What was Dumbledore thinking? Taking the less charitable view, this could just be another entry in a long list of instances of Dumbledore siding with Gryffindors over Slytherins. More charitably, if one does not consider the historical context, we could attribute it solely to Dumbledore’s tendency to give people second chances.
Unfortunately, awarding Sirius a second chance robbed Severus Snape of his first chance. The Prank is doubtless one of the main factors that drew Snape to the Dark side. After his falling out with Lily (and it’s no surprise his nerves were on edge that following June), he had no one to turn to except his fellow Slytherins. He could justify it to himself by claiming that the other side was just as bad, as evidenced by Sirius and Dumbledore’s disregard for his life.
But none of this is happening in a vacuum: Dumbledore knows Sirius’s family background, and Sirius’s reckless and ruthless temperament. Especially in the middle of Voldemort’s reign of terror, it would be all too easy for Sirius to return to his roots and join the Dark side if he were removed from the moderating influence of the Marauders. Given that Sirius is a wizard of prodigious skill, Dumbledore does not want to risk it.
The unwritten story of The Prank is Dumbledore, in the thick of the first Voldemort War, making the kind of calculated decisions he would have to make later on in the HP book series. He is caught in a zero-sum quandary between Snape and Sirius. Whoever he sides with, there is a substantial possibility the other one will seethe right into Voldemort’s arms. Sirius and Snape both have awful home lives, an astounding level of magical skill, a certain lack of empathy, and Gryffindors as a moderating influence. So who’s Dumbledore to bet on?
After weighing the options, Dumbledore bets on Sirius. For all that Sirius is rough around the edges, and just displayed an alarming murderous tendency, he is still a Gryffindor. He still spends his time surrounded by good people, who will presumably impress upon him the severity of what he just did. (Remus, I imagine, was none too pleased at being weaponized by Sirius.) Sirius could still become a promising member of the Order of the Phoenix.
Is fifth year too early for Dumbledore to be thinking of recruitment for the Order? Most of the adults we see seem eager to mollycoddle Harry and his peers when they are sixteen. But in the 1970s, Dumbledore would have been desperate. Lupin tells Molly about his time in the first Order of the Phoenix: “We were outnumbered twenty to one by the Death Eaters and they were picking us off one by one. . . .” (OP177) And that chilling statement comes from Lupin, who was one of five young wizards and witches who joined the Order late in the game. Before the Marauders and Lily joined, the Order would have been even more hopelessly outgunned. Dumbledore would have been desperate for new recruits, desperate enough to look among his student body.
He sees promising young recruits among the Marauders. Dumbledore may also have factored in that losing Sirius would have altered the entire group in an unfavorable way—for all that Dumbledore is a solitary person, he is very well attuned to group dynamics. We see how he groomed the Trio to be a cohesive asset; he may have intended the same with the Marauders.
And on the other side, he sees young Severus.
“Snape’s always been fascinated by the Dark Arts, he was famous for it at school. [. . .] Snape knew more curses when he arrived at school than half the kids in seventh year, and he was part of a gang of Slytherins who nearly all turned out to be Death Eaters.” (GF531)
Dumbledore is essentially profiling Snape and the Marauders, and this is a perfect example of how profiling can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. On the one hand, there is a promising group of young Gryffindors who will most likely become valuable assets for the Order of the Phoenix. On the other hand, there is one boy immersed in a toxic environment of Slytherins—up to his greasy hair in Dark Arts and hanging out with the likes of Rosier and Lestrange. For Dumbledore, it’s a no-brainer: bet on Sirius by showing him clemency, and hope for the best with Severus. Perhaps he hoped Lily would have been able to salvage Severus. And no doubt he made Sirius feel about an inch tall with a thorough guilt trip when he allowed Sirius to remain at Hogwarts.
One thing is very clear: Dumbledore failed teenaged Snape very badly. He made a very difficult choice and sided with the Gryffindor over the Slytherin—as he always seems to do.
One wonders whether Dumbledore is aware of his own biases or if he always justifies them somehow? In the Tom Riddle/Hagrid episode, Dumbledore kept a shaky moral high ground because of Riddle’s culpability in Myrtle’s murder. In the Snape/Marauder episode, it was all about the war effort. And in the case of his mistreatment of Harry’s Slytherin peers, maybe it’s all done for Harry’s benefit. . . but that reasoning is rather flimsy.
We are shown later that Dumbledore is aware of it, as he is very self-aware in general. And if that choice of Dumbledore’s is indeed what cemented Sirius and Snape’s allegiances in the first Voldemort War, it is one of the most momentous decisions he makes in terms of how far-reaching the consequences are.
That choice is what informed Snape’s reactions on that fateful June evening, eighteen years later. Once again, Dumbledore sides against Snape. . . once again, to his peril.
The Parting of Ways
“The Prince’s Tale” shows us the progression of the exceedingly complex relationship between Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape. However, there are gaps in “The Prince’s Tale,” accounting for most of Harry’s first five years at Hogwarts. As we know, just because parts of the plot happen off-screen, it does not mean that they are not significant. In fact, in that gap we find a fascinating evolution of Snape’s relationship with Dumbledore. . . starting with that fateful night in Prisoner of Azkaban, when everyone’s emotions were running very high.
For a whole host of reasons, Snape is on edge the whole night. He “snarled” at Dumbledore and yelled, “Miss Granger, HOLD YOUR TONGUE!” all in front of the Minister of Magic (PA390). Snape does not usually disrespect Dumbledore in public, nor is he as awful to his students when witnesses are around. He’s not acting wholly rationally, but he grows infinitely more unhinged when Sirius escapes.
“HE DIDN’T DISAPPARATE!” Snape roared, now very close at hand. “YOU CAN’T APPARATE OR DISAPPARATE INSIDE THIS CASTLE! THIS—HAS—SOMETHING—TO—DO—WITH—POTTER!”
[. . .]
Fudge, Snape, and Dumbledore came striding into the ward. Dumbledore alone looked calm. Indeed, he looked as though he was quite enjoying himself. Fudge appeared angry. But Snape was beside himself.
“OUT WITH IT, POTTER!” he bellowed. “WHAT DID YOU DO?”
[. . .]
“See here, Snape, be reasonable,” said Fudge. “This door’s been locked, we just saw—”
“THEY HELPED HIM ESCAPE, I KNOW IT!” Snape howled, pointing at Ron and Hermione. His face was twisted; spit was flying from his mouth.
“Calm down, man!” Fudge barked. “You’re talking nonsense!”
“YOU DON’T KNOW POTTER!” shrieked Snape. “HE DID IT, I KNOW HE DID IT—”
“That will do, Severus,” said Dumbledore quietly. “Think about what you are saying. This door has been locked since I left the ward ten minutes ago. Madam Pomfrey, have these students left their beds?”
“Of course not!” said Madam Pomfrey, bristling. “I would have heard them!”
“Well, there you have it, Severus,” said Dumbledore calmly. “Unless you are suggesting that Harry and Hermione are able to be in two places at once, I’m afraid I don’t see any point in troubling them further.”
Snape stood there, seething, staring from Fudge, who looked thoroughly shocked at his behavior, to Dumbledore, whose eyes were twinkling behind his glasses. Snape whirled about, robes swishing behind him, and stormed out of the ward. (PA419-420)
This is a fascinating passage to read, because our interpretation changes completely based on whether you believe Snape knows about Hermione’s Time Turner. It could really be either one. Remember how Dumbledore relied on the Ministry’s stupidity to help Buckbeak
get away? He does this again, banking on Fudge not realizing Hermione might have a Time Turner. But why risk it?
If Snape knows about Hermione’s Time Turner, then Dumbledore is sending Snape a discreet message: stop talking now! By mentioning time travel, which is quite obviously the answer Snape is seeking, Dumbledore would be saying to Snape that there is a lot going on Snape doesn’t realize. Dumbledore would be banking on Snape obeying the unspoken command, and to be fair, Snape does desist immediately after this. There is much to recommend this view on the passage, but I am a detractor.
For me, the problem is that Dumbledore does not know that Snape will obey him. Snape is livid, for a host of reasons,21 and it’s pretty clear Snape has run amok when he starts yelling at the Minister of Magic. I don’t think Dumbledore would trust Snape to be reasonable enough to shut up given a clue from Dumbledore. He would not risk giving Snape the answer to incriminating the Trio, given Snape’s state of mind.
It’s reasonable to expect Snape not to know that Hermione has a Time Turner. After all, I doubt he would care very much how Hermione maintains her academic schedule, and the only teacher confirmed to know about it is McGonagall. The whole Time Turner thing seems to be treated on a very need-to-know basis, given that Harry and Ron themselves don’t need to know. This points to Dumbledore: Dumbledore probably realized early on that Harry’s best friend having a Time Turner might come in handy, and all of Dumbledore’s information concerning Harry and co. is distributed on a need-to-know basis. Snape likely did not need to know and therefore didn’t. While Snape may have been aware of the existence of Time Turners in general, Dumbledore banked on Snape not connecting that to the situation at hand.
This echoes Dumbledore’s earlier behavior with the Ministry. Just as he banked on being smarter than the Ministry officials, he is now hoping Snape isn’t as clever as he is. And just as Dumbledore was amused when making a mockery of Macnair, he is now “quite enjoying himself” by seeing Snape goaded (PA419). And this is because Dumbledore is extremely disappointed in Severus Snape tonight.
Dumbledore was once full of “contempt” for Snape (DH677) but believed that Snape had redeemed himself. Over the last thirteen years, Dumbledore has worked with Snape, taken him into his confidences more than anyone else, and trusted Snape with the all-important task of protecting Harry. At this point, Dumbledore believes that Snape has become a decent person.
Then Snape completely shatters all of that in one night. In Dumbledore’s view, Snape shows himself to be cruel, vindictive, and irrational. Snape is willing to sentence an innocent man to have his soul sucked out. Snape appears unconcerned with uncovering the truth, not bothering with finding out about Pettigrew in his haste to fulfill a vendetta. This is the man to whom Dumbledore entrusts Harry’s wellbeing? Completely unacceptable.
When Snape continues this pattern of behavior, trying to pin the mess on Harry, Dumbledore does not like Snape at all in that moment. And when Dumbledore does not like someone, he quite enjoys goading them—in fact, I think most of the times we see Dumbledore mentioned as enjoying himself, it’s because he’s taking the mickey out of the Dursleys or various Ministry people. So it is entirely in character for Dumbledore to have some fun at Snape’s expense in this moment, just as he recently did with Macnair and Fudge.
Several very passionate MuggleNet commenters have pointed out that Snape’s behavior is excusable based on his hearing only the part of the Marauders’ story that focused on their school years and none of the later bits about Sirius’s innocence and Pettigrew’s guilt. While this exonerates Snape to us readers (to an extent), it’s doubtful that Dumbledore was aware of this finer distinction. We have had years of rereading the passage to pick up on this. Dumbledore has only had a very emotional and hurried account from Sirius, an evidently biased account from Snape, and some disjointed yelling from Harry and Hermione. This is one of the very rare instances where we readers know more than Dumbledore. And as evidenced by the subsequent events I’m about to go into, Dumbledore is certainly unhappy with Snape, so this seems the most plausible line of reasoning.
What is striking is that the move to goad Snape might hurt Dumbledore’s endgame. Dumbledore knows that Voldemort will rise again one day, and when that day comes, Snape would be an invaluable asset—he already made the mistake of losing Snape’s allegiance once before. So what possesses Dumbledore to so antagonize Snape?
The answer is Harry, Dumbledore’s big blind spot. Especially after the events in the Chamber of Secrets, Dumbledore has grown to care for Harry immensely. Harry is Dumbledore’s weakness; he cares more for Harry’s wellbeing than for the eventualities of war. He says, “What did I care if numbers of nameless and faceless people and creatures were slaughtered in the vague future, if in the here and now you were alive, and well, and happy?” (OP839) Therefore, Dumbledore was willing to antagonize Snape for Harry’s happiness.
Having his godfather around would be the best possible thing for Harry’s happiness. Dumbledore wants to have Sirius around to take care of Harry, to serve as a much-needed father figure. Dumbledore finally has a way of ensuring Harry’s emotional wellbeing, so when Snape threatens that, Dumbledore is absolutely not having it. This is why Dumbledore, rather riskily, sides with Sirius over Snape, and Snape knows this.
This leads to an off-screen estrangement between Dumbledore and Snape. The following morning, Snape “accidentally let slip that [Remus] is a werewolf” at breakfast (PA423). Snape must surely have calmed down somewhat overnight, so this is a rational act of open defiance against Dumbledore. Snape knows how mad Dumbledore would be if Remus’s secret got out—after all, Snape has been keeping it since he was sixteen.
This is very deliberate on Snape’s part, proving that his mind is still lingering on The Prank. There are a thousand different ways he could have chosen to spite Dumbledore—indeed, we’ll see some of them later on. But his opening blow is to do the one thing that Dumbledore forbade him from doing the first time Dumbledore sided with the Marauders over Snape: reveal that Lupin’s a werewolf.
We have to wonder whether Snape and Dumbledore had a chat sometime between the hospital wing screaming match and breakfast, given that they were arguing in the hospital wing until after midnight. If they did, Snape was not satisfied, leading to his outing of Lupin in total disregard of Dumbledore’s orders. It’s also possible they didn’t, because we have a tiny bit of evidence that Snape did not tell Dumbledore everything that transpired. When interrogating Crouch Jr. a year later, Dumbledore does not know about the Marauder’s Map: “Map? What map is this?” (GF690) Yet Snape knows about the Map, because not only is he present for Lupin’s discussion of it (PA355), he also sees it in Lupin’s office: “Lying on your desk was a certain map.” (PA358)22 It’s possible Snape and Dumbledore talked and it didn’t come up, but it seems likelier they were both in a huff and didn’t talk that night.
So Snape outs Lupin. Dumbledore, meanwhile, acts even more drastically: he calls in a new right-hand man. No longer willing to rely on Snape, Dumbledore gets in touch with his old friend Alastor Moody over the summer and asks him to come to Hogwarts as the new D.A.D.A. teacher. Moody replaces Snape as the wizard Dumbledore can rely on to watch over Harry, and to help out with things. Sirius assumes Dumbledore called Moody in because Dumbledore is “reading the signs,” (GF226), but I fail to see how the Dark Mark at the World Cup is much more worrying than notorious mass murderer Sirius Black coming after Harry the previous year. Moody isn’t called in for extra protection; it’s because Dumbledore no longer relies on Snape. And that leads to a very unpleasant year at Hogwarts for all involved.
Chapter 4:
Albus Dumbledore and the
Goblet of Fire
Giving credit where it’s due: Voldemort’s plan in Goblet of Fire was brilliant. But first, let’s focus on Dumbledore. In Goblet of Fire, for once, he is being outplayed by Voldemort. Between Trelawney’s prophecy the previous year23, the deaths of Bertha Jorkins and Frank Bryce, the Dark M
ark at the World Cup, and then Harry’s name coming out of the Goblet of Fire, Dumbledore knows that something is afoot and it probably has to do with Voldemort. He is extra vigilant in watching Harry and relies on his old friend Moody to do the same. And in the meantime, he wracks his brains trying to figure out who’s behind all this.
I will not dive too deeply into his reasoning throughout the book, because I almost wholly agree with Josie Kearns’s masterful essay, “A Very Bad Year for Albus Dumbledore.”24 The gist of it is that Dumbledore can narrow down the suspects to Bagman, Karkaroff, or something weird and magical going on. (After all, he just witnessed Pettigrew come back from being presumed dead, and as an Animagus, to boot—this certainly expands his lines of inquiry.) Dumbledore also knows that something weird is going on with Mr. Crouch when he stops showing up to the Tournament, but what is it and what does it have to do with everything else?
Snape’s Grudge
Dumbledore is trying to solve this whodunit at the same time as the Trio and the reader. However, in this instance Harry and the reader have more information than Dumbledore does, through interactions with the suspects. Consider some of the things we know that Dumbledore doesn’t:
- Winky the house-elf was “saving Crouch a seat” at the Quidditch World Cup—for which he never showed. It is possible that Sirius relays this information after “Padfoot Returns”—but that is not until March.
- Bagman’s offer to help Harry, or his odd appearance in the woods right after the Dark Mark appeared
The Life and Lies of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore Page 6