25. Lorrie Kim makes an intriguing point (SNAPE23) that Snape’s partisanship towards Slytherins is his way of boosting them because they’re ostracized for their connection to Voldemort and the Dark Arts. As is usual for her, it’s a very charitable view of Snape. However, I posit that Snape favors the Slytherins and undermines the Gryffindors to counterbalance what he has observed to be Dumbledore’s bias in the opposite direction. But as we witness in Sorcerer’s Stone, once Harry enters the picture and gets Dumbledore more involved in Hogwarts, Snape’s efforts prove futile.
26. He is most guilty of this in Chamber of Secrets, when he was putting on a show without even having an audience there. But that can be attributed to the arrogance of youth—if the adult Voldemort is full of himself, it’s nothing compared to the self-satisfied teenage version. And the habit of wanting to win in style is a hard one to break.
27. I base this on the assumption that Dumbledore has already viewed Morfin and Hokey’s memories by the beginning of Book 5. We cannot be certain of this, but Dumbledore says that he “attempted to use [the memory] to secure Morfin's release from Azkaban.” (HBP368) This would have been a fool’s errand after Dumbledore and Fudge’s parting of ways, so it probably happened before that.
28. There were a lot of questions that assiduous fans sought answers to: Would Harry live or die? Would Tom Riddle die along with Voldemort? Would Neville’s status as an also-ran Chosen One factor in at all?
As the debate raged on, the interpretations became more and more creative, like the one stating that Harry would have to rapidly conceive another child to be born at the end of July, and that kid would be the one to finish off Voldemort. (It was a compelling theory, based on the repetition of the line “the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies . . .” In one fanfiction I read, Hermione delivered a magical PowerPoint presentation to Harry and Dumbledore all about it.)
29. When the DA was busted, per the Lexicon’s calendar.
30. A popular theory online is that this was all an act for Harry’s benefit to show him how awful James and Sirius were. (For example, see the chapter discussion for “OP28—Snape’s Worst Memory” at the HP Companion) I don’t buy this, because Snape must have seven years’ worth of memories of being bullied by James and Sirius, so why would he choose the one involving Lily coming to his rescue? Besides, the memory does not cast Snape in a good light either.
31. This was the editorial that set me on the path of figuring out Dumbledore’s convoluted plans in the last two books. While I disagree with almost all of the conclusions reached, the research is impeccable, and it’s exactly the kind of deep dive into the minutiae of Dumbledore’s plans that I so enjoy reading.
32. Robbie Fischer had an alternate theory for this, pre-DH. In his essay “He Did It All for Harry,” Robbie posits that Dumbledore gave in and assigned Snape the D.A.D.A. position purely to advance Harry’s career prospects. Dumbledore knew Harry couldn’t become an Auror without taking a Potions N.E.W.T., and Snape wouldn’t accept Harry into his N.E.W.T. class. So instead of overriding Snape, Dumbledore shuffled around his entire pedagogical roster to make sure Harry could become an Auror. While I don’t buy this theory, I really like it, because it perfectly captures how Dumbledore cares disproportionately for Harry. As Robbie writes, “He left the entire wizarding world more insecure and leaderless than ever, more or less to advance the career prospects of a single, favored student.” That statement is right at home in this book.
33. Dumbledore admits he doesn’t know which specific Horcrux he’s hunting (HBP547).
34. It’s rather puzzling why Dumbledore did not get the Grey Lady to spill her secrets the way she did to Harry. Surely he would think it worthwhile talking to her, given that she is Helena Ravenclaw, and is best positioned to know something relevant about her mother’s artifacts? We’ll have to chalk this one up to being on Dumbledore to-do list for the last month of his life.
35. There is irony in Draco being assigned to kill Dumbledore as Voldemort’s retribution against Lucius. Since Dumbledore orchestrated the entire prophecy decoy that led to the Battle of the Department of Mysteries and Lucius Malfoy’s disgrace, Dumbledore is responsible (in a very roundabout way) for Draco being in Voldemort’s crosshairs and being charged with killing him.
36. Credit here goes to Lady Lupin, who saw this parallel even before Deathly Hallows was released. In Spinner’s End #10: “The Other Trio: Dark, Darker and Darkest,” Lady Lupin wrote the following very prescient passage: “Harry's task is to vanquish Voldemort; Malfoy's task is to kill Dumbledore. Each boy must face the far more experienced leader of the opposing force. In this case, Draco was unable to complete his task, and Snape did it for him. Will Harry complete his task? Will Snape aid Harry in that task?”
37. An internet commenter, CaseyL, offered a different theory: Dumbledore “intended to keep the fact that Snape had killed him secret.” They claim that Snape would have told Voldemort that Dumbledore died because of his fatal hand injury. It’s an interesting theory, supported by Snape telling Narcissa and Bellatrix how Dumbledore “sustained a serious injury.” (HBP31) But this seems like too risky a move for Dumbledore—there would almost certainly be Death Eater witnesses to Snape’s murder of Dumbledore, and Snape needs to be in Voldemort’s good graces, so he has to take credit for the murder.
38. The plan to use Seven Potters seems to me to be some of Jo’s weakest writing, because it appears to have arisen out of a desire for drama rather than logic. There are a million easier ways to
