So many questions unaswered about Snape...

[Athena Appleton]

[quote="gran longbottom"

]Could that be a sort of subconcious thing against Snape then? Dumbledore subconciously knew things weren't right, so he gave him the cursed position?

Could be, but I doubt it. Doesn't it seem realistic that all the teachers would also know the DaDA job is cursed after all this time? I am still of the mindset that Snape is still good and part of DD's secret plan with Snape included being placed in the DaDA postion despite the curse.[/quote]

Have you read the mugglenet/Leaky Cauldron interview with Rowling? They asked straight on if Snape was good or bad, and she seemed really suprised by the very question, since they'd both read the book. I think it's quite clear, and has been at least since chapter 2 of HBP: Snape played Dumbledore for a fool.

In order for Snape to take that Unbreakable vow and still not be evil, he would have had to know that he would not actually have to kill Dumbledore, but the way it was worded, Snape knew when he went to Hogwarts that Dumbledore would be killed, if not by him than by someone else. Doesn't sound like a good guy to me.

I think it's safe to say that Dumbledore didn't intend for Snape to have to leave, whether he taught DADA for a year or not. Maybe he thought that only the job was cursed, and after a year of teaching DADA, Snape could still remain as Potions teacher. Maybe the sense of urgency Dumbledore felt about getting Slughorn's (that name makes me think there might be something actually more sinister to this guy than we know about now. Rowling has confirmed before that she finds slugs the most disgusting creatures ever) memory means that he was hoping they could somehow get rid of Voldemort during the school year, so that the DADA position might not be cursed after the person who placed the curse dies (i.e. he was hoping they'd solve the mystery before the end of the school year and thus have a non-cursed teaching position the next year).

That last post of mine, about Dumbledore subconciously trying to get rid of Snape, was really more joke than anything. It was from the person before me reminding us that Dumbledore knew the position was indeed cursed, and that wasn't just a rumor.

[Athena Appleton]

I've only just read through the entire first post (sorry), and I do have one comment:

Just because Snape's mother, or Voldemort's mother, were capable of using magic for protection, doesn't mean they would. In real life, women stay in abusive relationships all the time, even if there is a way out, for reasons only another person from an abusive relationship understands. While many wizards, both good and bad, think of Muggles as cute but basically a little dim-witted (yes, Malfoy and all the bad guys too, but Arthur Weasley and his family do the same thing, only with a different tone) doesn't mean that wizards can't feel threatened by Muggles. There are evil wizards and evil Muggles, and both are capable of inflicting pain on either race.

Perhaps Voldemort and Snape both grew up with a resentment that their mothers did nothing to better their situations when they could, but this is primarily because Voldemort and Snape are both capable of and willing to use their magic to "teach others a lesson". They just can't fathom why someone else wouldn't do the same.