The Life and Lies of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore by Irvin Khaytman (good fiction books to read txt) 📗

Voldemort and Wormtail’s exchange later in GoF: “May your loyalty never waver again, Wormtail,” said Voldemort. (GF650) Both Dumbledore and Voldemort are speaking to followers whose loyalty has wavered before, and who are in their current position due to a betrayal of his former master.

Dumbledore is much more diplomatic about it (questioning the servant’s continued loyalty instead of demanding it). Yet both Dumbledore and Voldemort take the opportunity to needle Snape/Pettigrew. Dumbledore makes a dig about Slytherins. Voldemort throws in a deliciously ironic verbal slap, demanding loyalty and calling him “Wormtail” all in the same sentence, as a reminder of the childhood friends he betrayed.

But although Dumbledore is now assured that Snape’s loyalty won’t waver, their relationship deteriorates further, because by the end of May Snape seems to feel very little duty to Dumbledore at all.

“Mr. Crouch!” Harry shouted. “From the Ministry! He’s ill or something—he’s in the forest, he wants to see Dumbledore! Just give me the password up to—”

“The headmaster is busy, Potter,” said Snape, his thin mouth curling into an unpleasant smile.

“I’ve got to tell Dumbledore!” Harry yelled.

“Didn’t you hear me, Potter?”

Harry could tell Snape was thoroughly enjoying himself, denying Harry the very thing he wanted when he was so panicky. (GF558)

Let’s consider this. Snape has just run into a frantic Harry trying to get into Dumbledore’s office. Harry yells that a vanished Ministry official has shown up on the Hogwarts grounds and is crazy, and this high-ranking crazy Ministry official is running amok with a Triwizard champion. Snape decides to completely disregard all of this for the simple joy of tormenting Harry for a little bit.

It’s a rather interesting way to prioritize. Snape enjoys irking Harry, but he is intelligent enough to realize that if Harry is trying to see Dumbledore, there is a good reason, and that Dumbledore would be unhappy at Snape’s interference. This is an act of deliberate defiance against Dumbledore by Snape, a full year after the events of Prisoner of Azkaban. It’s Snape being petty. After all, no one holds a grudge quite like Snape.

All this serves to reinforce how angry Dumbledore must have been in Prisoner to risk drawing the ire of Snape—outing Lupin, obstructing Harry, and so on. Dumbledore reads people better than almost anyone, and he must know how vindictive Snape can be. Dumbledore is paying the price for not backing up Snape.

We get a final indication of how the two have grown apart during the Third Task. With the Crouch episode fresh in Dumbledore’s mind, Snape is not even entrusted with patrolling the maze during the Task; that job is given to Moody, McGonagall, Hagrid, and Flitwick (GF620). This is a stark departure from how Dumbledore usually operates; even earlier that year, when Harry’s name came out of the Goblet of Fire, it was McGonagall and Snape who accompanied Dumbledore (GF275). Dumbledore no longer assigns Snape any crucial tasks, and from all we know of Snape, he must have perceived this as a slight.

However, as we’ve established, Snape’s primary goal will always be revenge on Voldemort. This is why, once the imposter Moody is unmasked and Voldemort is revealed to have risen again, Dumbledore and Snape quickly reconcile. In fact, we witness this reconciliation without realizing it. Snape, in an uncharacteristic move, immediately brushes the grudge aside, backing up Dumbledore in pursuing Fake Moody and following Dumbledore’s instructions with nary a snide comment (GF680). Dumbledore, realizing the major point of contention in their relationship, asks Sirius to come forward in Snape’s presence; this is Dumbledore silently challenging Snape as to whether Snape can put aside his hatred of Sirius. And then Dumbledore says the words Snape has been waiting to hear all year: “I trust you both.” (GF712) It is at this moment that Dumbledore and Snape are reconciled.

Mindful of this, Dumbledore’s instructions to Snape are far politer than those for everyone else. He issues no-nonsense commands to everyone else, but to Snape he says, “Severus, you know what I must ask you to do. If you are ready . . . if you are prepared . . .” (GF713) Dumbledore is rarely so delicate in moments of action (consider his briskness when confronting Fake Moody or Fudge in the OotP climax), so this is noteworthy for showcasing their newly mended relationship.

We see their relationship is back to normal in Order of the Phoenix, because Snape actually accepts Dumbledore’s assignment to teach Harry Occlumency. While the idea of humiliating Harry on a regular basis probably holds some appeal to Snape, spending additional time with Harry is not something Snape wants to do. If Dumbledore had asked Snape to teach Harry Occlumency in Goblet of Fire, I don’t believe for a moment that Snape would have agreed . . . nor do I believe Dumbledore would have asked.

But now Dumbledore trusts him enough to ask, and Snape attempts to oblige, until his and Harry’s enmity proves too great. Note that Dumbledore does not appear to blame Snape for the “fiasco” (HBP79) of the Occlumency lessons. He either respects Snape for trying, or he just doesn’t have the luxury of antagonizing Snape when it’s crunch time against Voldemort. Most of the rest of Snape and Dumbledore’s relationship, fascinating though it is, plays out on screen in “The Prince’s Tale,” and we will return to it in due course.

The Winky Question

There is one question about Dumbledore that seems so obvious, I never thought to ask it until my fifteenth reread of the series. When Dumbledore rescues Harry from the clutches of Fake Moody after Harry returns from the graveyard, he issues a host of instructions to McGonagall and Snape before he actually begins questioning Crouch Jr. Why does Dumbledore tell Snape to fetch Winky before the Polyjuice wears off of the imposter Moody?

The obvious answer is that he knew it was Crouch Jr. masquerading as Moody, which is why I never thought twice about it. But how could he know? What is the logical leap from “There is someone Polyjuiced as Moody” to “Barty