Yes, I actually took the time to write this all out and type it all up

<lj-cut text="Why Snape is Not Evil”> The Theory: Dumbledore realizes that Voldemort will tell Snape to kill Dumbledore- it’s a final test, to make sure Snape is really for the Dark Side. Once Snape has proven his loyalty by killing Dumbledore, he will be Voldemorts most trusted servent. When it comes down to the final battle of Harry and Voldemort, Snape will show his true colors and save Harry or sacrifice himself for Harry. Somehow, Snape will play a crucial role in Harry’s defeating Voldemort. Reasons: 1. Dumbledore is pleading- for Snape to kill him. If Snape doesn’t kill him, Snape will die from breaking the Unbreakable Vow, and another Death Eater will kill Dumbledore, and all advantages will be lost. 2. Harry says to McGonagallthat he won’t disobey Dumbledore, even if he is dead. Dumbledore always trusted Snape and demanded that Harry do the same. Maybe in the finale, Harry will be forced to trust that Snape is good. 3. Snape says “DON’T CALL ME A COWARD’, and his face was suddenly demented, inhuman, as though he was in as much pain as the yelping, howling dog stuck in the burning house behind him.” He is in as much pain as Fang because he was just forced to kill the only person who believed that he was really good. He is no coward because he is now a spy so deeply entrenched in the Dark Side, that there is no one alive who knows that he is good. He is lying to the most powerful wizard alive. One misspeak, one mistake, and his cover is blown, and the Dark Lord will kill Snape and Dumbledore will have died for nothing. 4. Hagrid tells Harry that Dumbledore is angry with Snape. He says “Well, I just heard Snape saying Dumbledore took too much for granted and maybe [Snape] didn’t want to do it anymore- anyway, Dumbledore told him flat out that he’d agreed to do it and that’s all there was to it. Pretty firm with him. Dumbledore is angry with Snape because he is balking at killing Dumbledore. Because of the Unbreakable Vow, there was no way for Snape to get out of doing it without ruining the whole thing. 5. Dumbledore has never been wrong. Yes, he should have told Harry about the prophecy sooner, but he has never been wrong about concrete facts. Neither has Hermione. Hermione’s instincts on people have always been COMPLETELY accurate. Hermione says after Snape’s deception had come out that she thought that the Half Blood Prince had a twisted sense of humor, but he didn’t seem like a killer. Now suddenly, we are supposed to believe that Dumbledore and Hermione are completely wrong. And Harry and Ron, who have been wrong to many times to count, are suddenly right? 6. Thoughout HBP, there are hints that Dumbledore starting to get older and is making more mistakes. What if this is not insinuating that he was wrong to trust Snape? I think his big mistake was not telling Harry the truth about Snape. He didn’t tell Harry that Snape was going to kill him because he thought that Harry would interfere. He thought that Harry may try to save Dumbledore at all costs (also why he froze Harry when Snape killed him) Dumbledore also made the mistake of not telling Harry exactly why he trusted Snape so much. He had been on the verge of telling him when Harry found out about Snape’s role in the prophecy, but decided against it. 7. If Snape is bad, then why did he save Dumbledore after the incident with the first Horcrux? He could have easily pretended that the potion it called for was to advanced, or made a slight mistake with it that would result in Dumbledore’s death. That way Voldemort would be satisfied that Snape was loyal to him because he killed Dumbledore, and Snape could remain a spy in the Order because they wouldn’t suspect he had a hand in Dumbledore’s death. (or if they did, they would be stopped from saying anything out of respect for Dumbledore, who trusted him completely. 8. When Harry and Dumbledore returned from getting the locket, Dumbledore repeatedly asked Harry to get Snape. Maybe Dumbledore knew that the poison would kill him and so he wanted Snape to come and kill him, so Voldemort would trust Snape, and would not realize that Dumbledore had found one of the Horcruxes. 9. In the very beginning, Snpae explains exactly why and how he is loyal to Voldemort. But he could also be loyal to Dumbledore. As you were reading it, didn’t you stop after each point and mentally explain to yourself why he could still be loyal to Dumbledore? 10. Snape called the Order to the Ministry at the end of book 5. Why would he do that, and throw off Voldemort’s plans, if he was on the Dark Side. It doesn’t make sense. He could have easily pretended he didn’t hear Harry’s warning, or deliberately misunderstood it, and sent the Order somewhere else, and they wouldn’t have interfered and Voldemort would have gotten the prophecy. How mad was Voldemort when (or if) Snape told him that he was the one who called in the Order? 11. Why didn’t Snape kill Flitwick, Hermione and Luna when they told him about the Death Eaters in the castle? He could have killed them easily and it would have taken them both out of the fight later, when they proved to be an asset to the Order in the fight in the hallway. No one would have discovered them to be dead until it was too late and they knew Snape was evil. <lj-cut>