I know! Snape can't be all bad. That would upset me greatly...

This sounds just like Snape, written entirely in his voice and all. So brilliant and engaging. It makes him seem all the more complex...

-xmutedx

XD

What a lovely vivid little vignette. It sounds so much like Snape: his words, his attitudes. I especially like the last several paragraphs, where Snape comes close to saying outright that what Dumbledore wanted in this situation was to let Harry keep his hands clean, preserve some level of his innocence, by having Snape do the dirty work. That Snape, at the last, may BE the one to do the dirty work, to "end this."

I'm reminded of a line from one of the Thomas Covenant books, where Covenant says, "Innocence is a wonderful thing. The only problem is that it's impotent." Admittedly, Harry is no longer completely innocent, but it's interesting to consider that he may have need of someone with a less clean soul if he's to finally defeat Voldemort. Someone very like Snape!

Very well done - your Snape sounds authentically snarly and sour yet engages our sympathy.

I like it.

It's so ... Blunt and to the point, just like Snape is. Never one to couch things in flowery terms.

Very well done. Any more little tidbits hidden away?

"I'm still standing. - And that's all he wanted."

This is unfortunately very true - Snape (supposing we all are right seeing him on the good side) has to feel really bad at the end of HBP. As to the unbreakable vow - after rereading the parts about Snape (always my most favorites) in the book I think Dumbledore didn't know until after the Christmas party. He was silent for quite a long while after Harry told him about the argument. I think Snape told the headmaster just about a promise to protect Draco and his task, not that he would die if the task won't be fullfilled.

I'm just very sad that nobody else except of Dumbledore (and probably Hagrid and McGonagall) really trusted Snape (just look at Lupin - in the Christmas time: I may not like him but Dumbledore trusts him and that is enough for me - in May/June: we all knew he was damned good at occlumency. You did know before, right?) - especially after all those years teaching and protecting their kids (Weasleys!) - oh yeah, he may be unpleasant, but I can imagine myself being also a very strict teacher seeing kids hazarding with their health above the boiling cauldrons just because of the house rivality. And look at the lectures about Occlumency or Defence - they are really interesting and full of information. That Harry doesn't see it this way - well, his fault...

Better to stop now - nice fic. (-: Maybe you could write something longer?

Nicely done little vignette. Your comments are also most interesting as it would seem that a lot of folks who previously "liked" Snape before HBP now loathe him. I am one of those who think there is so much more to this character than we have seen.

I've been a Snape-fan for a while. You're not the only one who was convinced of Snape's being on the right side by the very book that convinced most people of the opposite; Red Hen, the HP essayist, has some interesting things to say on the subject.

It seems almost certain that Dumbledore knew of the Unbreakable Vow or he would not have risked his trusted spy on the cursed Defence position. Even if the arrangement was that he only teach the subject for one year, that was still no guarantee that he'd survive the task. And if Dumbledore knew that much, then that final scene must have had some pre-planning...

Personally, I now believe that Snape was already spying for Dumbledore when he "heard" the prophecy (Sybil's testimony seems strangely inconsistent with Dumbledore's there; how did she see Snape being ejected if it happened before she finished the prophecy?) and that he told it on Dumbledore's orders as a way of breaking into the Inner Circle, where he could finally be of some use. (They didn't expect Voldemort to
a) identify a target,
b) attack it immediately, and
c) break through the protections they'd organised.)
So when Snape "returned" as Dumbledore started to tell Harry(HBP, The Seer Overheard), it wasn't to change masters but to blast Dumbledore for turning him into the Potters' betrayer...

I really like this! And I know exactally what you're saying with the whole misjudgement of Snape thing. I was so mad at him and just hated him but I definitely thing that he's good. Afterall, Dumbledore knows best! Or rather knew. :'( Wonderful fic! Keep up the good work.