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My big sticking point is the Unbreakable Oath. He didn't have a choice, which is part of the cloudiness of his situation. He HAD to kill Dumbledore.



UNLESS (I just thought of this) the task he was supposed to help Draco with was FIXING THE VANISHING CABINET!! We've all been assuming that he was supposed to help kill Dumbledore, but that might not have been part of it. Maybe Narcissa didn't know that part....


Oh darn. Now I'm confused on the one thing I wasn't confused about....

He didn't have to make the Unbreakable Oath, but he chose to. Then, yes he didn't have a choice about killing Dumbledore.

Interesting point I may say, that Dumbeldore had no clue Snape had made the unbreakable vow with Narcissa Malfoy.... why would Snape not tell Dumbledore if he was loyal to him?

Interesting idea about the cabinet....

I think it is hard to tell..but Snape didn't really have a choice on killing Dumbledore though since he had made the Unbreakable Vow and I feel that he had done that only to stop Malfoy's Mom from crying....but then again he might have fear Lucius Malfoy and decided not to start arguements there and so he decided to make the vow...but then again he is the 'Half-blood-Prince' and the half-blood-prince seemed pretty strong to me..So Snape might not have wanted to start any aguements in his old group that he was in so to say...because he knew that voldemort would com after him which i think if Snape wanted too he could kill voldemort too....So Snape also helped Dumbledore out with everything that Dumbledore needed....So Snape i would say was bassically Loyal to both side and he was neutral and only wanted James Potter Dead for what he did to him from when he was young....So either way you look at things he is pretty much on both sides and he can't decide who he had wanted to be loyal too more...
also when he makes that Unbreakable Vow he has to do what ever he can to protect malfoy....If Malfoy dies Snape dies *Snaps* just like that...No matter what he will die if Malfoy dies...If malfoy didnt kill Dumbledore then Voldermort woudl kill Malfoy and Snape would die

Since I started at Remy Lebeau aka Gambit (and some Matthew Fire Emblem 7: rekka no ken)tracks, I will continue:

Since Severus have worked as a spy for in of the parties, he has to decieve to the limit to gain trust in enemy territory.

By doing stuff like the deatheater mark, the unbreakable ritual and ultimatly killing the leader of the Phoenix order, Severus would succeed in gaining full trust from Voldemort.

But points can contradict this like Severus said himself that you can't hide anything from the dark lord(this could prove that Severus worked for Voldemort all this time), but book five could counter that Voldemort isn't as powerful(my impression) as he and 90% of the wizardcommunity claims.

More later after getting some sleep.

Well it has taken alot of time, but I finally came to a conclusion. I believe Snape to be Innocent. I think it would be just like JKRowling to make him the hero in the series, perhaps even being the one to kill Voldemort himself. I don't think Dumbledore is dead, and after reading this from wikipedia, I'm content to let things rest until July 7th.

Snape is a respected member of the Order of the Phoenix, but in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince he presumably kills Dumbledore with Avada Kedavra, the Killing Curse. A curious fact to note is that previous occurrences of the Killing Curse, the victim merely crumpled to the floor with their expression intact. In the this occasion, Dumbledore is actually blown from the roof and, when other characters investigate, he is said to have the expression of one who is asleep. This is something overlooked by most, but goes to imply that Dumbledore was not truly killed by the Avada Kedavra curse, but by something else. As was mentioned before, Snape is capable of non-verbal spells and it is possible that he said one spell but cast another. It is not clear to what extent the murder, staged or not, was his choice, however, as his actions were constrained by his Unbreakable Vow sworn to Narcissa Malfoy, which required him to ensure that Draco's task for Voldemort be completed. Draco's task (though it is never said explicitly) is assumed to have been to kill Dumbledore, but as he finally refused to do so, it fell to Snape. It is thought that, because of the amount of time inbetween the Vow and this occurrence, that Snape and Dumbledore might have planned a way to have Severus save Draco from the change taken when one kills another human being.