Okay, so maybe I'm not that obsessed, but I still love the story, and now I find myself getting nervous about the ending! What's going to happen? Will Harry die? For the longest time I was the first person to say I don't know, and I think that if that's how Jo can best tell the story, she should go for it, but then I pick up and read once again the first chapter where it all started. I read about Harry as a little baby, and I think of him as a child, and I find myself saying, "No! How could the fate of all life in the world depend so much on this one little baby? His mother died to save his life...he can't die!" Just the same, I still have to admit that response was driven a little too much by emotion, and what more noble hero would there be than one who would willingly sacrifice his life to ensure the safety of everyone else?
I think the other big question that is plaguing everyone is: Snape...good or evil? My answer is a somewhat uncertain "good." Of course I'll just have to wait and find out with everyone else, but I think there are at least two bits of strong evidence in his favour. One is simply the way Dumbledore trusted him. Even though Dumbledore was certainly capable of making mistakes, they were few and far between, and clearly no matter how dodgy Snape seems throughout the stories, there's clearly something very powerful he's done to convince Dumbledore of his conversion from the dark side. Dumbledore was no fool, so clearly Snape did more than simply say a few kind words to convince Dumbledore he'd changed. Somehow, he'd proven it to the point of making Dumbledore believe he'd changed beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Another thing working in Snape's favour (although I'm going somewhat on hearsay here) would have to be the part in Half-Blood Prince where Harry overhears Snape in Dumbledore's office saying he won't do something, and Dumbledore insists that he must. May that have been Snape saying he couldn't possibly kill Dumbledore, and Dumbledore insisting that it's necessary? I think it's a possibility.
One more thing that I think shows Snape's loyalty would have to be at the end of the Hogwarts battle in HBP. It's in this scene, after Snape has done the unspeakable, that we find him in a show down with Harry. What does Snape do? He easily blocks all of the curses and hexes that Harry tries to throw at him, both Snape and Harry loathing one another with every fiber of their being, and in the livid discourse they share with one another, Snape slips in one little line which I find very interesting: "Blocked again and again and again until you learn to keep your mouth shut and your mind closed, Potter!"
Did anyone else notice this? Is Snape helping Harry Potter? Is Snape not giving Harry tips on the weaknesses he needs to fight if he's ever to defeat Voldemort? Wasn't it Snape who tried to teach Harry Occlumency? Hasn't Harry just spent the last school year struggling with non-verbal spells, and in the heat of the moment, isn't Snape emphasizing to him the importance that he improve on it if he wants to ever defeat Voldemort?
In all of this loyalty, I think the case for Snape falls short in one way: he effectively performed the Avada Kadavra curse on Dumbledore. Wasn't it stated in OotP that one must truly hate the person they're trying to kill and feel it with every fibre of their being in order for this curse to work? If Dumbledore just died by the Avada Kedavra curse, and Snape was the one who spoke the curse, how could he possibly have been faithful to Dumbledore? Perhaps he was able to brainwash himself into it, but this is still the one area I struggle with when taking into consideration whether or not Snape is good.
However, I guess only time will tell. We'll have to wait and see what happens. In the mean time, I strongly encourage you to come over to the right side. Join Dumbledore's Army by clicking on either the banner on the side of the page or at the bottom.
