Snape's original defection, a question
Oct. 21st, 2013 09:07 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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deathtocapslockSomething I think canon is silent on--I'd like opinions, informed or otherwise.
When we saw Albus send a white-faced Severus to Tom's side at the end of GoF with that "if you are prepared" comment, it was as a double-triple-quadruple-(to the nth) agent. Snape's life then balanced on his persuading a paranoid and enraged Dark Lord that he was really still loyal (or loyal again) to the Death Eater cause, but that Albus falsely believed Snape to have turned his loyalty irrevocably to him, and to now be only pretending to be a Death Eater in order to spy for Albus.
A very perilous position, particularly when both masters are expert Legilimens and know the other to be the same. The more one master trusts Snape, the less the other ought to, eh?
What does he see in your mind that I do not? What do you show him, and hide from me?
So--was this fiendishly difficult and demanding position the same as the one Severus was placed in when he originally obtained a place at Dumbledore's right hand as a supposedly repentant DE?
Or was the original assignment a little less complicated: that Severus was to approach Dumbledore as a remorseful Death Eater begging him for sanctuary at Hogwarts, the only stronghold still firm against Voldemort? In exchange for a pre-agreed--with the Dark Lord--flood of information on the Death Eaters?
And then stay there as a sleeper until Tom activated him?
If Tom had ordered Severus to do nothing but cement Dumbledore's trust until he explicitly told him otherwise, if Severus didn't regularly have to face Tom's interrogations and report satisfactorily on Dumbledore's doings, his position (both then and in GoF) was, while precarious, not as immediately lethal as we had thought.
Opinions?
When we saw Albus send a white-faced Severus to Tom's side at the end of GoF with that "if you are prepared" comment, it was as a double-triple-quadruple-(to the nth) agent. Snape's life then balanced on his persuading a paranoid and enraged Dark Lord that he was really still loyal (or loyal again) to the Death Eater cause, but that Albus falsely believed Snape to have turned his loyalty irrevocably to him, and to now be only pretending to be a Death Eater in order to spy for Albus.
A very perilous position, particularly when both masters are expert Legilimens and know the other to be the same. The more one master trusts Snape, the less the other ought to, eh?
What does he see in your mind that I do not? What do you show him, and hide from me?
So--was this fiendishly difficult and demanding position the same as the one Severus was placed in when he originally obtained a place at Dumbledore's right hand as a supposedly repentant DE?
Or was the original assignment a little less complicated: that Severus was to approach Dumbledore as a remorseful Death Eater begging him for sanctuary at Hogwarts, the only stronghold still firm against Voldemort? In exchange for a pre-agreed--with the Dark Lord--flood of information on the Death Eaters?
And then stay there as a sleeper until Tom activated him?
If Tom had ordered Severus to do nothing but cement Dumbledore's trust until he explicitly told him otherwise, if Severus didn't regularly have to face Tom's interrogations and report satisfactorily on Dumbledore's doings, his position (both then and in GoF) was, while precarious, not as immediately lethal as we had thought.
Opinions?
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Date: 2013-10-28 06:01 am (UTC)The letter mentions Peter hanging around quite a bit, but nothing about his gift to Harry for his birthday. Therefore, I don't see why Remus' gift to Harry would need mentioning either. I see the mention of Peter's presence as more of an indication that it's something unusual or out of the norm, and meant as JKRs hint of his spying on the Potters' 'movements', rather than the lack of mention about Remus indicating he wasn't allowed over because of suspicion.
Why would Lily need to tell Sirius that Peter is over all the time IF Sirius was around to see that? I had the impression from all this that she hadn't seen Sirius since before the McKinnons died. Probably not since the Order Photo.
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Date: 2013-10-28 06:48 am (UTC)It is likely that the Potters used the cloak to attend the meeting where the photo was taken (my guess is it was the celebration of Albus' 100th birthday - had to be something significant for it to be the only time Moody ever met Aberforth until the time Moody showed the photo to Harry; possibly their next meeting was at Albus' funeral). That would have been when Albus noticed it (again) and asked James to borrow it. If so then the Potters hadn't been out of their home at all in some 3-4 weeks, enough to give anyone cabin fever.
Sirius must have already heard about the loaning of the cloak - Lily doesn't describe that, only that Dumbles 'still' has it. All we can know for certain about when they last saw Sirius is that it was before the previous weekend, the day of Peter's visit. Probably not a whole lot earlier than that or there'd have been mention of more than a single visit by Peter.
I agree Sirius hadn't been there since the McKinnons died. I am inclined to think his last visit was some 2 weeks before the letter was sent.