Redressing our Injustice to Albus Dumbledore

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

All of us who have blamed Albus for reneging on his promise to Severus to protect Lily in exchange for Severus’s “Anything” must own ourselves to have grossly wronged the man.

He never made any such promise.

Severus begged him, “Hide them all, then….Keep her—them—safe. Please.”

“And what will you give me in return, Severus?”

He never technically agreed to do it, see? Just acknowledged the entreaty and asked for Snape’s best offer.

No, “I will. But what will you give me in return?”

Not even, “If I do, what will you give me in return?”

So he didn’t fail to keep his word.

Any more than he later actually said that he would be protecting The-Boy-Who-Must-Die-At-The-Right-Moment.

“Make sure it [Lily’s death] was not in vain. Help me protect Lily’s son.”

See? Twinkles didn’t actually commit to anything himself. If Snape chose to believe Albus was planning to protect rather than abuse and sacrifice the child, that was Snape’s interpretation.

So all of us who ever criticized Twinkles on the grounds that he’d failed to keep his promises to Severus to protect Lily, and later Harry, can just take it back.

Comments

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

But I doublechecked, and there is one promise which Snape asked him to make to which Twinkles at least SEEMED to assent:

"My word, Severus, that I shall never reveal the best of you? If you insist..."

And Albus did keep THAT promise, now didn't he?? He kept it PERFECTLY. He did everything he could not to reveal the best, or even the good, of Snape.

I feel so embarassed for having dissed Albus before....

Actually, it was really my essay on Snapedom about how Severus goaded Narcissa and Bella into demanding the Unbreakable Vow of him that suddenly made Albus's behavior click. But Severus had deliberately previously portrayed himself to the Black woman as an unreliable, selfish bastard who would give empty reassurances but "slither out of action" (no matter how desperately important the promise) if given any opportunity to do so. He was giving Narcaissa equivocal non-promises deliberately to drive her to enough desperation to demand that Vow.

Albus, conversely, traded on his reputation as an honorable man to cheat his auditor.

Severus exploded in TPT when he found out that Albus had never seriously intended to "protect Lily's son."

I don't think he ever realized that Albus had never actually considered himself bound to protect Lily and her family in exchange for Snape's obedience, body and soul.

When Albus stole that invisibility cloak from James that might have allowed a beseiged family (or at least the wife and child) to escape an attack unharmed, he was able to maintain a crystal-clear conscience regarding Severus's expectations that he protect Lily.....

Aren't we happy his conscience could be clear?

(Oh. You said you weren't. But isn't keeping one's word important? Verifying that Albus had done so should surely redeem him in our eyes!)

[nx74defiant.livejournal.com]

"My word, Severus, that I shall never reveal the best of you? If you insist..."

And Albus did keep THAT promise, now didn't he?? He kept it PERFECTLY. He did everything he could not to reveal the best, or even the good, of Snape.

Albus is willing to promise something he can use to his own benefit. Never reveal the best or the good of Snape - he can use that to make himself look good in the process.

Albus warned Harry about Slughorn. Slughorn offers the Slytherin deal of a quid pro quo. I help you - you help me. With Albus it is you help me and I might help you, if it is convenient for me, or helping you will benefit me.

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's why Albus recruits the sacrificial sorts, who don't demand payback for what they give him.

No wonder he and the Marauders were on uneasy terms--the Order was the only game in town if James and Sirius wanted to play war with the Death Eaters without becoming Aurors and submitting to Ministry training and rules, but really obeying or trusting Albus like the other Order members mostly did---nah. He was a killjoy, and he didn't put them first.