For Harry...

It's a sad and happy time for me. The last Harry Potter book is coming out this Saturday, and I can't wait to find out what happens next. But Dumbledore is dead and I'm not sure I can handle a Harry Potter book without him. At the end of the last book I was depressed for days...I actually felt like someone I knew and loved had died. And it didn't get easier with subsequent readings, either. I've decided not to read it again before Saturday because I'm not sure I can handle the sadness one more time. I'm also terrified that Harry is going to die. But, since the series must come to an end, I'm preparing myself for Book 7. I started reading the books during the summer of the year 2000. I haven't kept count but I know I've read each book at least 3 times. I love these books (as I'm sure everybody else does). To get us all ready for the last book of the epic series, I thought I'd post Delos's "Snape Hypothesis" about the Half Blood Prince (written Tuesday August 2, 2005) to remind you of what he thinks is going to happen.

My reasons why Snape is probably going to be the hero of the whole series!!!:

1. Throughout Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore has unqualified confidence in Snape. This is true even at the end (p. 588). That means a great deal and should be remembered for our whole interpretation of everything else we read.
   
2. The Unbreakable Vow to Malfoy actually demonstrates Snape's utter commitment to Dumbledore and the Order. As we later learn, the Unbreakable Vow is not really unbreakable; the vower may in fact break the vow and die. Theory: Snape takes the vow in order to win the confidence of the sister (which, we see by her reaction, he does) and Voldemort. By taking the vow, Snape shows his willingness to die to serve Dumbledore and the Order (despite, as we shall see, his later killing Dumbledore).
3. Snape is not part of the final plan to kill Dumbledore. We see this twice in Draco's own words (pp. 323, 588). Snape seems to have been trying to help Draco (ibid), but in a way consistent with trying to obtain information. Snape's killing Dumbledore is not actually related to Draco's plot, although Snape uses the killing as false evidence of his devotion to Voldemort. Why does Snape kill Dumbledore, then?
   
4. Dumbledore pleads with Snape to kill him. Here's the evidence:

• a) The potion does much more than make Dumbledore sick and weak. It has done something horrible to him internally. As he tells Harry, "That potion . . . was no health drink" (p. 580). In fact, Dumbledore seems to have somehow been shattered or lost internally. As he tells Draco, he drank and came back, but only "after a fashion" (p. 590). Something grave and hideous has happened to Dumbledore.



• b) From drinking the potion, Dumbledore seems to be doomed to die anyway, and that kind of death may mean catastrophe not only for him but for others. The likelihood of his death is based on (1) his weakening in the tower and (2) the contents of the note (p. 609) in which R.A.B. mentions he will be long dead by the time Voldemort finds his horcrux missing.


• c) Worse, whatever has happened to Dumbledore may endanger others, as he suggests while drinking the potion. Dumbledore, for example, pleads, "No, no, no, no, I can't, I can't, don't make me, I don't want to," (p. 572). While drinking he also pleads, "Don't hurt them, don't hurt them, please, please, it's my fault. hurt me instead," (ibid).



• d) Dumbledore's own death may be the only way to save others. We don't know what bad things will happen to Dumbledore or others from the potion. We do know, however, that while drinking the potion, Dumbledore declares three times that he wants to die (p. 573). He then implores Harry, "KILL ME!" (ibid).


• e) In Hogsmeade Dumbledore asks not for Madame Pomfrey (the healer), but for Snape, the only member of staff with both the resolve to use the Avada Kadavra curse and the skill in legilemancy to see Dumbledore's need for death. The courage Snape shows earlier in taking a vow he knows will likely kill him demonstrates he has the strength of character to kill Dumbledore if needed.


• f) Dumbledore does not plead with Draco or any of the Deatheaters when they come to kill him. When Snape arrives, however, Dumbledore makes a (verbally) unspecified plea (p. 595). Snape's skill in legilimancy would allow him to perceive without words both the nature of Dumbledore's request and his need for it.


• g) Snape's look of disgust at Dumbledore right before killing him is best explainable by his seeing, through his skill in legilimancy, whatever hideous damage the potion has done to Dumbledore and the threat he poses to others.


• h) In Goblet of Fire we learn something about reversing spells with the use of a wizard's wand. It is possible (though, I think, unlikely) that Snape may be able to reverse the killing curse in book 7.

5. Snape continues to give good advice to Harry even after killing Dumbledore. Snape deflects Harry's attacks while doing him very little harm.While Snape is clearly angry with Harry, he still helps him in a way.

• a) He tells Harry that he, Snape, is the Half-BloodPrince.


• b) Even as he blocks them, Snape gives Harry advice on casting more effective spells: "Blocked again and again until you learn to keep your mouth shut and your mind closed" (p. 603). This is valuable advice, and it is inconceivable that a true adversary would deliver it.

6. Snape has a good reason to keep his cover as a Deatheater and to keep Harry hating him. Rather than having to die in keeping Dumbledore alive, Snape uses the occasion of killing Dumbledore to cement his credibility in the eyes of Voldemort and the Death eaters (although I suspect Voldemort will see through Snape's ruse and cause his [heroic] death in Book 7). As Voldemort can see into Harry's mind, it's critical that Harry not know Snape is really still on Dumbledore's side (plus there is no time to explain). Harry's loathing for Snape will further add to Snape's cred with Voldy.

In short, Snape is one of the most heroic characters in the series, right alongside Dumbledore. As unlikely as it may seem, Book 7, I predict, will show this to be true.

This is Emily again. I've read somewhere this week that they don't think Snape can be good because you have to mean the Avada Kedavra curse in order for it to even work. Remember when Harry tries to do Crucio on Bellatrix Lestrange? It knocks her off her feet but she doesn't writhe in pain. She said you have to want to cause the pain, to like it. So Snape couldn't have used that curse without meaning it. Although possibly he killed him with a curse that he didn't say and then just said Avada Kedavra to make it look like that's how he did it....who knows. Just some more thoughts. What do YOU think?