by Mistress Siana » Saturday 23 July 2005 9:50:25pm
What I've noticed about HBP is that there are quite a few little sentences that are seemingly meaningless but in fact hint at the way the plot develops. Typical JKR of course, but in HBP more than ever.
For example, in second chapter, Bellatrix says to Narcissa: "He lives here? In this Muggle dunghill? We must be the first of our kind to ever set foot on.." So what did she mean with "our kind"? It can't mean wizards since Snape obviously is one, and I doubt she meant "women". So I guess she must have referred to Pure-bloods. The first hint to who the HBP was.
Then there's the fact that the look on Harry's face when he force-feeds DD that potion on his (DD's) orders and, only one chapter later, the look on Snape's face when he kills DD are described with the same words: Hatred and revulsion. In Harry's case, it's explained that it's hatred at himself and revulsion at what he was doing. Could that be a hint that underlines the popular theory that Snape also acted on DD's order?
Then there's another line in the second chapter that bothered me. When I first read it I had the feeling it meant something but dismissed that thought as highly unlikely, but when Bellatrix's little comment proved significant, I gave it a second thought. When Snape explains his behaviour to Bellatrix, he says:
"He (DD) has since substained a serious injury because his reactions are slower than they once were. But throughout all those years, he has never stopped trusting Severus Snape, and therein lies my great value to the Dark Lord."
Doesn't anybody find it strange that Snape suddenly talks about himself in second person? Personally, I find it highly uncharacteristic. I know it's somewhat far fetched, but I can't help wondering if it possibly wasn't Snape himself that made the Vow. Why? The possibility that Death Eaters impose other people via polyjuice was emphasized at the beginning but never became a subject. And obviously, the DEs themselves are not using passwords to make sure one is really who he says he is. So wouldn't it be an intelligent (and logical) strategy for the order to employ that idea themselves? Apart from that, I found the words I quoted sound a lot like Dumbledore...he uses the same explanation for his condition later when he talks to Greyback...and the "I trust Severus Snape" part is quite like a mantra DD has to repeat over and over. I don't know...I just had a very strange feeling when I read it because it's so very unlike Snape to talk about himself in second person, and considering the fact that my strange feelings tend to prove right, I thought I'd share.