Folly, Part NIne

[terri_testing]

Snape’s life has been a series of spectacular errors of judgment, to put it kindly.

This has to have been his worst.

Chapter Summary:  The headmaster can be very persuasive.

“He certainly knew what was right, nor could she fix on any one article of moral duty evidently transgressed, but yet she would have been afraid to answer for his conduct

Comments

[oryx_leucoryx]

Nice twists and turns. I love it when Severus gains insight and perspective.

The Death Eater cares more for (some, specific individual) Muggles than the notorious Muggle-loving-fool. (And cares more for children than the Headmaster.) Also, interesting conclusion regarding the position of Slytherins in Albus' view.

The previous time Severus had lied to Albus - that would be the night of the Prophecy, when he claimed to have taken a wrong turn and just found himself accidentally by Sybil's inn room?

Severus' ally - at this point in time, the only one I can think of is Lucius - who of course also has a son to protect, but his position is tenuous.

The new Patronus - he should keep that one away from Albus, never show your heart to that man, that is not safe. Is it meant to be a badger?

Thanks for comments

[terri_testing]

Thank the gods that he talked with Abby first, is all I can say

[oryx_leucoryx]

Also - now that he has reasons to doubt Albus, will Severus check on Harry?

Harry

[terri_testing]

I had previously not expected to go in that direction (though I could see the reasons why one might wixh it to, for ickle Harry's sake), but then when I wrote this chapter, yes....

Of course, if he tries to interfere with Albus's plans for Harry, he'd better REALLY be prepared to take on Dumbledore.

[jana_ch]

A child of Severus and a muggle woman would not be muggle-begot, but wizard-begot and muggle-conceived. Or perhaps muggle-borne, if the term didn't have another meaning. Men beget, women conceive and bear.

I'm a language nerd. So sue me.

Litigous nerds

[terri_testing]

Did you see the Candorville comic strip the other day, when Lemont was telling about his comic convention being sued by another.

Susan asked, "Are geeks litigous, then?"

"The subpoena was in Klingon."

Okay, so is "child chance-got on a Muggle" better,then?

Because you're right, of course, as part of Severus's self-invention he's rather a language nerd himself. Or more properly, a language snob.

Re: Litigous nerds

[jana_ch]

I'm a language snob, but I do my best to pass it off as nerdishness, because I really try not to offend people. It may not seem like it, but I really, really try. Many a rant I have deleted without posting, difficult though it was.

"'Fail' is not a noun! The noun is 'failure', dammit! And the verb is 'bear', not 'birth'! And the noun is 'tremor', not 'tremble'."

"Good God, can't you get your apostrophes under control? Simple plurals NEVER have apostrophes!"

"'They' is not a singular pronoun. English doesn't have many iron-clad rules, but noun-verb agreement is one of them!"

"People don't have gender, you idiots! Words have gender, people have sex!"

*rant*snarl*grumble*

Re: Litigous nerds

[oryx_leucoryx]

Actually they can be singular. From relevant wikipedia page

[mary_j_59]

Oh, yay! What a great Halloween present! I can't help wondering - is Severus's patronus now a badger? Does that mean he's contacting Pomona or (my first, very unlikely thought) Hagrid? Or maybe Aberforth? And Dumbledore is deliciously evil here. Poor kid! (I mean Severus, of course.) I am glad you straightened him out.

In fact, my only quibble is this: why did Severus feel impelled to tell Albus about Neville so soon? Is it because he'd hoped to lodge in Hogsmeade with the boy during the school year?

[oryx_leucoryx]

The badger(?) represents Neville. Pushing Neville on the swing is the memory with which the Patronus was made.

Severus was thinking of talking to Albus some 2 chapters back, because of the upcoming school year and the need to make arrangements for Neville.

Dumbledore evil

[terri_testing]

Glad you enjoyed

Re: Dumbledore evil

[oryx_leucoryx]

Hmm. So you are still working out who the ally is? Interesting. Remember that few people in Wizarding Britain are even aware that a Patronus can be used as a messenger, but of course anyone who knew Severus and saw a silvery image speaking with his voice would think this was some neat trick he learned or came up with.

But Severus was expecting the doe. The ally could only be someone Severus felt safe with seeing that image associated with him (however the recipient interprets it).

[nx74defiant]

Yeah! More of the story.

Poor Severus, he doesn't want to doubt the Great Dumbledore.

Either Dumbledore had been lying today, or … or he cared no more about the fate of Slytherin children than he did about Muggle ones
Dubledore does basically write off all the Slytherins.

The headmaster was doing nothing,
I'm glad to see Snape recognize this. Even if Dumbledore believes he can't stop Voldemort there is so much he can do to prepare. DD could work to weaken Voldemort's support and prepare those who will go against him.

Severus and the headmaster

[terri_testing]

Oh, yes. Severus does NOT want to doubt the headmaster, who's been his master since he lost faith in Lord V. He wants to think his second allegiance justified, Albus both wise and beneficicent. Moreover, Albus has been manipulating HIM since he turned by exerting moral superiority ("you disgust me"). Even if we don't assume the Confidere, canon!Snape was shocked and horrified to discover he could disagree with Albus on MORAL grounds