Snape/Dumbledore Switch-a-roo Theory
I just signed up and don't know if anyone else has thrown this out there yet, but...
It is my belief that from the time Harry and Dumbledore go to the cave to the moment when Dumbledore dies (cough-cough) that it is not Dumbledore who is with Harry but in fact Snape in Dumbledore’s body. I felt right away that it was not Dumbledore with Harry in the cave and the more I read the more convinced I am that it was Snape.
I believe that the two men performed some sort of Switching Spell to possess each other’s bodies. Below is my attempt to prove this theory through excerpts from Book 6. Some hints are large, some small. I used bold to emphasis what I think are good tells and included my thoughts (feeble though they might be) after each excerpt.
Enjoy!
HBP Chapter 25 , page 548
Snape!' he said, very loudly, and Fawkes gave a soft squawk behind
them. 'Snape's what's happened! He told Voldemort about the prophecy, it
was him, he listened outside the door, Trelawney told me!'
Dumbledore's expression did not change, but Harry thought his face
whitened under the bloody tinge cast by the setting sun. For a long moment,
Dumbledore said nothing.
'When did you find out about this?' he asked at last.
'Just now!' said Many, who was refraining from yelling with enormous
difficulty. And then, suddenly, he could not stop himself. 'AND YOU LET
HIM TEACH HERE AND HE TOLD VOLDEMORT TO GO AFTER MY
MUM AND DAD!'
Breathing hard as though he were fighting, Harry turned away from
Dumbledore, who still had not moved a muscle, and paced up and down the
study, rubbing his knuckles in his hand and exercising every last bit of
restraint to prevent himself knocking things over. He wanted to rage and
storm at Dumbledore, but he also wanted to go with him to try and destroy
the Horcrux; he wanted to tell him that he was a foolish old man for trusting
Snape, but he was terrified that Dumbledore would not take him along
unless he mastered his anger ...
'Harry,' said Dumbledore quietly. 'Please listen to me.'
It was as difficult to stop his relentless pacing as to refrain from shouting.
Harry paused, biting his lip, and looked into Dumbledore's lined face.
'Professor Snape made a terrible -'
'Don't tell me it was a mistake, sir, he was listening at the door!'
'Please let me finish.' Dumbledore waited until Harry had nodded curtly,
then went on. 'Professor Snape made a terrible mistake. He was still in Lord
Voldemort's employ on the night he heard the first half of Professor
Trelawney's prophesy. Naturally, he hastened to tell his master what he had
heard, for it concerned his master most deeply. But he did not know - he had
no possible way of knowing - which boy Voldemort would hunt from then
onwards, or that the parents he would destroy in his murderous quest were
people that Professor Snape knew, that they were your mother and father -'
Harry let out a yell of mirthless laughter.
'He hated my dad like he hated Sirius! Haven't you noticed, Professor,
how the people Snape hates tend to end up dead?'
'You have no idea of the remorse Professor Snape felt when he realized
how Lord Voldemort had interpreted the prophecy, Harry. I believe it to be
the greatest regret of his life and the reason that he returned -'
'But he's a very good Occlumens, isn't he, sir?' said Harry, whose voice
was shaking with the effort of keeping it steady. 'And isn't Voldemort
convinced that Snape's on his side, even now? Professor ... how can you be
sure Snape's on our side?'
Dumbledore did not speak for a moment; he looked as though he was
trying to make up his mind about something. At last he said, 'I am sure. I
trust Severus Snape completely.'
• Things about this passage strike me as telling:
1. Dumbledore never fails to correct Harry under any circumstance for failing to call Snape or any teacher ‘Professor’.
2. Why would Dumbledore pale so at Harry discovering Snape’s secret? They have discussed far more horrific things without such a reaction.
3. Dumbledore’s use of the phrase “his master” and “Lord” as opposed to just Voldemort.
4. Of course he would understand the reasoning behind Snape’s return and the level of his remorse if it was his (Snape’s) own. Also, if he is Snape, he would, of course, completely trust himself.
Page 550
'You're leaving the school tonight and I'll bet you haven't even considered
that Snape and Malfoy might decide to -'
To what?' asked Dumbledore, his eyebrows raised. 'What is it that you
suspect them of doing, precisely?'
'I ... they're up to something!' said Harry and his hands curled into fists as
he said it. 'Professor Trelawney was just in the Room of Requirement, trying
to hide her sherry bottles, and she heard Malfoy whooping, celebrating! He's
trying to mend something dangerous in there and if you ask me he's fixed it
at last and you're about to just walk out of school * without -'
'Enough,' said Dumbledore. He said it quite calmly, and yet Harry fell
silent at once; he knew that he had finally crossed some invisible line. 'Do
you think that I have once left the school unprotected during my absences
this year? I have not. Tonight, when I leave, there will again be additional
protection in place. Please do not suggest that I do not take the safety of my
students seriously, Harry.'
'I didn't -' mumbled Harry, a little abashed, but Dumbledore cut across
him.
'I do not wish to discuss the matter any further.'
• ‘Dumbledore’ seems to loose his patience with Harry, something he has not done
even when Harry was smashing up his office in OOTP. Much more of a Snape quality, don’t you think?
Page 551
'Very good. Then I wish you to go and fetch your Cloak and meet me in
the Entrance Hall in five minutes' time.'
• Wasn’t Harry supposed to have his cloak with him at all time? Is this a not so
clever plot device did Rowling forget? (we already know she sucks at math)
Either it was really Dumbledore in the office with Harry and this time apart was necessary for Snape and Dumbledore to switch or they had already switched and used this time to confer with one another. Either way I still believe that from the point when they meet in the hall, Harry is no longer with Dumbledore.
Chapter 26, page 556
"Then take off your Invisibility Cloak - there is no need for it now -
and let us take the plunge," And with the sudden agility of a much younger
man, Dumbledore slid from the boulder, landed in the sea, and began to
swim, with a perfect breaststroke, toward the dark slit in the rock face, his lit
wand held in his teeth.
• Snape is definitely a much younger man.
Page 558
"You've d-done it!" said Harry through chattering teeth, but before the
words had left his lips the outline had gone, leaving the rock as bare and
solid as ever. Dumbledore looked around.
"Harry, I'm so sorry, I forgot," he said; he now pointed his wand at Harry
and at once, Harry's clothes were as warm and dry as if they had been
hanging in front of a blazing fire.
Dumbledore has never failed to consider Harry’s wellbeing above all else and I don’t believe he would have left Harry there wet and freezing.
• Snape certainly would. Perhaps he did it on purpose? His secret little F-you to Harry?
Page 559
"What is it, Professor?"
"I rather think," said Dumbledore, putting his uninjured hand inside his
robes and drawing out a short silver knife of the kind Harry used to chop
potion ingredients, "that we are required to make payment to pass."
"Payment?" said Harry. "You've got to give the door something?"
"Yes," said Dumbledore. "Blood, if I am not much mistaken."
• Would Dumbledore have a potions knife? Snape surely would.
Page 560
"You are very kind, Harry," said Dumbledore, now passing the tip of his
wand over the deep cut he had made in his own arm, so that it healed
instantly, just as Snape had healed Malfoy's wound…
• Pretty self-explanatory.
Page 561
"We couldn't... we couldn't just try a Summoning Charm?" Harry said,
sure that it was a stupid suggestion. But he was much keener than he was
prepared to admit on getting out of this place as soon as possible.
"Certainly we could," said Dumbledore, stopping so suddenly that Harry
almost walked into him. "Why don't you do it?"
"Me? Oh . . . okay . . ." Harry had not expected this, but cleared his throat
and said loudly, wand aloft, "Accio Horcrux!"
With a noise like an explosion, something very large and pale erupted out
of the dark water some twenty feet away; before Harry could see what it
was, it had vanished again with a crashing splash that made great, deep
ripples on the mirrored surface. Harry leapt backward in shock and hit the
wall; his heart was still thundering as he turned to Dumbledore.
• Would Dumbledore set Harry up like this or is that much more of a Snape thing to
do?
Page 567
Side by side, they looked down into it. The basin was full of an emerald liquid
emitting that phosphorescent glow.
"What is it?" asked Harry quietly.
"I am not sure," said Dumbledore. "Something more worrisome than
blood and bodies, however." Dumbledore pushed back the sleeve of his robe
over his blackened hand, and stretched out the tips of his burned fingers
toward the surface of the potion.
"Sir, no, don't touch - !"
"I cannot touch," said Dumbledore, smiling faintly. "See? I cannot
approach any nearer than this. You try."
Staring, Harry put his hand into the basin and attempted to touch the
potion. He met an invisible barrier that prevented him coming within an inch
of it. No matter how hard he pushed, his fingers encountered nothing but
what seemed to be solid and flexible air.
"Out of the way, please, Harry," said Dumbledore. He raised his wand and
made complicated movements over the surface of the-potion, murmuring
soundlessly. Nothing happened, except perhaps that the potion glowed a
little brighter. Harry remained silent while Dumbledore worked, but after a
while Dumbledore withdrew his wand, and Harry felt it was safe to talk
again.
"You think the Horcrux is in there, sir?"
"Oh yes." Dumbledore peered more closely into the basin. Harry saw his
face reflected, upside down, in the smooth surface of the green potion. "But
how to reach it? This potion cannot be penetrated by hand, Vanished,
parted, scooped up, or siphoned away, nor can it be Transfigured, Charmed,
or otherwise made to change its nature." Almost absentmindedly,
Dumbledore raised his wand again, twirled it once in midair, and then
caught the crystal goblet that he had conjured out of nowhere. "I can only
conclude that this potion is supposed to be drunk."
"What?" said Harry. "No!"
"Yes, I think so: Only by drinking it can I empty the basin and see what
lies in its depths."
"But what if- what if it kills you?"
"Oh, I doubt that it would work like that," said Dumbledore easily. "Lord
Voldemort would not want to kill the person who reached this island."
• Who knows more about the potions than Snape? He would surely be the perfect
man for this job.
• Snape would know better than anyone what his former master would have in
mind.
Page 572
"It's all right, Professor, it's all right!" said Harry loudly, his hands
shaking so badly he could hardly scoop up the sixth goblet full of potion; the
basin was now half empty. "Nothing's happening to you, you're safe, it isn't
real, I swear it isn't real - take this, now, take this..." And obediently,
Dumbledore drank, as though it was an anti-dote Harry offered him, but
upon draining the goblet, he sank to his knees, shaking uncontrollably.
"Its all my fault, all my fault," he sobbed. "Please make it stop, I know I
did wrong, oh please make it stop and I'll never, never again ..."
"This will make it stop, Professor," Harry said, his voice cracking as he
tipped the seventh glass of potion into Dumbledore's mouth.
Dumbledore began to cower as though invisible torturers surrounded
him; his flailing hand almost knocked the refilled goblet from Harry's
trembling hands as he moaned, "Don't hurt them, don't hurt them, please,
please, it’s my fault, hurt me instead ..."
"Here, drink this, drink this, you'll be all right," said Harry desperately,
and once again Dumbledore obeyed him, opening his mouth even as he kept
his eyes tight shut and shook from head to foot. And now he fell forward,
screaming again, hammering his fists upon the ground, while Harry filled the
ninth goblet.
"Please, please, please, no ... not that, not that, I'll do any-thing ..."
• This was the passage that convinced me more than any other. To me it reads like
Snape both pleading to spare the Potters and his deep lamenting over the horrible mistake he made by telling Voldemort about the prophecy. We already know it was his deepest regret and the reason he renounced the Death Eaters and joined the Order.
Chapter 27, page 580
'No,' said Dumbledore. 'It is ... Professor Snape whom I need ... but I do
not think ... I can walk very far just yet ...'
'Right - sir, listen - I'm going to knock on a door, find a place you can stay
- then I can run and get Madam -'
'Severus,' said Dumbledore clearly. 'I need Severus ...'
and page 583
'Go and wake Severus,' said Dumbledore faintly but clearly. Tell him
what has happened and bring him to me. Do nothing else, speak to nobody
else and do not remove your Cloak. I shall wait here.'
'But -'
'You swore to obey me, Harry - go!'
• Dumbledore repeatedly demands to see Severus. It would be vital at this point that
Snape and Dumbledore reunite in order to switch back.
It is a very long passage, so I won’t include the entire thing, but…
At this point, I’d like to invite you to re-read the entire scene with Dumbledore on top of the battlements. Imagine it is Snape speaking to Draco and the Death Eaters.
Here’s a taste to wet your whistle. Dumbledore speaking or Snape?
Page 591
'I did not dare speak to you of the mission with which I knew you had
been entrusted, in case he used Legilimency against you,' continued
Dumbledore. 'But now at last we can speak plainly to each other ... no harm
has been done, you have hurt nobody, though you are very lucky that your
unintentional victims survived ... I can help you, Draco.'
'No, you can't,' said Malfoy, his wand hand shaking very badly indeed.
'Nobody can. He told me to do it or he'll kill me. I've got no choice.'
'Come over to the right side, Draco, and we can hide you more completely
than you can possibly imagine.
Snape would know! It worked for him!
Chapter 27, page 595
But somebody else had spoken Snape's name, quite softly.
'Severus ...'
The sound frightened Harry beyond anything he had experienced all
evening. For the first time, Dumbledore was pleading.
Snape said nothing, but walked forwards and pushed Malfoy roughly out
of the way. The three Death Eaters fell back without a word. Even the
werewolf seemed cowed.
Snape gazed for a moment at Dumbledore, and there was revulsion and
hatred etched in the harsh lines of his face.
'Severus ... please ..."
Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore.
'Avada Kedavra!'
A jet of green light shot from the end of Snape's wand and hit
Dumbledore squarely in the chest. Harry's scream of horror never left him;
silent and unmoving, he was forced to watch as Dumbledore was blasted
into the air: for a split second he seemed to hang suspended beneath the
shining skull, and then he fell slowly backwards, like a great rag doll, over
the battlements and out of sight.
• If Snape was the faithful servant of Lord Voldemort, he likely would have
followed his master’s order and made Draco go through with the murder instead
of doing it himself. Dumbledore would never want a student to become a killer.
• We’ve seen AVADA KEDAVRA before. Since when has it caused people to
levitate, suspend and fall away? Perhaps there was another spell at work?
Chapter 28, page 602
Harry tore past Hagrid and his opponent, took aim at Snape's back, and
yelled, "Stupefy!"
He missed; the jet of red light soared past Snape's head; Snape shouted,
"Run, Draco!" and turned. Twenty yards apart, he and Harry looked at each
other before raising their wands simultaneously.
"Cruc - "
But Snape parried the curse, knocking Harry backward off his feet before
he could complete it; Harry rolled over and scrambled back up again as the
huge Death Eater behind him yelled, "Incendio!" Harry heard an explosive
bang and a dancing orange light spilled over all of them: Hagrid's house was
on fire.
"Fang's in there, yer evil - !" Hagrid bellowed.
"Cruc -" yelled Harry for the second time, aiming for the figure ahead
illuminated in the dancing firelight, but Snape blocked the spell again. Harry
could see him sneering.
"No Unforgivable Curses from you, Potter!" he shouted over the rushing
of the flames, Hagrid's yells, and the wild yelping of the trapped Fang. "You
haven't got the nerve or the ability -"
• You could see this as Snape (Back in his body, not really a bad guy) even now
protecting Harry.
"Incarc-"Harry roared, but Snape deflected the spell with an almost lazy
flick of his arm.
"Fight back!" Harry screamed at him. "Fight back, you cowardly-----"
• Of course, Dumbledore would not fight against Harry.
• A powerful wizard like Dumbledore could easily flick away a powerful curse.
"Coward, did you call me, Potter?" shouted Snape. "Your father would
never attack me unless it was four on one, what would you call him, I
wonder?" "Stupe-"
"Blocked again and again and again until you learn to keep your mouth
shut and your mind closed, Potter!" sneered Snape, deflecting the curse once
more. "Now come!" he shouted at the huge Death Eater behind Harry. "It is
time to be gone, before the Ministry turns up -"
• The first part is indication that Snape, provided my theory is correct, is back to his
old self.
• Snape, even now, continues to teach Harry as opposed to attack him. If Snape is
evil enough to kill Dumbledore, he would surely kill Harry, whom he hates,
without thinking twice.
"Impedi -"
But before he could finish this jinx, excruciating pain hit Harry; he keeled
over in the grass. Someone was screaming, he would surely die of this
agony, Snape was going to torture him to death or madness -
"No!" roared Snape's voice and the pain stopped as suddenly as it had
started; Harry lay curled on the dark grass, clutching his wand and panting;
somewhere overhead Snape was shouting, "Have you forgotten our orders?
Potter belongs to the Dark Lord - we are to leave him! Go! Go!"
• Lord Voldemort sent Death Eaters after Harry in OOTP. Why would he have
Snape spare him now? Even if Voldemort wanted Harry for himself, it sounds like
Harry was under the Cruciatus curse, which is painful but not necessarily fatal.
Why should Snape spare Harry that?
And Harry felt the ground shudder under his face as the brother and sister
and the enormous Death Eater obeyed, running toward the gates. Harry
uttered an inarticulate yell of rage: In that instant, he cared not whether he
lived or died. Pushing himself to his feet again, he staggered blindly toward
Snape, the man he now hated as much as he hated Voldemort himself -
"Sectum - "
Snape flicked his wand and the curse was repelled yet again; but Harry
was mere feet away now and he could see Snape's face clearly at last: He
was no longer sneering or jeering; the blazing flames showed a face full of
rage. Mustering all his powers of concentration, Harry thought, Levi -
"No, Potter!" screamed Snape. There was a loud BANG and Harry was
soaring backward, hitting the ground hard again, ;un\ this time his wand flew
out of his hand. He could hear Hagrid yelling and Fang howling as Snape
closed in and looked down on him where he lay, wandless and defenseless
as Dumbledore had been. Snape's pale face, illuminated by the flaming
cabin, was suffused with hatred just as it had been before he had cursed
Dumbledore.
"You dare use my own spells against me, Potter? It was I who invented
them - I, the Half-Blood Prince! And you'd turn my inventions on me, like
your filthy father, would you? I don't think so . . . no"
Harry had dived for his wand; Snape shot a hex at it and it flew feet away
into the darkness and out of sight.
"Kill me then," panted Harry, who felt no fear at all, but only rage and
contempt. "Kill me like you killed him, you coward -"
"DON'T -" screamed Snape, and his face was suddenly demented,
inhuman, as though he was in as much pain as the yelping, howling dog
stuck in the burning house behind them - "CALL ME COWARD!"
• I think at this point, Snape is pushed too far and snaps. Can you blame him?
After all, would a coward have the courage to kill his redeemer for the greater good?
And he slashed at the air: Harry felt a white-hot, whip like something hit
him across the face and was slammed backward into the ground.
• Seriously, why wouldn’t Snape just kill him here?
Spots of light burst in front of his eyes and for a moment all the breath seemed to
have gone from his body, then he heard a rush of wings above him and
something enormous obscured the stars. Buckbeak had flown at Snape, who
staggered backward as the razor-sharp claws slashed at him. As Harry raised
himself into a sitting position, his head still swimming from its last contact
with the ground, he saw Snape running as hard as he could, the enormous
beast flapping behind him and screeching as Harry had never heard him
screech -
Harry struggled to his feet, looking around groggily for his wand, hoping
to give chase again, but even as his fingers fumbled in the grass, discarding
twigs, he knew it would be too late, and sure enough, by the time he had
located his wand, he turned only to see the hippogriff circling the gates.
Snape had managed to Disapparate just beyond the school's boundaries.
Sigh…
You’re probably wondering, if Snape was on this grand adventure with Harry, what was Dumbledore up to?
Dumbledore would never leave the castle if he thought there was any possibility of danger there. I believe he waited in Snape’s office for one of two things. Either Snape would return and they would switch back or he would be there to complete ‘the plan’ should the Deatheaters arrive.
Chapter 29, page 619
"I was so stupid, Harry!" said Hermione in a high-pitched whisper. "He
said Professor Flitwick had collapsed and that we should go and take care of
him while he - while he went to help fight the Death Eaters -" She covered
her face in shame and continued to talk into her fingers, so that her voice
was muffled. "We went into his office to see if we could help Professor
Flitwick and found him unconscious on the floor. . . and oh, it's so obvious
now, Snape must have Stupefied Flitwick, but we didn't realize, Harry, we
didn't realize, we just let Snape go!"
• We already know from OOTP that Dumbledore is willing to Stupefy a fellow
good-guy if need be. He knocked out Kingsley Shacklebolt when he made his
escape from Fudge and his ministry goons in his office.
I think when he Stupified Flitwick he both maintained his ‘Snape’ persona and spared Flitwick from getting in the middle of the fight where he may have gotten hurt much worse.
So that’s about it.
Why did Dumbledore and Snape switch and why did Dumbledore sacrifice himself? That remains to be seen. I don’t have trouble believing Dumbledore would give up his life for the greater good.
After all, to the well-trained mind, death is but the next great adventure (I tried to remember that quote off the top of my head so if I flubbed it, be kind).
Thanks for reading. I can’t wait to hear what you think. I guess we’ll all know soon.
But not soon enough!
It is my belief that from the time Harry and Dumbledore go to the cave to the moment when Dumbledore dies (cough-cough) that it is not Dumbledore who is with Harry but in fact Snape in Dumbledore’s body. I felt right away that it was not Dumbledore with Harry in the cave and the more I read the more convinced I am that it was Snape.
I believe that the two men performed some sort of Switching Spell to possess each other’s bodies. Below is my attempt to prove this theory through excerpts from Book 6. Some hints are large, some small. I used bold to emphasis what I think are good tells and included my thoughts (feeble though they might be) after each excerpt.
Enjoy!
HBP Chapter 25 , page 548
Snape!' he said, very loudly, and Fawkes gave a soft squawk behind
them. 'Snape's what's happened! He told Voldemort about the prophecy, it
was him, he listened outside the door, Trelawney told me!'
Dumbledore's expression did not change, but Harry thought his face
whitened under the bloody tinge cast by the setting sun. For a long moment,
Dumbledore said nothing.
'When did you find out about this?' he asked at last.
'Just now!' said Many, who was refraining from yelling with enormous
difficulty. And then, suddenly, he could not stop himself. 'AND YOU LET
HIM TEACH HERE AND HE TOLD VOLDEMORT TO GO AFTER MY
MUM AND DAD!'
Breathing hard as though he were fighting, Harry turned away from
Dumbledore, who still had not moved a muscle, and paced up and down the
study, rubbing his knuckles in his hand and exercising every last bit of
restraint to prevent himself knocking things over. He wanted to rage and
storm at Dumbledore, but he also wanted to go with him to try and destroy
the Horcrux; he wanted to tell him that he was a foolish old man for trusting
Snape, but he was terrified that Dumbledore would not take him along
unless he mastered his anger ...
'Harry,' said Dumbledore quietly. 'Please listen to me.'
It was as difficult to stop his relentless pacing as to refrain from shouting.
Harry paused, biting his lip, and looked into Dumbledore's lined face.
'Professor Snape made a terrible -'
'Don't tell me it was a mistake, sir, he was listening at the door!'
'Please let me finish.' Dumbledore waited until Harry had nodded curtly,
then went on. 'Professor Snape made a terrible mistake. He was still in Lord
Voldemort's employ on the night he heard the first half of Professor
Trelawney's prophesy. Naturally, he hastened to tell his master what he had
heard, for it concerned his master most deeply. But he did not know - he had
no possible way of knowing - which boy Voldemort would hunt from then
onwards, or that the parents he would destroy in his murderous quest were
people that Professor Snape knew, that they were your mother and father -'
Harry let out a yell of mirthless laughter.
'He hated my dad like he hated Sirius! Haven't you noticed, Professor,
how the people Snape hates tend to end up dead?'
'You have no idea of the remorse Professor Snape felt when he realized
how Lord Voldemort had interpreted the prophecy, Harry. I believe it to be
the greatest regret of his life and the reason that he returned -'
'But he's a very good Occlumens, isn't he, sir?' said Harry, whose voice
was shaking with the effort of keeping it steady. 'And isn't Voldemort
convinced that Snape's on his side, even now? Professor ... how can you be
sure Snape's on our side?'
Dumbledore did not speak for a moment; he looked as though he was
trying to make up his mind about something. At last he said, 'I am sure. I
trust Severus Snape completely.'
• Things about this passage strike me as telling:
1. Dumbledore never fails to correct Harry under any circumstance for failing to call Snape or any teacher ‘Professor’.
2. Why would Dumbledore pale so at Harry discovering Snape’s secret? They have discussed far more horrific things without such a reaction.
3. Dumbledore’s use of the phrase “his master” and “Lord” as opposed to just Voldemort.
4. Of course he would understand the reasoning behind Snape’s return and the level of his remorse if it was his (Snape’s) own. Also, if he is Snape, he would, of course, completely trust himself.
Page 550
'You're leaving the school tonight and I'll bet you haven't even considered
that Snape and Malfoy might decide to -'
To what?' asked Dumbledore, his eyebrows raised. 'What is it that you
suspect them of doing, precisely?'
'I ... they're up to something!' said Harry and his hands curled into fists as
he said it. 'Professor Trelawney was just in the Room of Requirement, trying
to hide her sherry bottles, and she heard Malfoy whooping, celebrating! He's
trying to mend something dangerous in there and if you ask me he's fixed it
at last and you're about to just walk out of school * without -'
'Enough,' said Dumbledore. He said it quite calmly, and yet Harry fell
silent at once; he knew that he had finally crossed some invisible line. 'Do
you think that I have once left the school unprotected during my absences
this year? I have not. Tonight, when I leave, there will again be additional
protection in place. Please do not suggest that I do not take the safety of my
students seriously, Harry.'
'I didn't -' mumbled Harry, a little abashed, but Dumbledore cut across
him.
'I do not wish to discuss the matter any further.'
• ‘Dumbledore’ seems to loose his patience with Harry, something he has not done
even when Harry was smashing up his office in OOTP. Much more of a Snape quality, don’t you think?
Page 551
'Very good. Then I wish you to go and fetch your Cloak and meet me in
the Entrance Hall in five minutes' time.'
• Wasn’t Harry supposed to have his cloak with him at all time? Is this a not so
clever plot device did Rowling forget? (we already know she sucks at math)
Either it was really Dumbledore in the office with Harry and this time apart was necessary for Snape and Dumbledore to switch or they had already switched and used this time to confer with one another. Either way I still believe that from the point when they meet in the hall, Harry is no longer with Dumbledore.
Chapter 26, page 556
"Then take off your Invisibility Cloak - there is no need for it now -
and let us take the plunge," And with the sudden agility of a much younger
man, Dumbledore slid from the boulder, landed in the sea, and began to
swim, with a perfect breaststroke, toward the dark slit in the rock face, his lit
wand held in his teeth.
• Snape is definitely a much younger man.
Page 558
"You've d-done it!" said Harry through chattering teeth, but before the
words had left his lips the outline had gone, leaving the rock as bare and
solid as ever. Dumbledore looked around.
"Harry, I'm so sorry, I forgot," he said; he now pointed his wand at Harry
and at once, Harry's clothes were as warm and dry as if they had been
hanging in front of a blazing fire.
Dumbledore has never failed to consider Harry’s wellbeing above all else and I don’t believe he would have left Harry there wet and freezing.
• Snape certainly would. Perhaps he did it on purpose? His secret little F-you to Harry?
Page 559
"What is it, Professor?"
"I rather think," said Dumbledore, putting his uninjured hand inside his
robes and drawing out a short silver knife of the kind Harry used to chop
potion ingredients, "that we are required to make payment to pass."
"Payment?" said Harry. "You've got to give the door something?"
"Yes," said Dumbledore. "Blood, if I am not much mistaken."
• Would Dumbledore have a potions knife? Snape surely would.
Page 560
"You are very kind, Harry," said Dumbledore, now passing the tip of his
wand over the deep cut he had made in his own arm, so that it healed
instantly, just as Snape had healed Malfoy's wound…
• Pretty self-explanatory.
Page 561
"We couldn't... we couldn't just try a Summoning Charm?" Harry said,
sure that it was a stupid suggestion. But he was much keener than he was
prepared to admit on getting out of this place as soon as possible.
"Certainly we could," said Dumbledore, stopping so suddenly that Harry
almost walked into him. "Why don't you do it?"
"Me? Oh . . . okay . . ." Harry had not expected this, but cleared his throat
and said loudly, wand aloft, "Accio Horcrux!"
With a noise like an explosion, something very large and pale erupted out
of the dark water some twenty feet away; before Harry could see what it
was, it had vanished again with a crashing splash that made great, deep
ripples on the mirrored surface. Harry leapt backward in shock and hit the
wall; his heart was still thundering as he turned to Dumbledore.
• Would Dumbledore set Harry up like this or is that much more of a Snape thing to
do?
Page 567
Side by side, they looked down into it. The basin was full of an emerald liquid
emitting that phosphorescent glow.
"What is it?" asked Harry quietly.
"I am not sure," said Dumbledore. "Something more worrisome than
blood and bodies, however." Dumbledore pushed back the sleeve of his robe
over his blackened hand, and stretched out the tips of his burned fingers
toward the surface of the potion.
"Sir, no, don't touch - !"
"I cannot touch," said Dumbledore, smiling faintly. "See? I cannot
approach any nearer than this. You try."
Staring, Harry put his hand into the basin and attempted to touch the
potion. He met an invisible barrier that prevented him coming within an inch
of it. No matter how hard he pushed, his fingers encountered nothing but
what seemed to be solid and flexible air.
"Out of the way, please, Harry," said Dumbledore. He raised his wand and
made complicated movements over the surface of the-potion, murmuring
soundlessly. Nothing happened, except perhaps that the potion glowed a
little brighter. Harry remained silent while Dumbledore worked, but after a
while Dumbledore withdrew his wand, and Harry felt it was safe to talk
again.
"You think the Horcrux is in there, sir?"
"Oh yes." Dumbledore peered more closely into the basin. Harry saw his
face reflected, upside down, in the smooth surface of the green potion. "But
how to reach it? This potion cannot be penetrated by hand, Vanished,
parted, scooped up, or siphoned away, nor can it be Transfigured, Charmed,
or otherwise made to change its nature." Almost absentmindedly,
Dumbledore raised his wand again, twirled it once in midair, and then
caught the crystal goblet that he had conjured out of nowhere. "I can only
conclude that this potion is supposed to be drunk."
"What?" said Harry. "No!"
"Yes, I think so: Only by drinking it can I empty the basin and see what
lies in its depths."
"But what if- what if it kills you?"
"Oh, I doubt that it would work like that," said Dumbledore easily. "Lord
Voldemort would not want to kill the person who reached this island."
• Who knows more about the potions than Snape? He would surely be the perfect
man for this job.
• Snape would know better than anyone what his former master would have in
mind.
Page 572
"It's all right, Professor, it's all right!" said Harry loudly, his hands
shaking so badly he could hardly scoop up the sixth goblet full of potion; the
basin was now half empty. "Nothing's happening to you, you're safe, it isn't
real, I swear it isn't real - take this, now, take this..." And obediently,
Dumbledore drank, as though it was an anti-dote Harry offered him, but
upon draining the goblet, he sank to his knees, shaking uncontrollably.
"Its all my fault, all my fault," he sobbed. "Please make it stop, I know I
did wrong, oh please make it stop and I'll never, never again ..."
"This will make it stop, Professor," Harry said, his voice cracking as he
tipped the seventh glass of potion into Dumbledore's mouth.
Dumbledore began to cower as though invisible torturers surrounded
him; his flailing hand almost knocked the refilled goblet from Harry's
trembling hands as he moaned, "Don't hurt them, don't hurt them, please,
please, it’s my fault, hurt me instead ..."
"Here, drink this, drink this, you'll be all right," said Harry desperately,
and once again Dumbledore obeyed him, opening his mouth even as he kept
his eyes tight shut and shook from head to foot. And now he fell forward,
screaming again, hammering his fists upon the ground, while Harry filled the
ninth goblet.
"Please, please, please, no ... not that, not that, I'll do any-thing ..."
• This was the passage that convinced me more than any other. To me it reads like
Snape both pleading to spare the Potters and his deep lamenting over the horrible mistake he made by telling Voldemort about the prophecy. We already know it was his deepest regret and the reason he renounced the Death Eaters and joined the Order.
Chapter 27, page 580
'No,' said Dumbledore. 'It is ... Professor Snape whom I need ... but I do
not think ... I can walk very far just yet ...'
'Right - sir, listen - I'm going to knock on a door, find a place you can stay
- then I can run and get Madam -'
'Severus,' said Dumbledore clearly. 'I need Severus ...'
and page 583
'Go and wake Severus,' said Dumbledore faintly but clearly. Tell him
what has happened and bring him to me. Do nothing else, speak to nobody
else and do not remove your Cloak. I shall wait here.'
'But -'
'You swore to obey me, Harry - go!'
• Dumbledore repeatedly demands to see Severus. It would be vital at this point that
Snape and Dumbledore reunite in order to switch back.
It is a very long passage, so I won’t include the entire thing, but…
At this point, I’d like to invite you to re-read the entire scene with Dumbledore on top of the battlements. Imagine it is Snape speaking to Draco and the Death Eaters.
Here’s a taste to wet your whistle. Dumbledore speaking or Snape?
Page 591
'I did not dare speak to you of the mission with which I knew you had
been entrusted, in case he used Legilimency against you,' continued
Dumbledore. 'But now at last we can speak plainly to each other ... no harm
has been done, you have hurt nobody, though you are very lucky that your
unintentional victims survived ... I can help you, Draco.'
'No, you can't,' said Malfoy, his wand hand shaking very badly indeed.
'Nobody can. He told me to do it or he'll kill me. I've got no choice.'
'Come over to the right side, Draco, and we can hide you more completely
than you can possibly imagine.
Snape would know! It worked for him!
Chapter 27, page 595
But somebody else had spoken Snape's name, quite softly.
'Severus ...'
The sound frightened Harry beyond anything he had experienced all
evening. For the first time, Dumbledore was pleading.
Snape said nothing, but walked forwards and pushed Malfoy roughly out
of the way. The three Death Eaters fell back without a word. Even the
werewolf seemed cowed.
Snape gazed for a moment at Dumbledore, and there was revulsion and
hatred etched in the harsh lines of his face.
'Severus ... please ..."
Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore.
'Avada Kedavra!'
A jet of green light shot from the end of Snape's wand and hit
Dumbledore squarely in the chest. Harry's scream of horror never left him;
silent and unmoving, he was forced to watch as Dumbledore was blasted
into the air: for a split second he seemed to hang suspended beneath the
shining skull, and then he fell slowly backwards, like a great rag doll, over
the battlements and out of sight.
• If Snape was the faithful servant of Lord Voldemort, he likely would have
followed his master’s order and made Draco go through with the murder instead
of doing it himself. Dumbledore would never want a student to become a killer.
• We’ve seen AVADA KEDAVRA before. Since when has it caused people to
levitate, suspend and fall away? Perhaps there was another spell at work?
Chapter 28, page 602
Harry tore past Hagrid and his opponent, took aim at Snape's back, and
yelled, "Stupefy!"
He missed; the jet of red light soared past Snape's head; Snape shouted,
"Run, Draco!" and turned. Twenty yards apart, he and Harry looked at each
other before raising their wands simultaneously.
"Cruc - "
But Snape parried the curse, knocking Harry backward off his feet before
he could complete it; Harry rolled over and scrambled back up again as the
huge Death Eater behind him yelled, "Incendio!" Harry heard an explosive
bang and a dancing orange light spilled over all of them: Hagrid's house was
on fire.
"Fang's in there, yer evil - !" Hagrid bellowed.
"Cruc -" yelled Harry for the second time, aiming for the figure ahead
illuminated in the dancing firelight, but Snape blocked the spell again. Harry
could see him sneering.
"No Unforgivable Curses from you, Potter!" he shouted over the rushing
of the flames, Hagrid's yells, and the wild yelping of the trapped Fang. "You
haven't got the nerve or the ability -"
• You could see this as Snape (Back in his body, not really a bad guy) even now
protecting Harry.
"Incarc-"Harry roared, but Snape deflected the spell with an almost lazy
flick of his arm.
"Fight back!" Harry screamed at him. "Fight back, you cowardly-----"
• Of course, Dumbledore would not fight against Harry.
• A powerful wizard like Dumbledore could easily flick away a powerful curse.
"Coward, did you call me, Potter?" shouted Snape. "Your father would
never attack me unless it was four on one, what would you call him, I
wonder?" "Stupe-"
"Blocked again and again and again until you learn to keep your mouth
shut and your mind closed, Potter!" sneered Snape, deflecting the curse once
more. "Now come!" he shouted at the huge Death Eater behind Harry. "It is
time to be gone, before the Ministry turns up -"
• The first part is indication that Snape, provided my theory is correct, is back to his
old self.
• Snape, even now, continues to teach Harry as opposed to attack him. If Snape is
evil enough to kill Dumbledore, he would surely kill Harry, whom he hates,
without thinking twice.
"Impedi -"
But before he could finish this jinx, excruciating pain hit Harry; he keeled
over in the grass. Someone was screaming, he would surely die of this
agony, Snape was going to torture him to death or madness -
"No!" roared Snape's voice and the pain stopped as suddenly as it had
started; Harry lay curled on the dark grass, clutching his wand and panting;
somewhere overhead Snape was shouting, "Have you forgotten our orders?
Potter belongs to the Dark Lord - we are to leave him! Go! Go!"
• Lord Voldemort sent Death Eaters after Harry in OOTP. Why would he have
Snape spare him now? Even if Voldemort wanted Harry for himself, it sounds like
Harry was under the Cruciatus curse, which is painful but not necessarily fatal.
Why should Snape spare Harry that?
And Harry felt the ground shudder under his face as the brother and sister
and the enormous Death Eater obeyed, running toward the gates. Harry
uttered an inarticulate yell of rage: In that instant, he cared not whether he
lived or died. Pushing himself to his feet again, he staggered blindly toward
Snape, the man he now hated as much as he hated Voldemort himself -
"Sectum - "
Snape flicked his wand and the curse was repelled yet again; but Harry
was mere feet away now and he could see Snape's face clearly at last: He
was no longer sneering or jeering; the blazing flames showed a face full of
rage. Mustering all his powers of concentration, Harry thought, Levi -
"No, Potter!" screamed Snape. There was a loud BANG and Harry was
soaring backward, hitting the ground hard again, ;un\ this time his wand flew
out of his hand. He could hear Hagrid yelling and Fang howling as Snape
closed in and looked down on him where he lay, wandless and defenseless
as Dumbledore had been. Snape's pale face, illuminated by the flaming
cabin, was suffused with hatred just as it had been before he had cursed
Dumbledore.
"You dare use my own spells against me, Potter? It was I who invented
them - I, the Half-Blood Prince! And you'd turn my inventions on me, like
your filthy father, would you? I don't think so . . . no"
Harry had dived for his wand; Snape shot a hex at it and it flew feet away
into the darkness and out of sight.
"Kill me then," panted Harry, who felt no fear at all, but only rage and
contempt. "Kill me like you killed him, you coward -"
"DON'T -" screamed Snape, and his face was suddenly demented,
inhuman, as though he was in as much pain as the yelping, howling dog
stuck in the burning house behind them - "CALL ME COWARD!"
• I think at this point, Snape is pushed too far and snaps. Can you blame him?
After all, would a coward have the courage to kill his redeemer for the greater good?
And he slashed at the air: Harry felt a white-hot, whip like something hit
him across the face and was slammed backward into the ground.
• Seriously, why wouldn’t Snape just kill him here?
Spots of light burst in front of his eyes and for a moment all the breath seemed to
have gone from his body, then he heard a rush of wings above him and
something enormous obscured the stars. Buckbeak had flown at Snape, who
staggered backward as the razor-sharp claws slashed at him. As Harry raised
himself into a sitting position, his head still swimming from its last contact
with the ground, he saw Snape running as hard as he could, the enormous
beast flapping behind him and screeching as Harry had never heard him
screech -
Harry struggled to his feet, looking around groggily for his wand, hoping
to give chase again, but even as his fingers fumbled in the grass, discarding
twigs, he knew it would be too late, and sure enough, by the time he had
located his wand, he turned only to see the hippogriff circling the gates.
Snape had managed to Disapparate just beyond the school's boundaries.
Sigh…
You’re probably wondering, if Snape was on this grand adventure with Harry, what was Dumbledore up to?
Dumbledore would never leave the castle if he thought there was any possibility of danger there. I believe he waited in Snape’s office for one of two things. Either Snape would return and they would switch back or he would be there to complete ‘the plan’ should the Deatheaters arrive.
Chapter 29, page 619
"I was so stupid, Harry!" said Hermione in a high-pitched whisper. "He
said Professor Flitwick had collapsed and that we should go and take care of
him while he - while he went to help fight the Death Eaters -" She covered
her face in shame and continued to talk into her fingers, so that her voice
was muffled. "We went into his office to see if we could help Professor
Flitwick and found him unconscious on the floor. . . and oh, it's so obvious
now, Snape must have Stupefied Flitwick, but we didn't realize, Harry, we
didn't realize, we just let Snape go!"
• We already know from OOTP that Dumbledore is willing to Stupefy a fellow
good-guy if need be. He knocked out Kingsley Shacklebolt when he made his
escape from Fudge and his ministry goons in his office.
I think when he Stupified Flitwick he both maintained his ‘Snape’ persona and spared Flitwick from getting in the middle of the fight where he may have gotten hurt much worse.
So that’s about it.
Why did Dumbledore and Snape switch and why did Dumbledore sacrifice himself? That remains to be seen. I don’t have trouble believing Dumbledore would give up his life for the greater good.
After all, to the well-trained mind, death is but the next great adventure (I tried to remember that quote off the top of my head so if I flubbed it, be kind).
Thanks for reading. I can’t wait to hear what you think. I guess we’ll all know soon.
But not soon enough!