thinking about wizard debts

[gmonkey42]

I was reading a fic and it mentioned in passing Snape's debt to James. The Life Debt can't actually be magic, right? Or else Snape would've suffered the consequences (death?) when he failed to save James from Voldemort. It has to be a code-of-honor thing. That's what Dumbledore made it sound like when he told Harry about it first year. He told Harry that Snape thought he could pay off the debt by protecting Harry. Surely if it's magically binding like the Unbreakable Vow then Snape couldn't just decide he could get out of it by preventing a student from getting murdered, which is sort of his job anyway. There's no Magical Life Debt, Snape just feels bad about having had a hand in James and Lily's deaths.

That unfortunately doesn't prove anything about whose side Snape is on. But I think it points in the direction of him being on the Order's side. Otherwise he wouldn't have felt bad about it at all, he would've thought James and especially Lily deserved to die. Assuming Dumbledore is right and Snape does feel bad about it. In any case, I think we can rule out Snape protecting Harry solely because of a Wizard's Debt. I still maintain that Snape could easily have let Harry fall (during the Quidditch game) if he'd wanted to. He wasn't the only teacher present; it would've been ridiculous for anyone to blame him for doing nothing just like Hooch, McGonagall and Quirrel (as far as they knew) did nothing.

In conclusion, Snape's not evil.