RebelPhoenix
I work in mysterious ways
The PM Rogue was talking about is this one sent to me at 4.27am:
Re: Theory Part 2!quote:
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RebelPhoenix wrote on 07-08-2004 07:31 PM:
cont...
Phew all done! Are there any bits you don't like or agree with?
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I liked it. This is what I did to it. The point was clear, but I thought it might be too long, so this is what I did to it.
The reasoning as to why Dumbledore trusts Snape and won’t give him the Defense Against the Dark Arts job is complex. Perhaps Dumbledore doesn’t want Snape to be tempted about going back to the dark side, thus being confronted with his past. Snape was willing to turn in Sirius in book 3, as Lupin said: “Is a schoolboy grudge enough to put an innocent man into Azkaban?" So, Snape still has some kind of anger. Maybe Dumbledore doesn’t want Snape as the DADA teacher because of his anger and his ever present reminder of the past. Also, the vital life saving point for Harry is that his most powerful weapon is and was love; it was because of his mother's love that he was and is protected from Voldemort. That suggests that even Voldemorts great power can not penetrate love, so what would be most easy for it to work through? That's right, hate. Who has deep, concealed and still thriving hate? That's right, Snape...
In the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore thought that Snape was over what James did to him all those years ago and assigned Snape to teach Harry Occlumency, and later admitted that "this was an old man's mistake." Dumbledore makes mistakes. But trusting Snape isn't one of them. True, he's a slimy butthead, but apparently he's doing SOMTHING important. Plus the fact that he switched sides BEFORE Voldy fell from power is something significant unless of course Snape somehow knew that Voldemorts crusade wouldn't be successful and decided to change sides mere to save his own skin in the future and hence Dumbledore still has reservations concerning his long term loyalty. Also, if Harry and Snape both have hate for each other and Harry does not trust Snape then that could put the Order at risk. If Voldemort can work through hate or negative emotions then it would make sense to go for the weakest link in the chain and that, with Sirius out of the way, would be Snape and Harry's distinct lack of trust and animosity towards each other as Harry is less protected around someone who doesn't like him and therefore possibly a tool to manipulate. But even if Snape is 'good' now, maybe he'd try to TEACH the dark arts rather than defense against them if he got the job. Dumbledore just might get desperate enough to let him have the job, but even if he did get desperate, he might keep Snape as the potions master anyway. He's really good at it apparently.
It might be the case that Snape is the best Potions teach Hogwarts has ever had and/or not as many witches/wizards may train in potions anymore. Just like in muggle society where there are shortages of teachers and students in certain subjects the same might be the case in the magical world. Plus due to the Voldemort era, there may have been an upsurge in the learning of direct (as opposed to potions which take longer) magical protection hence more people would be versed in DADA and there would be more for Dumbledore to choose from.
From another perspective, let us suggest that whatever Dumbledore's reasons were in the past for squashing Snapes desire, perhaps now the entrance of Harry Potter into Hogwarts has coupled with them to create new concerns if not at least enhancing old ones. For example, Harry would definitely need an unbiased DADA teacher, because that's one subject he must do well in, considering his circumstances. Remember, Dumbledore knows that one day, Voldermort will return and that the students may need to be skilled in their defense against the dark arts. Just how much about the dark arts does Snape know and will Snape teach them properly or enough? Of course, he will have a cirriculum to follow but that hasn't stopped teachers falling short of imparting knowledge before and it certainly wouldn't be unthinkable or surprising for one with a hidden agenda to somewhat 'falsify' certain facts like he did with the fake truth potion.
In addition, it's possible that Dumbledore knows that Snape favors his own house too much and the fact that many of the other students don’t trust Snape would be against him. This stands to reason that to teach DADA, your students need to trust you. Who would want a defense teacher that they don’t trust? For all we know, they could be teaching you something wrong! Teachers are supposed to be authority figures that we trust and respect, people we can turn to and have confidence in to act responsibly; and at a boarding school like Hogwarts they are the only people you have other then your friends. If Snape and Harry were to ever get past their differences or trust each other or at least Harry trust Snape it would not be impossible to worry that someday for some reason that trust might be betrayed. Snape switched sides once, he can do it again.
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The One and Only
~Rogue~
As you can see - he edited out the last paragraph I had written.
This is the reply I sent at 4.45am:
Re: Theory Part 2!
Yes, that last part was very speculative so I see why you cut it out, hmm - ok - but there's one bit I added to the end which I forgot before - here it is: (it starts after the 'he did it once and can do it again'
Snape's position is also one of a unique standing and consequently, very convenient. He's mysterious and people aren't sure whether he is good, bad or just sitting on the fence. For those who don't know he's in the Order and haven't seen him help Harry, he would appear to be quite dark as well as unnecessarily rude/mean to Harry which implies that even if he isn't officially on the bad side (and some might tolerate that out of practicality) he might still in his heart be or at least be swayed back to Voldermorts side in an uprising. He's always the first Harry suspects is up to no good and all of those traits probably make him more acceptable to the families who students reside in his House. Being a former Death Eater and current not so likeable and seemingly anti-Harry person who is also apt in potions and dark arts, his presence might be a kind of 'compromise' that Dumbledore secretly keeps in order to keep the people who are still Death Eaters 'happy' - not knowingly of course, but if DD was to make Snape DADA teacher it might threaten that security and the Death Eater families might think Snape is against them by teaching students techniques to defend themselves against them, particularly Harry.
and if you want proof of that paragraph - I can always scan the piece of paper I scrawled all over for you 🙄 and you'll see it's actually longer then the above but I was trying to shorten it because it was too long.
But basically as you can see we definitely DID NOT HAVE A FINAL THEORY which I later changed 🙄 what we had was a start, a work in progress until the very end and when I posted it in the Challenge thread - we were working on it all the way through - we hadn't had it days before in advance which was our fault and I don't like that at all but that's the way it was. IT WAS NOT AN UPDATED version where we had posted our APPROVED final entry and then decided to change it. No, Rogue had come up with an idea and just posted it - it was a MISTAKE.