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gmonkey42I don't have HBP with me (because I'm at work, as I am in 99% of my LJ posts) but I was thinking about why Snape left the Death Eaters and why Dumbledore trusts him. We still don't really know. Dumbledore told us (Harry) that Snape felt really bad about the whole being responsible for the Potters' deaths thing. But he'd already left the Death Eaters at that point. According to Dumbledore in, if I'm not mistaken, PS/SS, Snape came to work for the Order while Voldemort was at the height of his power, not after Voldemort and the Potters died. Snape came to Dumbledore admitting that he felt awful about his role in the Potters' death and maybe that helped convince Dumbledore to hire Snape but that's all it did.
In OotP, when Umbridge asks Snape how long he's been a teacher at Hogwarts, he says "14 years," therefore he started teaching either two months before Voldemort and the Potters died or the year after that, depending on how Snape's counting, since it's mid-academic-year when he answers the question, if I remember correctly. So there was a period of at least a few months when Snape was a spy for the Order but not yet a Hogwarts teacher. The feeling bad about the Potters couldn't have been the reason for his changing sides or for Dumbledore trusting him to be a spy. It could have been part of the reason for Dumbledore hiring him.
I always thought that Snape started teaching they year after it all went down and Dumbledore gave him the job to help him and compensate him for his work for the Order, since his former-Death-Eater status could have prevented him from getting other jobs if it was widely known.
It's pretty clear that Alberforth is the proprietor of the Hog's Head. I don't get why it still hasn't been mentioned in the book. It was Alberforth himself who caught Snape eavesdropping on Dumbledore and Trelawney, right? So Dumbledore knew that Snape knew. They probably didn't know that Voldemort knew until someone (Snape, I believe) tipped off the Order so the Potters could go into hiding. That all happened, obviously, before the Potters died. So, assuming Snape was the one who did the tipping-off, we still have no idea why he chose to change sides in the first place or why Dumbledore let him off the hook for what he'd already done.
When the Potters died, it did confirm that Snape had been telling the truth about Voldemort wanting to kill them.
It just struck me reading HBP that we were being told that Snape's regrets over the Potters was a serious piece of evidence and it isn't really. Everything important regarding Snape in that time period had already happened, except maybe his getting hired as a teacher. Harry definitely thought that Dumbeldore trusted Snape as a result of Snape's professed repentance but Dumbledore would've had to trust Snape a few months before that, at minimum.
Tune in for the next post on why a recent "Snape is evil" post was wrong.
First I have to go to the bathroom.
In OotP, when Umbridge asks Snape how long he's been a teacher at Hogwarts, he says "14 years," therefore he started teaching either two months before Voldemort and the Potters died or the year after that, depending on how Snape's counting, since it's mid-academic-year when he answers the question, if I remember correctly. So there was a period of at least a few months when Snape was a spy for the Order but not yet a Hogwarts teacher. The feeling bad about the Potters couldn't have been the reason for his changing sides or for Dumbledore trusting him to be a spy. It could have been part of the reason for Dumbledore hiring him.
I always thought that Snape started teaching they year after it all went down and Dumbledore gave him the job to help him and compensate him for his work for the Order, since his former-Death-Eater status could have prevented him from getting other jobs if it was widely known.
It's pretty clear that Alberforth is the proprietor of the Hog's Head. I don't get why it still hasn't been mentioned in the book. It was Alberforth himself who caught Snape eavesdropping on Dumbledore and Trelawney, right? So Dumbledore knew that Snape knew. They probably didn't know that Voldemort knew until someone (Snape, I believe) tipped off the Order so the Potters could go into hiding. That all happened, obviously, before the Potters died. So, assuming Snape was the one who did the tipping-off, we still have no idea why he chose to change sides in the first place or why Dumbledore let him off the hook for what he'd already done.
When the Potters died, it did confirm that Snape had been telling the truth about Voldemort wanting to kill them.
It just struck me reading HBP that we were being told that Snape's regrets over the Potters was a serious piece of evidence and it isn't really. Everything important regarding Snape in that time period had already happened, except maybe his getting hired as a teacher. Harry definitely thought that Dumbeldore trusted Snape as a result of Snape's professed repentance but Dumbledore would've had to trust Snape a few months before that, at minimum.
Tune in for the next post on why a recent "Snape is evil" post was wrong.
First I have to go to the bathroom.
