dumbledore that gave even this loyal Snape fan pause. However, going through them with a fine tooth-comb, there is nothing that is irreversibly damning, nothing that doesn’t have an equally plausible counter-argument or couldn’t be, quite simply, a lie. The claim he makes to have supplied information that led to Emmeline Vance’s murder is probably the most damning but I find it interesting that this is never mentioned again throughout the whole book. Surely something like that would be perfect fuel for Harry’s fire of Snape-hate, but it’s never even hinted at again.

There is one very important thing in this scene that doesn’t add up. Snape tells the sisters that he took the position of Hogwarts teacher on Voldemort’s orders and that when he went to Dumbledore he “spun him a tale of deepest remorse when [he] joined his staff, fresh from [his] Death Eater days.” Indeed, if we go back to Goblet of Fire and the pensieve scene, when Karkaroff accuses Snape of being a Death Eater, Dumbledore calmly stands up and says, “Severus Snape was indeed a Death Eater. However, he rejoined our side before Lord Voldemort’s downfall and turned spy for us, at great personal risk. He is now no more a Death Eater than I am.”

So was Dumbledore being hoodwinked? I believe not, because of another revelation later on in the book. We find out that Snape was the mysterious Death Eater who overheard the prophecy, but we also find out that he was the mysterious spy who told Dumbledore of Voldemort’s plans. According to Order of the Phoenix, the prophecy was made the year Harry was born and indeed the wording of “will be born as the seventh month dies” suggests it is actually before he is born. Harry was fifteen months old when James and Lily died, so Snape’s information bought the Potters over an extra year of life and possibly would have saved their lives entirely were it not for Peter Pettigrew’s betrayal.

So what? I hear you ask. Well, the question here is why did Snape tell Dumbledore of Voldemort’s plans in the first place? It’s one thing to feign remorse. It’s quite another to give away information that vital. Surely no true double agent would disclose something that would – and indeed did – scupper their master’s plans so royally? Either Snape is actually the worst spy the world has ever seen (which I think we can all agree is not true) or he is lying to Bellatrix and Narcissa.

That one inconsistency casts doubt upon the validity of all his other ‘explanations’ in that scene.

The man described as ‘spidery’ lives in Spinner’s End and he’s spinning his tale.

Now to the infamous Unbreakable Vow. I’ve seen so many people point to this as evidence of Snape’s True Evilness. Why would he have entered into an agreement to kill Dumbledore unless he was really a Death Eater? Well, actually, that’s not what he agrees to.

There are two schools of thought about this scene. First, there is the option that Snape was bluffing and didn’t really know what Draco’s task was, therefore he didn’t really know what he was agreeing to. Certainly he is pretty vague when talking about the mysterious ‘task’ and it could be that he is fishing for information. However, this then throws into question just when Snape discovered the finer details – he certainly seems to know them when he confronts Draco in chapter 15 and Dumbledore seems to be completely aware of the plan from the outset. There is also the issue that Snape would have to be pretty stupid to enter into an Unbreakable Vow without knowing what he was agreeing to. You can say a great many things about Snape, but he is not stupid.

No, I believe that Snape was telling the truth and he knew what Draco’s task was. So why on earth did he enter into the Unbreakable Vow? Well, look again at the scene. When Narcissa first suggests that he could, “do it instead of Draco,” he doesn’t say, “Yes, what a good idea, let’s do that,” rather he skirts around the issue, offering up an evasive, “He intends me to do it in the end, I think.” He then moves swiftly on to offering to “help” Draco, to “protect him,” and to “see he comes to no harm.” That’s a pretty ambiguous promise to make and, in my opinion, saving Draco’s soul and helping him escape from Voldemort and not kill Dumbledore at all would fulfil it quite nicely. That is what Snape agrees to when he enters into the Unbreakable Vow. The first two clauses of the Vow – “Will you, Severus, watch over my son Draco as he attempts to fulfil the Dark Lord’s wishes?” and “And will you, to the best of your ability, protect him from harm?” – Snape agrees to without hesitation. It’s only when Narcissa springs that third clause on him, asking him to perform the task should Draco fail, that we see a hint of doubt. He visibly twitches and hesitates before answering. That isn’t want he wanted, that isn’t what he agreed to. But it’s too late by that point – the spell is in motion and to back out at that moment would give Bellatrix more fuel for her doubts and cast suspicion in Narcissa’s mind. In short, it could blow his cover. He has no choice but to agree.

He agreed to protect Draco but he was inadvertently coerced into performing his task if Draco himself could not do it.

There is a further theory, and a very plausible one, that Dumbledore was in fact dying throughout the whole book due to the effects of the ring horcrux that withered his hand. If this is true, and Snape knew (it was he, after all, who stopped Dumbledore from dying on the spot), then, even though he didn’t intend to enter into a Vow to kill Dumbledore, he would have known that doing so would only speed up the inevitable.

Whichever stance you take, Snape entering into the Vow is not evidence of his allegiance to Voldemort. It is, however, evidence of his willingness to go against Voldemort’s direct orders – hardly the actions of a loyal Death Eater.

Next, we have Snape’s fight with Dumbledore, overheard by Hagrid. This, to me, is extremely compelling evidence for Snape being loyal to the Order. Maybe it’s just me, but if I was acting as a spy for someone and I was having doubts about my role, the person to whom I reported would be the absolute last person I would confess this to. No, what Snape didn’t want to do was to kill Dumbledore, the only man who has ever truly trusted him and believed in him.

If you will allow a slight diversion for a moment, I’d like to go back to the theory that Dumbledore was dying throughout the book anyway, due to the effects of the ring horcrux. Or perhaps, having come so close to death then, he realised it was highly likely the quest for the horcruxes would kill him one way or another. Or perhaps, upon learning about Draco’s task and the Unbreakable Vow, he decided that in the grand scheme of things it would be better for him to die than for a teenager’s innocent soul to be irretrievably broken, for Snape to be exposed and possibly killed, and for Harry to be even more vulnerable. Personally, I prefer the first theory but we won’t know for sure until book 7. But look how much more open and honest Dumbledore is with Harry, how he goes out of his way to impart the knowledge that Harry needs to defeat Voldemort, how urgent he made the quest to obtain Slughorn’s missing memory and thus have the final piece of the puzzle. That is a man who knows he is not long for this world and is tying up as many loose ends as he can. Whether he was physically dying or accepting his inevitable murder we shall have to wait to find out.

There are two moments which I believe encapsulate Dumbledore’s journey throughout this book. First, in chapter four, we have this exchange:

“…I do not think you need worry about being attacked tonight.”

“Why not, sir?”

“You are with me,” said Dumbledore simply.

Fast forward to chapter 26, and we have this:

“We’re nearly there … I can Apparate us both back … don’t worry…”

“I am not worried Harry,” said Dumbledore, his voice a little stronger despite the freezing water. “I am with you.”

It has come full circle. He has done his job, now it’s up to Harry.

But getting back to Snape…

The mere fact that Snape uses an Unforgivable Curse has also been waved as evidence of his evilness. But what do we really know about how this curse works? We know you have to ‘mean it’ and that the power for it must come from a very dark place within a person’s soul. But Bellatrix kills a fox with it in chapter 2. Moody uses all three Unforgivables on spiders. Peter Pettigrew uses Avada Kedavra on Cedric Diggory, a boy he has never met. How much burning hatred could there have been in these situations? Certainly I think one’s soul must have seen a certain amount of darkness, felt a certain amount of hate and rage before these curses can be performed successfully, but Snape is an ex-Death Eater and powerful dark wizard, who was bullied and, it is implied, abused throughout his youth. I’m sure he’s felt enough hatred and anger in his time to perform the Unforgivables. Also, if he is truly loyal to Dumbledore there will inevitably be a great deal of anger and hatred to be found in this moment – anger at Dumbledore for forcing him into this situation, hatred of himself for allowing this to happen.

Now let’s look more closely at the actual killing itself. Harry describes Dumbledore’s voice here as ‘pleading’ and many fans have taken that to mean that he was pleading for his life, pleading for mercy from Snape. Now I’m sorry, but Albus Dumbledore, beg for his life? Albus Dumbledore, the greatest living wizard, a man who has described death as “but the next great adventure” and fearlessly faced it countless times like the true Gryffindor he is, beg for his life? No way. Not to mention that this first moment of pleading comes before Snape has pulled out his wand and levelled it at Dumbledore. At this point in time, Dumbledore has no reason to believe Snape is there to fight for the Death Eaters. No, he is pleading for something else entirely.

There is an eerie similarity between Dumbledore’s pleas to Snape and the orders we have just seen him give to Harry. He forces Harry to agree to things that Harry hates doing – forcing him to drink that awful potion, for example – but Harry obeys because Dumbledore inspires that kind of loyalty. His pleas to Snape are a reminder of the promise Snape made, however difficult it may be for him to perform. And Snape obeys. Loyal to the end.

Harry describes Snape as having a look of “hatred and revulsion etched in the harsh lines of his face,” but Rowling is very careful not to say that this look is specifically directed at Dumbledore. Why? Because it’s not. Hatred at what Dumbledore is making him do, yes. Repulsion at the actions he must take, yes. But he doesn’t hate Dumbledore.

Compare this scene to the scene in Prisoner of Azkaban when he corners Sirius. In the latter scene he is triumphant, gloating and taunting Sirius, revelling in his victory. When he kills Dumbledore there is no triumphant glint in his eye, no vicious parting shot about what a fool Dumbledore was to have trusted him. He just says the words, grabs Draco and runs. He doesn't even gloat when Harry catches up to him. Let’s be honest – Snape is petty. He is a petty, nasty person. If he was truly the Death Eater who had just managed to kill the great Albus Dumbledore, having fooled him for seventeen years, he would take a moment to glorify in that. Instead he retains his cool, deflecting Harry’s curses with ease and refusing to parry with curses of his own. He even stops another Death Eater from performing Cruciatus on Harry, claiming that they must leave him for Voldemort. That’s a pretty flimsy excuse if you ask me. If Snape was a real Death Eater I'm sure he wouldn't have minded them throwing a quick bout of Cruciatus Harry's way, so long as they didn't leave any permanent damage.

The only real reaction we get out of him is when Harry calls him a coward. He positively explodes with anger:

"Kill me then," panted Harry, who felt no fear at all, but only rage an 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!"

Thirteen Ravens, in the PRESTO thread at FAP, caught the comparison to Fang here and had this to say:

…he is suddenly as helpless as [Fang], as frightened as him. He is suddenly a howling dog who desperately needs its owner, but has lost him. And dogs are fabled for their loyalty. Whatever people will say about Snape before book seven gives us the answers, I think it hurt Snape very, very much indeed to have to kill Dumbledore.

And with it goes his job, his reputation, his security, his allies in the Professors. Snape is now most definitely "stuck in a burning house."

Snape is a proud man, we have seen this over and over again throughout the books. He is no coward. He has just done the hardest, most painful thing he's ever had to do. He's killed the only man who's ever trusted him for the greater good, something I doubt Lupin or McGonagall or any of the other Order members would have the strength to do.

He made the choice between what was right and what was easy. He just had to summon every ounce of strength and courage he's ever had to do what he had to do – to kill the only man who has ever truly believed in him and trusted him. He is not a coward.

He is Dumbledore’s man, through and through.