Snape is in a perfect position to cleave together the cleft worlds of wizardry. If he can convince Malfoy that not Dumbledore but Voldemort threatened the life of his son, he can make these old enemies into allies against voldemort.
By who? The Purebloods who see him as an ally aren’t afraid of him. But yes, in Hogwarts—see Eliezer’s response here. I don’t know how Snape compares to artifact-holder Moody (who seems more likely to scare Death Eaters). Severus outranks dueling champion Flitwick in power (according to the reference in that thread) but Moody would tell you not to trust duels as a measure of combat readiness.
When I wrote my comment, I went looking for the passage I was thinking of, and found the one you quote instead. But I could have sworn there was a later passage where Dumbledore tells Harry essentially the same thing.
I’d put more weight in Dumbledore’s claim, as we see Snape helping Dumbledore/Harry extensively, and all of his actions seem to have the best of intentions. (Also, Eliezer does not seem to have tampered with canon allegiances much.)
EDIT: Upon looking through the HPMOR archives, I think I may have been thinking of chapter 18, where Dumbledore says that Snape has his fullest confidence. Other useful information on Methods!Snape’s loyalties are to be found in chs. 77 and 86. I feel like there may be some other relevant chapter here, like after Dumbledore had more fully taken Harry into his confidence, but not in a discussion with Snape or McGonagall present.
I can’t help suspecting that what you’re actually thinking of is this:
in chapter 7, which of course was written not by Dumbledore but by Lucius Malfoy.
Snape is in a perfect position to cleave together the cleft worlds of wizardry. If he can convince Malfoy that not Dumbledore but Voldemort threatened the life of his son, he can make these old enemies into allies against voldemort.
Snape is also the most Muggle-aware main character.
I’m rather curious about Snape’s magical power. Is he considered the “Bellatrix Black” of the Light?
By who? The Purebloods who see him as an ally aren’t afraid of him. But yes, in Hogwarts—see Eliezer’s response here. I don’t know how Snape compares to artifact-holder Moody (who seems more likely to scare Death Eaters). Severus outranks dueling champion Flitwick in power (according to the reference in that thread) but Moody would tell you not to trust duels as a measure of combat readiness.
When I wrote my comment, I went looking for the passage I was thinking of, and found the one you quote instead. But I could have sworn there was a later passage where Dumbledore tells Harry essentially the same thing.
I’d put more weight in Dumbledore’s claim, as we see Snape helping Dumbledore/Harry extensively, and all of his actions seem to have the best of intentions. (Also, Eliezer does not seem to have tampered with canon allegiances much.)
EDIT: Upon looking through the HPMOR archives, I think I may have been thinking of chapter 18, where Dumbledore says that Snape has his fullest confidence. Other useful information on Methods!Snape’s loyalties are to be found in chs. 77 and 86. I feel like there may be some other relevant chapter here, like after Dumbledore had more fully taken Harry into his confidence, but not in a discussion with Snape or McGonagall present.
I agree: in HPMOR as in canon, Snape appears to be on the whole one of the Good Guys, and it seems likely that he has more to do.