Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Spoilers)

[Meredith Rice]

Originally Posted by shyra1353

Dumbledore trusted Snape because Snape told him that it was he who had told Voldemort about the prophecy. I don't quite understand how that makes Dumbledore trust him, but it's the reason that he gives Harry. I think there is something more to it though. Think maybe Snape had to do something to prove his loyalty to Dumbledore?

Reading this triggered a thought in my mind. I always knew there must be a really good reason behind Dumbeldore's consistent trust in Snape, and here is one theory.....

As someone else mentioned, it was during Snape's confession to Dumbeldore that he was responsible for telling Voldemort about the Prophecy resulting in Lily's and James' deaths, that Dumbeldore knew Snape had repented and gave him his trust. I think you are right Shyra that Dumbeldore must have tested this.... What if the test was that he asked Snape to partake in an Unbreakable Vow with himself to protect Harry's life, and maybe even to help him in his quest to ultimately destroy Voldemort? This would be very appropriate since it would be something extremely hard for Snape to do given his history with James, yet prove his remorse by protecting the child he helped in orphaning. And, by including in the Vow that he must aid in destroying Voldemort, it would ensure that he was no longer on the side of the Death Eaters. It is my opinion that the idea of the Unbreakable Vow was purposefully underdeveloped and left unexplained because it will play a much greater role in the final book, beyond even that of protecting Malfoy. (Please let me know what you think of this one idea!!)

Perhaps Dumbeldore's death was connected to these two Unbreakable Vows and in a way was expected or necessary, although how, I am not sure of. It seems easy enough for Dumbeldore to continue parting his wisdom to Harry and the Order through his headmaster's portrait....almost too easy. Has JKR ever explained how portraits are able to maintain what seems like a piece of someone's soul that can communicate with the living? Harry's photos of his parents never communicate to him. It seems too good to be true that someone can live on in their portrait as we all hope Dumbeldore does.

I definitely predict that book 7 will be immensely long since there is so much left to be explained. JKR promised more insight into the nature of ghosts and the veil that was seen at the Ministry in book 5, and so much more. I imagine since this will be a very involved conclusion to the series that an early would be very hard to achieve. I doubt she has finished writing it, let alone editing it (I could be wrong though, which would be very nice ).