Dumbledore was Snape's first murder?

Snape was already a favored Death Eater by the time he found out the Prophecy.

Was he? What makes you think he was favoured?

I think it says a great deal about his status that he was able to ask Voldemort to spare the life of a muggleborn order member, and Voldemort actually made brief an attempt to spare Lily.

Whilst this has weight, it's not perfect - perhaps his status only came about because he delivered the prophecy.

As for his request to Voldemort, we can't be certain that he's high up the ranks. He's certainly respected enough to have taken the Dark Mark, but Snape is so desperate to save Lily, he even approaches Dumbledore.

So it's more the evidence points to Snape not caring in the slightest what anyone thought of him - he was so desperate, he'd have done anything to save Lily's life. In which case, it doesn't really matter what Voldemort thinks of him...he could be anything from his right hand man to his boot cleaner.

The fact that Voldemort honours the request is more interesting. Perhaps he saw Snape as being extremely valuable. Perhaps it was merely reward for the prophecy. Perhaps he saw Lily as a great way to control Snape in the future (because he's desperate - he offers Dumbledore, "Anything!" ).

while you're right about Snape not being a death eater for more than three years, that's more than enough time to kill a few people and move up the ranks.

I don't think even think it's three years. He left school in the summer of 78 and he's approached Dumbledore by the autumn of 80.

In truth, we don't really know much about how the Death Eaters operated, or whether there were ranks to climb.

And remember that Snape is a fully committed death eater, and displayed enough commitment in the first war that Voldemort decided to trust him when he returned in GoF.

Voldemort decides to trust a lot of people with very sketchy reputations when he first comes back to power. He trusts Lucius Malfoy, who told the world he'd been under the influence of the imperius curse.

Snape walked in like the goose who'd laid the golden egg. His followers are either in Azkaban, or they've waltzed around pretending they weren't ever loyal to him in the first place...and then in walks Snape who can stand there and say that his every action was based on Voldemort's own instructions back in the 1980s. No wonder Voldemort was keen to accept him back into the fold - he probably appeared as one of the only Death Eaters who was any use.

Snape's speciality is dark magic. He wasn't hanging out in the back room making healing potions.

I didn't say he was...but you have no real evidence that he wasn't. (I don't think he was, but you can't really rule it out.) You can also be a violent Death Eater without murdering people.

Why would he mention the people he killed to Bellatrix?

Because twice during the Unbreakable Vow scene she calls into question his lack of involvement - says that he's never in the thick of the action, or he's always slithering out of things.

If Snape had slaughtered a bunch of people, even in the first war, you'd think he'd refer back to it to prove her wrong. He doesn't have to know their names - it's as simple as saying, "The family of muggles after Christmas," or something similar.

/r/harrypotter Thread Parent