COS Chapter Twelve: "The Polyjuice Potion"

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

* Sincere apologies for the lack of postage over the past few weeks; suffice to say that, whilst I’d be happy to log on regularly, RL seems to have other ideas.

 

* Slytherin are so evil that even the thought of being there is enough to make Harry feel sick. These books are such a good argument for tolerance, don’t you think?

* “Harry was just thinking that all he needed was for Dumbledore’s pet bird to die while he was alone in the office with it” just makes him sound so self-centred. Never mind about the dead bird, or Dumbledore losing his beloved pet, I might get in trouble for it! Even though I’d have no motive in killing it and it was pretty obviously sick before I came in.

* Fawkes is usually very pretty, just in case we were worrying that Harry might end up having his life saved by something ugly.

* Given what we now know about Dumbledore’s views on personal loyalty, the emphasis on the word “faithful” looks rather sinister.

* Any guesses on why exactly Hagrid needs to carry the rooster around with him in the castle?

* That’s right, Harry, don’t tell DD about that mysterious voice you heard! Heaven forbid that you might actually help him solve the mystery before anybody is seriously hurt.

* I think it’s rather sweet that Crabbe and Goyle are staying behind with Malfoy. They really do seem to care about each other. (Well, until the abomination that is DH, that is.)

* Harry’s glad that most people are leaving, despite the fact that this’ll narrow down the potential list of suspects and make it more likely that they’ll be caught.

* “[Harry] was tired of people skirting around him in the corridors, as though he were about to sprout fangs or spit poison; tired of all the muttering, pointing and hissing as he passed.” I wonder if that’s what the Slytherins feel like all the time?

* I have to admit, F&G’s heir of Slytherin routine is pretty amusing. But since it’s so different to their usual brand of “humour”, I think I can like it without feeling too guilty.

* I wonder why Fred, George and Ginny have decided to stay? Is it because the fine Mr. Weasley had to pay means they can’t afford to take them, and they’re too proud to admit the real reason?

* I’m sure that the teachers of Hogwarts appreciate Percy staying behind to help them, even if Harry doesn’t.

*How rude of the Dursleys to send him a toothpick like that, especially when Harry gave them an expensive luxury hamper bursting to the brim with Honeyduke’s finest chocolate. Or nothing. I forget which.

* BTW, it seems odd to go to all the trouble of sending Harry such a silly little present. Unless DD sent Hedwig to keep bothering them until they sent something…

* Ron gives Harry a book about Ron’s favourite Quidditch team, rather than something Harry would be expected to be interested in.

* I hope Mrs. Weasley gave her real children presents which were at least as good as the ones she gave Harry.

* F&G have bewitched Percy’s Prefect Badge to make it say “Pinhead”. Oh, the hilarity!

* Crabbe and Goyle eat four helpings of pudding. Harry and Ron, who aren’t greedy pigs, limit themselves to three.

* Hermione’s telling the Slytherins that Millicent Bulstrode came back would backfire spectacularly once they realised that Millicent had not in fact returned, and that they had, therefore, been tricked.

* It’s a shame that nobody’s written a HP/Hercule Poirot crossover fic, in which Poirot investigates the Polyjuice incident. He’d probably solve the mystery within half an hour, and then work out who’s petrifying all those students for good measure.

* Ron and Hermione are prepared to knock out two of Draco’s friends based on extremely flimsy evidence. Remember this is HBP, when they refuse to believe that Draco’s up to something, despite having much better evidence than they do here.

* At least Harry and Ron didn’t strip Crabbe and Goyle. Be grateful for small mercies, I suppose.

* Millicent Bulstrode is “no pixie”, apparently, which seems like a polite way of saying “fat”. Outside of fandom, are there any pretty Slytherin girls, or are they all fat and ugly?

* You’d have thought it wouldn’t have been beyond the Trio to change into their new clothes before taking the Polyjuice Potion.

* Ever since reading Draco Dormiens, I’ve always imagined Harry surreptitiously checking to see whether Goyle is bigger than he is.

* And now they’ve got to find the Slytherin common room. Gee, guys, would it have been impossible to find that out before you took the Potion? Even if you don’t arouse suspicion by not knowing where it is, you’ll waste valuable time trying to find it.

* All this makes Ron’s quip about Goyle being dumb look rather silly.

* I don’t know why, but I’ve always thought that this Ravenclaw girl was Penelope Clearwater. Perhaps she’s just been meeting Percy in one of the disused dungeons.

* Whoever she is, her reply to Harry and Ron is rather rude. Is that what the Slytherins are treated like all the time? It’s a shame Harry and Ron never consider this, and maybe get a bit of sympathy for the Slytherins.

* The Slytherin password is “Pureblood”, just to remind us that they’re all racists, and, therefore, evil. Never mind that Slytherin’s most famous alumni, Tom Riddle and Severus Snape, were both halfbloods, and in Tom’s case, there was no way to know whether he was a muggleborn, pureblood or half-blood.

* The Slytherin common-room doesn’t look particularly luxurious, which seems odd for a supposed bastion of aristocratic privilege. Perhaps it’s like that to try and inculcate some humility into the children, like the fag system in old British public schools.

* I think it’s rather sweet of Mr. Malfoy to send his son newspaper clippings like that. “Here, Draco, let’s both laugh together at these guys!” I still think it odd that such an evil bully as Draco apparently is wouldn’t make greater use of it to humiliate Ron. Maybe he’s not so bad after all.

* Mrs. Weasley has threatened to set the family ghoul on reporters, apparently not realising that that sort of action is extremely bad publicity.

* Draco’s theory about DD hushing up the attacks is probably correct; at any rate, nobody seems to refer to them much in later books.

* Do racists normally go on about how much they hate [insert ethnicity here] as much as Draco’s doing in this scene? It just comes across as really false and over-the-top, at least to me. Perhaps he’s twigged that there’s something wrong with “Crabbe” and “Goyle”, and is deliberately acting oddly in order to see if they notice.

* Draco wishes that Hermione would get killed by the monster. Knowing what she’s going to become in later books, I can’t help but wonder whether that might not be for the best after all.

* For all Harry and Ron’s jokes about C&G being thick, they seem to be arousing Draco’s suspicions by being slower on the uptake.

* Harry and Ron are “hoping against hope that Malfoy hadn’t noticed anything.” I wouldn’t count on it, guys; he seems like a good Potions student, so he probably remembers what Snape said about the Polyjuice Potion; Harry and Ron were the least convincing Crabbe and Goyle imaginable; a boy who can notice Harry’s foot slipping out of the invisibility cloak for a split second would almost certainly notice his best friends changing into somebody else before his eyes; and the real Crabbe and Goyle would tell him that they weren’t there. He probably knows what happened, and feels really annoyed that DD doesn’t do anything about it.

* What’s the point of Cat!Hermione? It doesn’t advance the plot, it doesn’t contribute to characterisation, and it doesn’t add to the atmosphere of the story. Perhaps it’s to stop people questioning her plan by making them feel sorry for her.

* “Madam Pomfrey never asks too many questions…” Given what goes on in Hogwarts, maybe it’s time she started.

 

Comments

[seductivedark.livejournal.com]

It seemed, though, that he was saying this is how it seemed to him and that, if Snape had a different idea, his soul might well be ripped. I don't have the book in front of me (I'm avoiding that, actually) but I think he said something about whether it was murder or easing an old man in pain.

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

He says that "only you" (i.e. Severus) would know if it would harm his soul.

Meaning one or both of two things:

1) Snape's own view of the morality of euthanasia would determine if it was morally/spiritually harmful to him to do - and it's pretty clear that Snape views it as morally wrong, so asking him to go ahead with it *is* asking him to harm his soul

2) only Snape would be in a position to know whether or not it does harm him, *after the fact* (meaning, try it and see, only you can tell what it does to you - and if your soul is ripped, oh well).

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

and it's pretty clear that Snape views it as morally wrong

Depends how you read it - Snape may react badly when he's first asked to do it (especially just after using all his skills to save Dumbledore's life), but I think given time he'd accept it as a necessary ending of pain. I've never read Severus as someone who'd be opposed to euthanasia in general, and I think it's just the circumstances here that are putting him off.

only Snape would be in a position to know whether or not it does harm him, *after the fact* (meaning, try it and see, only you can tell what it does to you - and if your soul is ripped, oh well).

That's the problem with every killing of a sapient being in this metaphysic, though. But one could argue that since it' a) euthanasia, and b) self-defence from the Unbreakable Vow (a vow he swore to protect Draco's life, no less), soul-splitting could well be a very unlikely outcome. (This is why magical theory would have been very helpful).

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

The matter of his soul aside- and it's a HUGE THING, considering the series is based around a villain who only exists now 'coz his soul was torn apart (still don't get how a mere peaceful AK rates soul-ripping, and only by Voldy, whereas everyone else in the series who ever kills anyone has a perfectly intact soul- Bellatrix, as far as we know, hasn't left any soul bits lying around, despite her death count)- what I hate is how cold and callous Dumbles was about Snape's future. He pretty much ensures he'll die by getting him to kill him, thus making him the Master of the Elder Wand and the one who Voldy will come after* and then even if he did survive somehow, nobody would believe his account, they'd just throw him in Azkaban or he'd have to go on the run. So Dumbles just screwed him over big-time with absolutely no regret. *stabs*

*although hang on, did he plan for Draco to disarm him, then? Because if he hadn't and Snape truly was the Master, then Voldy would've been the true Master and defeated Harry, right? So then his whole plan would've failed! And how did Harry and/or Dumbles know that Draco hadn't been disarmed since that night on the tower? What if Voldy had asked for his wand instead of Lucius'? What if Bella had been teaching him a lesson and taken his wand? Or anyone else disarmed him for any reason? Harry'd've marched to his real death and the hope of the WW would've died with him- and they'd finally have to get off their asses and save themselves!)

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

I can't believe that DD would have planned for Draco to disarm him, since that would at least suggest the possibility of *Draco* gaining mastery - which he didn't want. And he couldn't have foreseen Harry's grabbing Draco's wand.

So yeah, DD was incredibly stupid in planning for Severus to have mastery! ESPECIALLY since he didn't warn Severus about it, which would have let him take precautions to try and ensure that Voldie never got it. *headdesk* Can JKR not THINK at ALL?

Really, though, the whole thing comes off like a piece of shoddy BS, IMO, and an excuse for Harry to get to play Christ without actually having to live up to the moral standards that role necessitates. Have I ranted yet about how the villain's taunts about the hero surviving based on luck and people doing things for him should NOT actually ring true?

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

I am just so confused about what happened there. 'coz yeah, if the thing with Draco wasn't planned, then it all falls apart. And even if it was planned, it still falls apart in a different way. O.o

I'm trying to puzzle this out...

Did Dumbles really want to get rid of the Elder Wand, therefore conspiring with the would-be 'new' Master over his death which would mean mastery passed to no-one? But then how did he expect Harry to defeat Voldy? Because if it weren't for the shoddy, badly-written inexplicable twist of him being the Master (which makes ZERO SENSE, OMGWTF), he would never have beaten Voldy.

Did he want it to pass to Snape? What good would that do? He drummed it into their heads that it had to be HARRY who defeated Voldy, nobody else could do it (similar to Voldy instructing the DEs that it had to be HIM that took down Harry), so what's the point of Snape having it? Because what happened in the book is what would've been reasonably expected to have happened, so all Dumbles accomplishes is getting Snape killed and Voldy with the mastery. Which doesn't do his side any good at all. (Which is why I thought the thing with Draco was part of his plan)

One theory I read in a fanfic was that Dumbles wanted Harry to be so enraged that he would kill Snape and gain mastery from him (and the trigger would have to be something huge, for instance, Snape killing Dumbles)- because of course, Harry would never kill Dumbledore. (too bad he didn't die from the poison Harry force-fed him, that'd've made it so much simpler, no need to involve Snape at all) And this would prepare him for killing Voldy.

Have I ranted yet about how the villain's taunts about the hero surviving based on luck and people doing things for him should NOT actually ring true?

Yes, and I, for one, will never stop ranting about that!

PS. he couldn't have foreseen Harry's grabbing Draco's wand.

Well, how did he foresee Ron storming off and being unable to find Harry and Hermione? Because that's why he left him his Deluminator, so he could somehow find his way back- but how did he know? This is how theories like 'Dumbledore is future!on' come about...

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

I flatly don't buy omniscient!Dumbles wrt the Deluminator. It just...no. Doesn't actually match up with anything. Possibly he could have foreseen that *maybe* Ron would behave in a similar way at some point as he did during the Triwizard Tournament, and so gave him the thing as a just-in-case - but actually foreseeing the event exactly as it happened? No.

Not that the Deluminator working that way makes all that much sense. It sort of seems to me to be JKR trying to think of something to give newly lobotomised Ron, noticing this underused gadget from PS/SS, and trying to do a Tolkienian 'may it be a light for you in dark places' bit but not really doing it well.

RE Draco's wand: he explicitly tells Harry in Kings Cross that he meant for Severus to have the wand, so at the very least he *wasn't* thinking of the possibility of Harry grabbing Draco's wand, even if he theoretically could have. I really don't know *why* he wanted Snape to have it, other than the cynical reading that it was a way of getting rid of Snape. I can't find an explanation that works. Even the theory that Harry was supposed to kill Snape doesn't do it for me, because Snape was supposed to be the one to tell Harry about the Horcrux and his need to commit suicide-by-Voldie! Which would be rather difficult in the midst of getting killed. It's hard enough for Severus as it is, since Snape's killing DD is itself going to make it very hard for Severus to get Harry to listen to him, much less trust him enough to go die on his say-so (WTF were you thinking, DD?)

Really, I think JKR did not think at all, she just threw in whatever came to her on the spur of the moment, without thinking it through, and the book was not edited at all. I cannot believe that the book ever saw any level of editing other than spelling-error level proofreading, given the notorious Hermione flint over memory charms, among many many other things.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Supposedly the plan was for Twinkles to die undefeated, thus leaving the Elder Wand with no master for ever, but with Severus as the believed master, if Voldemort ever found out.

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

I stand by my belief that without the deus ex machina plot twist with the Elder Wand, there's no way Harry could've beaten Voldy. Seeker reflexes or not, he'd maybe dodge AKs, but I can't see how he'd possibly actually kill him in a fair fight.

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

*although hang on, did he plan for Draco to disarm him, then? Because if he hadn't and Snape truly was the Master, then Voldy would've been the true Master and defeated Harry, right? So then his whole plan would've failed! And how did Harry and/or Dumbles know that Draco hadn't been disarmed since that night on the tower? What if Voldy had asked for his wand instead of Lucius'? What if Bella had been teaching him a lesson and taken his wand? Or anyone else disarmed him for any reason? Harry'd've marched to his real death and the hope of the WW would've died with him- and they'd finally have to get off their asses and save themselves!)

On the whole Severus ending up with mastery of the elder wand. I really don't totally understand it because the story seems to conflict itself in a way.

On one hand JKR is having Dumbledore and Snape make this elaborate plan. Supposedly because they had the plan, Snape killing Dumbledore is not supposed to make him the master of the wand, because it was a planned death/defeat.

So even if Severus had disarmed Dumbledore the idea was that since it was 'the plan' - Dumbledore would not have really been defeated, thus Severus would not have been the master of the wand.

YET, in the kings cross chapter, Harry says to DD, "If you planned your death with Snape, you meant him to end up with the Elder Wand, didn't you?"

DD's reply, 'I admit that was my intention,'

But later Harry argues to Voldemort that Snape never beat Dumbledore, etc. That it was the plan that Dumbledore would die as master of the wand.

Now, the thing that makes me conflicted is, What was Severus going to do with a wand that didn't work? and did HE, Severus know about the Elder Wand?

Severus does not seem to be the one who told Voldemort about the wand, Voldie got that info from Olivander if my memory serves me right; someone can remind me if it's different but thats how I thought Voldie got his info about the wand and then he started hunting for it.

I don't think Dumbledore would have told Severus about the elder wand because if Voldie knew right away that Dumbledore had it he would have went straight away to the tomb to take it I would think. So there was really no need to tell Severus since Dumbledore seems to have put Severus on a 'need to know' scheduel.

And I'm probably confusing myself and it is probably simpler than I am making it - but to me it almost reads like Dumbledore set up Severus - especially when he's saying he meant Severus to end up with the wand but then we get the secondary idea that because Dumbledore planned his death with Severus it meant that the mastery would die with him.

So if Dumbledore had the idea or knew Voldemort was going to go after the wand, doesn't that sound a little like Severus was going to be setup reguardless of whatever happened with Harry/Voldie.

However it doesn't seem like Severus knew enough about it, WE don't get a scene in DH prince's tale that suggests Severus knew anything about the wand. And since Dumbledore wouldn't tell Severus anything about Horcuxes connections to Harry I doubt if he imparted info about the wand to Severus.

Maybe someone has better thoughts than I do on it but it just seems to almost conflict itself in some way with what Dumbledores real intentions were.

Maybe for the greater good Dumbledore (or JKR) decided that setting up Severus was a good idea - to get him out of the way so once Voldemort was defeated and Severus was also dead, Harry could go on an have the perfect life and never have to deal with any of the people that ruined his life. The pefect happy ever after for the perfect hero, etc.

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

You are far from being the first to conclude that DD set Snape up to die. Not sure why, but yeah, it looks that way.

And Snape's reaction to Voldie's questions in the Shack indicate he had no bloody clue what Voldie was going on about - and thus that DD did NOT warn him about the wand.

Figure out a reason for DD to want Snape to die that holds up (and sadly you come pretty close with your theory about Harry's future life), and it all resolves itself into a not very nice, but consistent, pattern.

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

Figure out a reason for DD to want Snape to die that holds up (and sadly you come pretty close with your theory about Harry's future life), and it all resolves itself into a not very nice, but consistent, pattern.

Nah, Harry having the perfect life is too altruistic a reason. Another reason: Severus could have told people that Dumbledore intended for the Chosen One to die all along. Most of Dumbledore's followers might be relied upon not to say any anything. I think it'd be a lot harder to be sure that Severus would keep that a secret, or put a positive spin on it if he did mention it.

I can't remember, but did Harry tell everyone/anyone that Dumbledore planned for him to die, in the book?

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

There wasn't much time for Harry to tell anyone, he was too busy having his slave get him a sandwich. (Short answer: no, he didn't.)

With Snape, I assume you must mean after he delivered his message to Harry? Because he could have told anyone before that - DD knew it wouldn't happen right away. In fact, I want to write a fic where Snape decides not to follow DD's BS plans and tells Poppy and a few others about it, and sets up an alternate way of disposing of the Horcrux issue.

Doyalist explanation: JKR didn't think. (Again. Sigh.)
Watsonian explanation: Dumbles didn't trust Snape with the knowledge of his potential Elder Wand mastery, and simply didn't care that not telling him might get him killed.

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

You are far from being the first to conclude that DD set Snape up to die. Not sure why, but yeah, it looks that way.

Well I've been lost at sea in the mindfield of HP online discussion for a while. I've just become a member in deathtocapslock in the past couple of months, - the comments/opinion/thoughts I've posted on here tends to get me accused of being the kind of person who doesn't let other people have their opinions on other groups.

[condwiramurs.livejournal.com]

No, I know what you mean - it's like, you figure something out and post it, then read and realize it's been said already and go *headdesk.* But it's fine - I just meant that you aren't alone in reading the text that way, is all. :)

And yeah, some other groups can get rather...narrowminded maybe is the best word.

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

whereas everyone else in the series who ever kills anyone has a perfectly intact soul- Bellatrix, as far as we know, hasn't left any soul bits lying around, despite her death count

Assuming Slughorn's right, the soul is split by committing murder, but it's making a Horcrux that takes the soul fragment out of the murderer. There is, however, no explanation given about what it means to have a split soul but all the pieces still in one place and not destroyed, so for purposes they may as well have an intact soul.

although hang on, did he plan for Draco to disarm him, then? Because if he hadn't and Snape truly was the Master, then Voldy would've been the true Master and defeated Harry, right? So then his whole plan would've failed! And how did Harry and/or Dumbles know that Draco hadn't been disarmed since that night on the tower? What if Voldy had asked for his wand instead of Lucius'? What if Bella had been teaching him a lesson and taken his wand? Or anyone else disarmed him for any reason?

Yeah. Dumbledore's plan makes no sense whatsoever.

[oryx_leucoryx]

If you are interested, I'd love your critique of my attempts to put together Twinkly's plan here.

(The invitation applies to anyone here who is reading.)

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

JKR bit off more than she can chew. She tried to make all these insighgtful comments on deep weighty matters and failed utterly. How is it that killing someone splits certain people's souls but not others? If one interpretation of Dumbles' comment was true and his implication was that euthanasia isn't going to split one's soul...how does that work? Is the soul some sort of self-aware all-knowing entity that can judge for itself whether it should be split? Wtf? But you're right, short of making use of that split soul by making a horcrux, we don't know what it means to have an intact yet split soul, so...argh! What?

(now I'm pondering this crack theory that Snape made a Horcrux when he killed Dumbles and returns to life and somehow puts his soul back together- yeah, he stitches it up, okay, 'coz if we can somehow give something that's intangible and spiritual a PHYSICAL CORPOREAL container, then surely it can be put back in place, right, and then he goes on to lead a much happier and fulfilling life with nobody to serve anymore *nodnod*)

Dumbledore's plan makes no sense whatsoever

If I could stand the wank, I'd go ask a pro-Jo fan to explain it to me, but I couldn't take the headache.

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

If one interpretation of Dumbles' comment was true and his implication was that euthanasia isn't going to split one's soul...how does that work? Is the soul some sort of self-aware all-knowing entity that can judge for itself whether it should be split?

JKR's Christian - I suspect she's assuming the existence of God in the Potterverse and not making it explicit. But without assuming the existence of deities, it's possible that it might be a similar piece of magic to the love sacrifice and whatever protective magic was invoked by the Dursleys taking Harry in - maybe removing someone's soul from this world against their will creates some sort of sympathetic resonance in the killer's soul, though this implies killing someone in combat, self-defence, or by accident would also split a soul (maybe it does but no one knows about it except the Darkest wizards and witches who've researched this but not been able to get mainstream publication of their results). But if no one can tell if the soul is split, how did people figure out they could mke Horcruxes in the first place? Aargh!

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

But then Harry's soul is split. Didn't he cause Quirrel's death in first year by using Lily's ~speshul maternal love~ to kill him? Can't quite recall...also, people pointed out things like stunning DEs who presumably fell off their brooms and splatted on the ground, etc. And Molly's soul for sure would be split.

Yeah, I guess it must be left up to a divine judgment, because otherwise characters JKR loves would have split souls, the horror!

[karentheunicorn.livejournal.com]

Is the soul some sort of self-aware all-knowing entity that can judge for itself whether it should be split?

If that is true then everyone is right and nobody is wrong.

Voldemort or Bellatrix could choose to believe/decide that what they were doing was not evil and was actually good. Therefor there soul should not be split/damaged/hurt because they are actually the good guys.

Thats why I question Dumbledore's comment about Snape is going to know if it damanges his soul or not. IF it's up to Snape to decided what is good and evil then it's up to everyone else as well.

And Voldemort and Bellatrix are what I would consider 'crazy people', delusional. So there version of what they believe should be just as valid as anyone elses if it's up to each person to determine if what we do is good or evil. In fact Voldemort and Bellatrix do believe what they are doing is right for them so technically they should not go to hell and are not evil in their own mind. Perhaps they are choosing to decide they are evil because the morality of everyone else told them they were evil.

Not unlike how James determines that Snape is evil for existing. Really, with a comment like that (Because you exist you deserve abuse) I do have to question JKR on exactly where the good guys moral compass is hidden.

Using another example of I think it therefor I am. Shouldn't Snape have automatically had a portrait appear in Hogwarts if it's up to him if he's good or evil?

Something else determined that he wasn't good enough to get a portrait. I know JKR did that on purpose but in canon, storywise we have to figure out both it's up to the person to decide but also there is something else controling things that decide.

And this is just a portrait we're talking about - the act of ending someone's life has to be vastly more powerful and important than that, right?

I don't know if what I'm saying is making sense and I'm not sure if I'm explaining what I'm thinking correctly.

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

(now I'm pondering this crack theory that Snape made a Horcrux when he killed Dumbles and returns to life and somehow puts his soul back together

Hey, it's as good as most other "Snape Survived" theories, and if you can offer a viable object to which Snape attached his soulbit, I just might buy the theory myself! LOL

yeah, he stitches it up, okay

He earned a badge in Fabric Arts when he was in Wizard Scouts as a boy... ;-)

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

*although hang on, did he plan for Draco to disarm him, then?

I don't think Draco figured into his plan at all; I think DD knew how powerful a wizard Snape was (my feeling is that Snape was as powerful as both DD and Voldy, but perhaps did not realize it himself), and figured Snape was the best choice to inherit the Elder Wand, especially if it came down to a duel between Snape and Voldemort.

Might have just worked, too -- *if* the bastard had bothered to TELL Snape about the Elder Wand! :-o

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

The problem I have with that is Dumbles always wanted and groomed Harry to be the Chosen One. Snape defeating Voldy never entered into his plans. He had the sacrificial lamb, he laid the groundwork by acting as his PR agent by spreading the whole Boy-Who-Lived tale, and I honestly don't think he'd considered Snape becoming Master in order to defeat Voldy. Even though he'd be a FAR BETTER CHOICE than some lame prophecy boy who never bothered to learn anything or hone his skills to accomplish what everyone expected of him! Heck, ANY of the adults in the series would be in a better position to take down the Dark Lord than Harry. Ugh. *broods*

[majorjune.livejournal.com]

The problem I have with that is Dumbles always wanted and groomed Harry to be the Chosen One. Snape defeating Voldy never entered into his plans.

I agree that Harry was Dumbles sole Chosen One...UNTIL Book 6.

DD always thought that he'd live to see Harry die for the cause, but the cursed ring changed things. DD knew he was going to die before the final showdown between Harry and Voldy, and there was no way that he could have known for certain that Harry would even survive to a final showdown, or survive the showdown itself.

So Snape became his fallback plan; except he neglected to TELL Snape! :-/