Snape Question

[kerravonsen]

Question for the Harry Potter fans on my flist: if Snape had not joined the Death Eaters at all, how would history have changed?

We don't know whether Snape joined the Death Eaters while still at Hogwarts, or after he'd graduated, but I suppose for the purposes of this question it doesn't really matter. The crucial part was the chain of events triggered by Trelawny's prophecy.

1. James and Lily were already married, and already had Harry, and had already defied Voldemort three times. (Does anyone remember how old Harry was when Voldemort killed his parents?)
2. Snape applied for the Potions position (or did he apply for DADA?)
3. Snape overheard part of the prophecy, and told Voldemort.
4. Voldemort targeted Lily and James.
5. Snape went to Dumbledore and asked for protection for Lily.
6. Dumbledore arranged for James, Lily and Harry to be hidden.
7. Sirius was suggested as Secret Keeper.
8. Sirius swapped with Peter as Secret Keeper.
9. Peter told Voldemort.
10. Voldemort killed James, offered to spare Lily, she interposed herself, died, then Voldemort's curse rebounded from Harry.
11. Sirius confronted Peter, and was framed by Peter.

If Snape didn't join the Death Eaters, I can posit that there could be a very different future, or a fairly similar one.

A. Snape doesn't tell Voldemort about the prophecy, Voldemort doesn't target the Potters, Lily doesn't sacrifice herself, Voldemort is not defeated.

B. Someone else (Peter Pettigrew?) tells Voldemort about the prophecy, Voldemort still targets the Potters, Dumbledore figures out the Potters are in danger without being warned, Lily still sacrifices herself, Voldemort is still defeated, and Peter could frame Sirius just as he did in canon.

Even if we go with option B, certain things will be different. Snape will be sad, but he won't feel so guilty. Mad-Eye Moody won't gunning for Snape.

Other things will be the same. Snape will still hate Harry without reason, and he will still loathe Sirius and Remus. And he's still likely to be dark and sarcastic, though not to the same degree.

If he is teaching Potions (rather than doing something completely different) he will still probably be a harsh teacher; being the youngest professor on staff would be enough motivation, to try to maintain discipline amongst students that he's not much older than. The amount of favouritism he shows to Slytherins would probably be proportional to the amount of favouritism Dumbledore shows to Gryffindors.

So what are your theories?

Comments

[fred_mouse]

Personally, I think that the prophecy would still have got to Voldemort somehow. It is not necessary that Lily, James and Harry go into hiding, as they get found anyway.

As for Snape, without the owing a debt to Dumbledore*, I'm not convinced that he would have stayed at Hogwarts. Maybe he would have travelled, worked at other schools, not had quite the history with the older Weasley's, not had the same reputation as a fearsome teacher.

* regardless of what the books might or might not say, I'm convinced that he stays at Hogwarts that have little to do with his own happiness. If it is not a direct hold from Dumbledore, there is something else going on.

[kerravonsen]

I think that the prophecy would still have got to Voldemort somehow.

Agreed. Because it was one of those self-fulfilling prophecies, it would only have been given to Trelawny in circumstances that would ensure that Voldemort found out enough about it to take the actions that sealed his doom.
This doesn't mean that the prophecy would have to be the same prophecy, just a sufficiently triggering prophecy.

As for Snape, without the owing a debt to Dumbledore*, I'm not convinced that he would have stayed at Hogwarts.

In regard to Snape and teaching, the only thing I'm certain about is that Potions is his passion. I don't think his numerous applications for the DADA position had much to do with his interest in the Dark Arts, and more to do with fighting Voldemort (whether that be by making sure they had a competent DADA teacher, or by placating Voldemort by pretending to want the position, doesn't really matter to me).

I think he still would have had a reputation as a fearsome teacher, because, being the youngest professor on staff, he was too close in age to his students to get their obedience unless he came down hard on them at first, and since he found that worked, he wasn't going to change his methods. Because there's more chance of a catastrophic accident in Potions, it's more important to make sure the students behave, IMHO.

The question of whether Snape would become a teacher at all is an interesting one. We don't know enough about the Wizarding world to know what Snape's opportunities would have been. I don't think he'd be able to start his own Apothecary because he would have needed capital for that, and he was poor. He wouldn't have wanted to work for the Ministry, and we don't know what else was out there. I've seen some stories where it's mentioned that he's made money from patents on potions he's invented, but patents are a relatively modern concept, and I'm not so sure that the Wizarding world would use them.
It's possible that Snape might consider teaching as a trade-off for the opportunity to do his own Potions research in his spare time.

As for travel, I think he would do that if he considered it a symbol of freedom, but he wouldn't necessarily be burning to do so.

[jhall1]

I think that A is the more likely.

Does anyone remember how old Harry was when Voldemort killed his parents?

Not precisely, but he was very young. No more than a year or so old at most, I think.

I don't think that Snape hates Harry without reason, though admittedly his reason isn't a very rational one. He hates him because he's the son of James, the person who so cruelly teased him when they were schoolmates and who married the woman he (Snape) loved.

[fred_mouse]

harry's birthday is in July ("as the seventh month dies") and his parents were killed on Halloween. So, 15 months old.