Why did Dumbledore let Snape teach DADA?

One answer I didn't get from the book (or I probably missed it and I'm counting on you to help me!) is why did Dumbledore suddenly decide to make Snape the DADA prof? Obviously, DD didn't trust Snape enough to let him have the post before, even though he knew Snape really wanted it. What made DD change his mind?

I can't help but feel this is significant in relation to the ending. DD must have already decided to let Snape teach DADA when he and Harry visited Slughorn. I know, one theory would be that DD couldn't find anyone else and since Slughorn used to teach Potions, it only made sense to make Snape the DADA prof. This answer seems too easy. I mean, couldn't Tonks have taught DADA? DD had trouble finding DADA profs before, but even then, he didn't consider letting Snape have his dream job.

Also, we found out that the DADA post was cursed by Voldemort when he was refused the job. So, DD knew that Snape could only hold the post for one year, or that maybe something bad would happen to him. Did Snape also know about the curse? If so, he would have known that he could only keep the job for one year.

It seems to me that DD and Snape had some sort of deal going. This would play into the ending. A lot of posters have opined that maybe Snape and DD switched roles via Polyjuice Potion, and that Snape is really the one who died and DD is now a spy among the Death Eaters.

Any thoughts on why DD let Snape become DADA prof?

As I have mentioned before elsewhere, I shrieked in horror when I saw that he became the DADA Professor. And I am guessing that Dumbledore possibly knew that he was going to die and so he wanted to get the worst out of Snape...not completely sure. And besides, this is heavily supported by the fact that he asked Slughorn back when Slughorn used to teach Potions, not DADA.

I think that DD knew that Snape would kill him at the end of year because Snape reported back to him about the unbreakable vow. Knowing that Snape's life would have to flee after the seemingly cold-blooded murder of Albus Dumbledore, DD gave Snape the job he's always wanted as a goodbye present.

i have no idea why he let it happen, maybe because no one else would take the job.

but it was obvious that something was up when he infomed harry that the job was cursed when voldemort was refused the position. dumbledore gave snape the position knowing that no other teacher had managed to hold on to it. isn't that a bit odd?

I think that DD knew that Snape would kill him at the end of year because Snape reported back to him about the unbreakable vow. Knowing that Snape's life would have to flee after the seemingly cold-blooded murder of Albus Dumbledore, DD gave Snape the job he's always wanted as a goodbye present.


BINGO!

I dont know why but to me this is what I think. DD said Harry is most important. I think he gave Snape the position in order to ensure that Harry could continue schooling to become an Auror, remember what McGonnacall (sp) said in OOTP, she would do anything to make sure that Harry became an Auror. JMO

BINGO!
Oooer, do I get a gift certifcate to Othopedic Shoes Ltd?

I find it odder that both Snape and Voldemort applied unsuccessfully for the same position. Is there some secret to the post? Some special access to the powers of Hogwarts castle? Some reason Voldemort wanted to ensure that nobody served in the post for more than a year?

I've been saying for ages that Snape would be the DADA in Book 6.

The real question for me is not, why did Dumbledore give it to him now, but what's the REAL reasoin he never gave it to Snape before? I don't necessarily accept the explanation Snape gave to Bellatrix.

I don't know. It seemed really odd that Dumbledore allowed him to be DADA teacher too. I wonder if he thought that Snape would know more about the Dark Arts and could therefore better teach the students about Dark Spells and how to Defend themselves from them now that they were in open war where it would be more common for students to run into them.

The real question for me is not, why did Dumbledore give it to him now, but what's the REAL reasoin he never gave it to Snape before? I don't necessarily accept the explanation Snape gave to Bellatrix.That's my question. Snape eventually had to have DADA post, just because it's bound to happen for plot reasons. But logically, why on earth would Dumbledore give him that post at all? Through books 1-5, it's been reiterated that Snape + DADA = Evil. So why risk it?

I don't think Dumbledore stopped Snape from having the DADA job all those years because he thought it would turn Snape evil. I think he stopped him because Tom Riddle appears to have cursed the post, so that teachers never last more than a year. I think Snape was too valuable to DD to risk something happening to him.
And since he knew that Snape would have to kill him in the end, he figured he'd only be there a year, so why not?

I think DD did it for a very good reason. The book says that no one has stayed in that position for more than 1 uear ever since Voldy was refused the job! Maybe he trusts him less than we think.(yes I said trusts and not trusted,I've got my theories)

Mayhap Dumbledore gave the job to Snape to get rid of him?

It is jinxed, as Dumbledore admitted (By none other than Voldemort himself), and Dumbledore must have known that he wouldn't last more than a year. It could be he thought he'd get along with his potions work, but he seems to have misread the signs.

Still...tantalizing thought.

DD also needed Slughorn at the school to teach potions and somehow extract the crucial memory. He wasn't going to fire Snape to bring Slughorn on board.

i have no idea why he let it happen, maybe because no one else would take the job.

but it was obvious that something was up when he infomed harry that the job was cursed when voldemort was refused the position. dumbledore gave snape the position knowing that no other teacher had managed to hold on to it. isn't that a bit odd?
Sorry, I obviously missed that bit - in which chapter does it say that Voldemort cursed the position when it was denied him?
I was under the impression that Quirrell had had the job for some time (a couple of years, at least) before Harry came along (or before he went to Albania to study vampires) ... perhaps I was wrong about that.

Sorry, I obviously missed that bit - in which chapter does it say that Voldemort cursed the position when it was denied him?
I was under the impression that Quirrell had had the job for some time (a couple of years, at least) before Harry came along (or before he went to Albania to study vampires) ... perhaps I was wrong about that.

Hmmmm....maybe you've found a book mistake. :p

Snape becoming the DaDa professor and being replaced by a teacher who would let Harry take Potions even with an E on his OWL was one of the only theories of mine (perhaps the only one) that turned to be 100% correct.

NONVERBAL MAGIC...it seems that only powerful wizards can do this with ease. plus AD had no time to find DADA slughorn was a prime candidate for him because he knew snapes would teach one or the other.

as for AD not giving for 14-15 years ... LV arisal means that he needed someone who knew there stuff...I also thoght that not employing snapes for DAD was to help harry...as not to ruin his learning DADA.

hmmmm.. Dumbledore never SEEMED to entertain the thought of placing Snape in the DADA position. But, he does this year? WHY? Perhaps, because he feels that will show Voldemort that Dumbledore trusted him without a doubt, since Dumbledore had turned Voldemort himself down for the position when he had applied. Voldemort not getting the position showed Voldemort that only someone Dumbledore would trust would gain that job. So.. I am starting to think, now that Snape's new DADA position was just to get everything lined up the way it needed to be for his death and Snape's ultimate "PROOF" of loyalty to Voldemort. Dumbledore and Snape used this as a way for Snape to get into Voldemort's confidence. (I am referring to this because of the theory on Snape killing Dumbledore on Dumbledore's own orders that was mentioned in another post by someone else)

I really wasn't expecting Snape to have the DADA position in this book, I thought for sure it would be the last book. But I agree with what has been said, I think it was a small "thank you" from Dumbledore. He wanted the position and this was his last chance to get it. I believe Dumbledore knew his fate and knew that this was the only time he could let Snape have the DADA position.

I think they may be something more to DD trusting Snape. The reason we have heard, Snape not wanting Lily and James to die seems a pretty weak reason for DD to trust Snape, I think there must be something more to it, something more recent that happened between the beginning of OOTP and the beggining of HBP. I can't imagine that it was simply DD changinmg his mind. Although we have seen trust based on littke befire from DD, Sirius was not truely proven innocent the only way that could happen would be by somebody seeing Pettigrew, and that hadn't happened when DD became to trusts Sirius again

yeah, my jaw hit the floor on that one! What is up with that? Why now?? I still think more of the big picture needs to be revealed.

I was completely stunned that DD finally allowed Snape to be the DADA teacher when he has denyed him the position for so many years (I can't remember exactly how many). As somebody mentioned earlier, it is interesting that both Voldemort and Snape wanted the position. I wonder why...or maybe it's obvious and I just missed it!

It's almost as if Dumbledore gave Snape what he wanted as kind of a reward for the fact that he'd have to kill Dumbledore (even though he didn't want to) at the end of the year and leave Hogwarts. Snape finally got what he wanted-to teach DADA. Why would he want to give that up to become a Death Eater? I think that Snape and Dumbledore made an agreement, and that Dumbledore made Snape agree to kill him. I do wish we'd seen more of the actual DADA classes-I bet they'd be interesting...
~DogStarBlack :)

It's almost as if Dumbledore gave Snape what he wanted as kind of a reward for the fact that he'd have to kill Dumbledore (even though he didn't want to) at the end of the year and leave Hogwarts. Snape finally got what he wanted-to teach DADA. Why would he want to give that up to become a Death Eater? I think that Snape and Dumbledore made an agreement, and that Dumbledore made Snape agree to kill him. I do wish we'd seen more of the actual DADA classes-I bet they'd be interesting...
~DogStarBlack :)


I DO think we need to investigate a bit more into the things that were mentioned in DADA class (or the assignments Snape set for the class). There MAY be a clue in there to explain things, or it could be something that was supposed to prepare Harry for his final battle.

I didn't see it so much as a "reward" as

A) Snape was there to teach Harry something of importance, what better way than to tell Snape the topics to touch on. Dumbledore KNEW that Harry wouldn't be keen on the idea of private lessons after the last Occumency lesson, so the best way to get the lessons to him would be Snape instructing the class as a whole.

and

B) This opened the way for Slughorn to be Potions master. Dumbledore needed Slughorn around for the memory, yes. BUT, I do believe that Dumbledore, KNOWING that Harry didn't expect to be in Potions lead to this (giving Harry the chance to take the class) AND giving Harry a chance to see that Advanced Potions book of Snape's. I don't think it was an accident that Harry received Snape's old book. I think it was there to teach him something. We all know Harry often has clues right in his face, but doesn't investigate them as closely as he could. Maybe there's more in that book that Harry should know. I am very much looking forward to Harry retrieving that book (and I do think he will). If for nothing else, to lead him to understand Snape and what brought Snape to adulthood.

I had always thought that Snape would become DADA teacher, I was just surpised how early it came. I was expecting Snape to become DADA teacher in book seven as this would mean Harry coukd take that job off snape. We now need two new teachers to Hogwarts, if McGonagall is to be headmistress. A transfiguration teacher and a DADA teacher. That is if Hogwarts reopens

It seemed to me that the differences between Snape and Umbridge were few.

It looked like that Snape focused a bit more than needed on writing essays and such on the topics concerning the Dark Arts, with a minimal amount of actual wandwork.

Maybe Dumbledore realised that Snape really wad bad, so he gave Snape the job knowing that the curse would make Snape have to leave. Dumbledore could just bump off anyone he wanted by making them DADA teacher.

I was a bit shocked that Dumbledore finally gave in and made Snape that DADA professor.
I don't think he was bad at it either. We didn't really see all that much of the DADA classes, but silent magic does seem like it will be important.
I was also glad to see Snape with Harry in a subject that he is actually good at. Harry's explaination of the differences between ghosts and Inferi WAS helpful and practical, no matter how much Snape may have tried to make him feel stupid.
Anyway, Snape was definately an improvement on Umbridge anyway. His DADA glory was short lived though.

After so many years of denying Snape the DADA possition, why, did Dumbledore give it to him this year. He knew that Voldemort had indeed cursed the position. So he must have known that giving it to Snape would mean that he would be gone by the end of the year. Maybe Dumbledore already knew that Snape would be gone by the end of the year anyways (that is, if the theory about his death being planned is correct,) So he finally allowed him to have it.

Additionally, its been said that in order to perform the killing curse you really need to mean it. If its true that Snape was ordered by Dumbledore himself to kill him, then perhaps he was given the DADA because it would indeed bring out the worst in him, as dumbledore always thought it would (enabling Snape to perform the curse.) I'm not sure if thats a plausible reason, if it would actually provide the means to perform the killing curse, but I guess its worth posting. I'm still torn about the Snape being good or bad issue.

Any opinions? Why did Snape finally get the job?

I also do not know why Snape was given the DADA job when DD had denied him for so many years. Imagaine Glideroy Lockhart over him? Maybe DD knew he will have to make the run (after killing him) and to make sure all DADA lasted only a year, he gave it to him?

my theory is that DD made it so Harry could take potions (possibly even to receive the HBP version of the book)

plus the Slughorn memory was important, and Slughorn wanted to teach potions, not DADA

I believe that Dumbledore (R.I.P.) wanted someone to teach them proper protection! These are dark times and Snape (even though he's a G*T) was always the most qualified! :(

I dunno, once again theres that odd scene without any explanation.

Maybe he knew Snape was leaving anyways ... who knows. Maybe Dumbledore was right and the fact that Snape got that job back set him of the edge and made him evil once more, lol, I'm just joking, I don't believe that.

So yeah, I just don't know.

Maybe because DD knew it was the last year that Snape would be around to teach it, so he gave him what he always wanted.

Well Snape and Dumbledore are both skilled occumlems, and I actually really do think that Dumbledore said something to Snape before he died...

It does seem odd that he gave Severus the position of DADA teacher, because it does indeed seemed to have brought out the worst in him. Severus must have meant for the curse to work, otherwise it wouldn't have killed Albus.

I never thought of that!!!!! Yes maybe Snape did act under DD's orders! DD was ill maybe he just wanted to end it! He knew Harry would be able to cope now and he knew he doneall he could for the order!

I thought it possible that Dumbledore finally decided to give Snape the Defense Against the Dark Arts position in part because he knew that he was going to have to sacrifice himself by having Snape kill him in order to renew Voldemort's trust in Snape. This, in turn, would mean that Snape would have to flee the school. Dumbledore knew that the job was cursed by Voldemort after he refused to hire him, and so he didn't want to lose Snape as a member of his staff before it was necessary. But since the plan, if there was one, was probably formulated before the school term began, then Dumbledore gave him the job knowing that he would have to leave the school anyway in the end.

I think that Dumbledore had no other choice. The only reason that Umbridge was appointed was because he couldn't find anyone. With the Second War, Albus knew that he really needed to find a capable D.a.D.A. teacher and he needed Slughorn for his memories about Horcruxes. Slughorn was only a Potions Teacher, so naturally if he finally gave Snape the D.a.D.A. post, he could get Slughorn to teach.

OMG! ITS YOU KNOW WHO!

ACK!

****, sorry had to be said. And I bet I was the first person to say that to you ... EVER!

And, wowsa, I never even thought about them sending each other messages to each other in their heads, thats cool, could have happened, maybe Dumbledore said something to get Snape cranky. Who knows.

I didnt get that last bit YKW, just to clarify. "-must have meant for the curse to work, otherwise it wouldn't have killed albus" ... oh wait, maybe I do now.

DD could have find Slughorn the previous year if he wanted that memory so much. Maybe DD already knew that he is going to die since the unbreakable vow was made before the term starts. And he wanted someone proper to teach Harry how to defend himself.

I think Dumbledore wanted that Slughorn memory. And there is the possibility that Harry was indeed intended to find that potions book. So the best way to accomplish all of this was put Snape in DADA and have Harry take potions as a last minute add-on. If Harry had that book it might get him in more solidly with Slughorn, so none of this looks accidental.

I think that Dumbledore had no other choice. The only reason that Umbridge was appointed was because he couldn't find anyone. With the Second War, Albus knew that he really needed to find a capable D.a.D.A. teacher and he needed Slughorn for his memories about Horcruxes. Slughorn was only a Potions Teacher, so naturally if he finally gave Snape the D.a.D.A. post, he could get Slughorn to teach.

I agree. Dumbledore wanted to get Slughorn's memory very much. This memory contained very important information about Tom Riddle. By hiring him he had a year to persuade him and he was ensuring he wouldn't join Voldemort.

Also Snape must have been the only one to apply for the DADA job and since there was no one else Dumbledore had to hire him no matter how much he wanted to avoid it.

It does seem a coincidence that this of all years is when dumbledore finally gives it to him. He knew it was cursed, so giving it to snape would mean he'd leave. So something Dumbledore learned made him decide now was the time. I doubt it was just to get slugs memory.

Well JKR put it in there so Harry could to potions, no other explanation story wise. Somethings should just be taken at face value

To me it is obvious why DD gave Snivellus the DADA position. It was so that Harry could take NEWT potions, so he could become an Auror. The sad thing is that now when Harry said that he won't return to Hogwarts, all that trouble went to waste

I think that was one reason But I think there were the other reasons too! There had to be more of a reason because DD put it off for so long!

i guess no one is willing to take the position or is it part of DD's plan?!!

This is one of those lovely plot devices that could mean nothing at all or could have great things hinging on it, and there is no way to tell yet.

On the nothing at all side: Harry needed potions. DD needed a new teacher. The new teacher's specialty is potions, there are no other choices, Snape gets bumped to DADA. Curse notwithstanding, it could have been inteneded to only be for that year.

On the "great things hinging on it" side: Snape was due to leave Hogwarts in any case, so DD let him take the job. It could because DD knew he would betray him, but all his "I trust Snape" statements belie that. It could have been part of the DD's plan for the start that this would be time for Snape to get in thicker with V...and all the many possibilities that raises.

I bet someone has already suggested this, but I don't think they have. What if DD gave Snape the DADA job so Harry could continue with potions? Maybe potions will be important in the next book, or maybe DD wanted Harry to have the chance of becoming an auror? We know Snape wouldn't have let Harry into his potions class, isn't it a strange coincidence that Snape got the DADA job just as Harry was going to have to stop doing potions? ;)

I dont know why but to me this is what I think. DD said Harry is most important. I think he gave Snape the position in order to ensure that Harry could continue schooling to become an Auror, remember what McGonnacall (sp) said in OOTP, she would do anything to make sure that Harry became an Auror. JMO
Yeah, this seems more in keeping with DD - Harry would never have been able to take potions without a new potions teacher. That, and the fact that DD puts credence to his DADA position being "cursed" since truly in the however many years since VM applied for the position (at least 16, but more like 20-25) no one has held the job for more than one year. That now explains why DD would choose someone like Quirrell, Lockhart or Umbridge - he knew they would only be there for one year. Perhaps he was also now willing to give it to Snape (not just so Harry could go to NEWT potions) but b/c he knew the war was getting closer and Snape may very well have to choose sides for good by the end of that year.

Well lets look at it like this. Snape is very powerful wizard who knows loads about the dark arts and in these dark times who better to preapre students than someone who used to walk the path of deatheater. Furthermore maybe dumbledore thought Snape would be impervious to the curse of the position of DADA teacher

It really doesn't make much sense, knowing that Harry's best subject is DADA, if I were DD i would put him in DADA with Slughorn. It gives him a chance to show his skill and become a favorite of Slughorn. DD had no way of knowing that Harry was suddenly going to be a potions master in this year because of a book he found. You might argue that DD knew of Slughorns connection with Lily in Potions, so he put Harry with Slughorn in a class that would remind him of Lily(making it easier for Harry to get the memory). However this has a flaw as I don't think Slughorn would be so strongly reminded of Lily if Harry had performed as he usually did during Potions, which frankly isn't so good. If Harry had been performing mediocre when Lily was some like genius I doubt Lily and Harry would be compared so often.

Ahh u beat me to posting this lol, good call, this is what i thought soz if it kinda overlaps:

I'm sure i wasnt the only one that was suprised by DD apointing Snape as the DADA teacher. What got me was why now? I'm sure you will all say that DD didnt have a choice, and it was a last resort, but i disagree. If it was a last resort than why not a year earlier? Looking back, I cant see why dumbledore didnt appoint Snape instead of Umbrige for the job in OotP, he could have easily done it becuase that WAS a last resort. Didnt harry say that he was suprised that he could find a teacher he hated more than snape. That is a BIG call, and with everything that DD knows, dont you think he picked up on some of the things she did?? I guess what i am thinking is does this have a connection with DDs death etc?

I personally beleive that DD had his death planned, and for a long time (at leat since the summer holidays, i feel snapes encounter at spinners end ecconts to this) so does this new position for Snape reveal anything? or was it just because he needed slughorn close to him becuase he wanted to find the memory of the horcrux befor he died? Dumbledore wasnt a really old wizard.

I bet someone has already suggested this, but I don't think they have. What if DD gave Snape the DADA job so Harry could continue with potions? Maybe potions will be important in the next book, or maybe DD wanted Harry to have the chance of becoming an auror? We know Snape wouldn't have let Harry into his potions class, isn't it a strange coincidence that Snape got the DADA job just as Harry was going to have to stop doing potions? ;)
wow that is another really good point

I see a different turn of events as a possibility. I expect that most people will dismiss it out of hand because everyone's trying to see some redeeming quality in Snape after his murder of DD, going to great lengths to find ways in which he can be good, but I hope people won't allow that to cloud their thinking to the possibilities.

Dumbledore needs Slughorn at the school, to keep him from the Death Eaters and access his memory. Slughorn is a potions teacher. Hogwarts already has a potions teacher, Snape. Snape has always wanted to be the DADA teacher. Hogwarts needs a DADA teacher. Snape may not have believed in the curse of the DADA teacher, but he's not stupid... years and years (even prior to Harry being born, since no one has held the job for more than a year since Voldemort was turned down, and that was prior to Harry being born) of DADA teachers don't last more than a year. He knows if he takes it, the odds are on that he's done at Hogwarts. I think he was under the delusion that his former or current Death Eater status would make him immune, or he would find a way around the curse, but once he gets that close to it he's got to see that he doesn't know of a way to do that.

Meanwhile, he's told Dumbledore about Malfoy's task at some point while he's still playing double agent, this allows for DD to know about it. It didn't just come up when Narcissa approaches Snape, this has been something Malfoy's been assigned to do for at least a little while. Long enough for word to get out among the Death Eaters, at least, and Narcissa to worry about it for a while and come to the conclusion she has to ask Snape for help. Probably several weeks at least.

In the meantime, Snape has come to the conclusion that Dumbledore is cutting him loose by giving him the DADA job. Even if Snape didn't believe the curse or believed he could get around it, he knows Dumbledore thinks it's a temporary position and therefore DD is cutting him loose. Snape also doesn't want to keep being the spy, it's hard on him, he respects and maybe even likes some of the Death Eaters (like Narcissa and the other Malfoys) but Dumbledore needs him to keep doing it (the argument that Hagrid heard isn't necessarily the first time this has come up.) So since Snape feels he is being cut loose by Dumbledore, and Dumbledore was forcing him to do something unpleasant, he has no problem accepting the unbreakable vow from Narcissa, even though he knows what it entails. He also has no problem conjuring up sufficient hatred of Dumbledore for the Avada Kedavera spell to work.

As for Dumbledore, perhaps he believed that by giving Snape the DADA position, he could keep Snape happy enough that he'd be willing to continue his work as a spy, and that perhaps Dumbledore could learn something more from Voldemort through Snape if Snape gets the job that Voldemort always wanted... maybe once Snape has the position that Voldy always wanted, Voldy will ask Snape to do something that will reveal his interest in it. He knows he's close to losing Snape anyway, because he's becoming increasingly reluctant and strained as a spy, so the one-year curse thing probably won't be an issue by the time the year's done, anyway.

This is not a pleasant theory for Snape supporters, but it's one that has to be considered.

I can't believe my eyes when I read the part that mentioned Snape was going to be the DADA teacher! I was totally shocked! Why him? He is not good enough to get that position. He is still in contact with Voldermort and he's got that job! What was happening here? I was pity with Harry. DADA was his favorite subject and with Snape sticks to that job, it isn't good for him, right? There must be one good reason why Dumbledore is giving the job to him but what is that? I kept wandering about that since I read that part. Hmm.. do you guys have any possibilities that you wanna share with me? I'm so itching to know what is the reason. By the way, I really really hate to admit that Snape finally got what he wants since he becomes the teacher at Hogwarts

the important thing is DD knew that the DADA teacher position is jinxed and he made Snape take it up this particular year knowing he would leave end of that yr......probably he knew this is meant to happen such as snape should join LV and DD going to die in Snape's hand

I think that Dumbledore was running short on good DADA teachers that he could call in to fill the job, especially since rumour had it the job was cursed. This also left the Potions position open for Slughorn, and left an out for Snape at the end of the year since, as we all have seen, DADA teachers are only there for 1 year.

I think there's a real shortage of people who are actually willing to take on the position of DADA, with its history. It was a lot easier to give that job to Snape and look elsewhere for a Potions professor. Not only that, but hiring Slughorn had the added benefit of allowing him to get the Horcrux memory.

I think there are a few real reasons that Dumbledore to kept Snape teaching potions:

1) Dumbledore feels the DADA job would bring out the woest in Snape. (Is this the whole truth?)

2) Potions is a subtle and exact art that few become experts at. It is possible that good potions masters are hard to come by, Snape could be a real treasure (hehehe).

2) Snape is a wizard Dumbledore trusts, and if the DADA post is jinxed, he would not want to lose him as a teacher.

Less clear, reasons why Snape would want the DADA job:

1) Obviously, he fancies the dark arts.

2) I think he would get some sort or ironic satisfaction from getting the job that Volemort was denied. This would apply if his loyalties are with the Dark Lord or Dumbledore.

3) Assuming Snape is loyal to Dumbledore, he may have wanted the chance to prove that he would not be tempted by the dark arts. He may have wanted Dumbledore to let him have a go at the jinxed position, see if he could thwart his former master in this small way. (Explains why he wanted the position even before Voldemorts return to power)

Well, now Snape has recieved his wish, but what were Dumbledore's motivations?
Has he finally found a suitable potions master so Snape can tackle the jinxed position, or did circumstances dictate the decision (ie: Need Slughorn around for the memory).

This is all speculation but I feel it fits the characters personalities.

I think there are a few real reasons that Dumbledore to kept Snape teaching potions:

1) Dumbledore feels the DADA job would bring out the woest in Snape. (Is this the whole truth?)

2) Potions is a subtle and exact art that few become experts at. It is possible that good potions masters are hard to come by, Snape could be a real treasure (hehehe).

2) Snape is a wizard Dumbledore trusts, and if the DADA post is jinxed, he would not want to lose him as a teacher.

Less clear, reasons why Snape would want the DADA job:

1) Obviously, he fancies the dark arts.

2) I think he would get some sort or ironic satisfaction from getting the job that Volemort was denied. This would apply if his loyalties are with the Dark Lord or Dumbledore.

3) Assuming Snape is loyal to Dumbledore, he may have wanted the chance to prove that he would not be tempted by the dark arts. He may have wanted Dumbledore to let him have a go at the jinxed position, see if he could thwart his former master in this small way. (Explains why he wanted the position even before Voldemorts return to power)

Well, now Snape has recieved his wish, but what were Dumbledore's motivations?
Has he finally found a suitable potions master so Snape can tackle the jinxed position, or did circumstances dictate the decision (ie: Need Slughorn around for the memory).

This is all speculation but I feel it fits the characters personalities.
Yeah I don't think we can answer the question unless we know why Dumbledore withheld the position from him. There have been some good theories out there, but no definitive proof. I do have to say though, I don't think he finally gave it to Snape as a goodbye present.

I guess Snape didn't know the position was cursed...why would he so strongly desire a teaching position that he knew he could only hold for a year? Wouldn't he be afraid of what might keep him from the position for a second year (i.e. Killing Dumbledore and being banned from Hogwarts forever?)

Unless he wanted it so bad that a year was better than nothing, or he thought that he could break the curse or something.

I am, of course, one of these people who believes Snape to be good and actually wanting to return to Hogwarts!

Also, I agree that one of the reasons Dumbledore had to give the job to Snape was because there was no one left would could teach the class...or who wanted to! Maybe Dumbledore was holding off on giving the position to Snape because Dumbledore wanted to give the job to Snape after the curse was lifted -- because Dumbledore knows Snape would do well.

Just a theory!

Dumbledore knew Snape was the person best fitted to the job an could train the students best. It was also the position Snape wanted the most and he finally got it !! ;)

No... in fact I think DD wants Snape to teach Harry because he knows more about the Dark arts than other teachers since he had been a DE in the past

Not sure if anyone said this yet, but I guessed correctly long before the book came out that Snape would be the DADA teacher. I knew he would be a DADA teacher in one of the next two books (6th or 7th) and I also had a distinct feeling that JK would not let a main character go limp. That chapter in OotP where Harry glared at Snape knowing he would never be in his class again, it seemed too good to be true. And Harry needed an unbiased teacher for Potions to further the Auror dream (even though he got one, just biased in his favor...). It all fit. So if you ask me, JK had to have Snape be DADA.

I know that for plot reasons that Snape had to become DADA professor, but there should be an explanation as to why Dumbledore gave him the job.
Firstly, he knew the job was cursed that Snape would only be able to stay there for a year, or maybe he thought Voldemort would lift the curse for Snape or something. I'm not quite sure, but it doesn't make sense that after all this time he gave Snape the DADA job. Maybe we'll find out next book why he did it.

Maybe he didn't want anything to happen to Slughorn??

Some great ideas and thoughts so far! Here are some of my random thoughts.

1. If anyone knew Voldy had the power to jinx the job it was Snape, a one time loyal death eater, yet he wanted that position from day one... Which brings us to the question of why.

2. DD wants Snape to teach DADA So Harry Can really Learn What Snape Knows- Which means it has to come from Snape's book.

Slughorn taught potions, so on one level it makes sense that he continues teaching it, but he is obviously excellent at DADA too (remember the house he is hiding in and the scene he creates to fool intruders... for petes sake he even turns himself into a couch) So DD wants Snape to teach Harry something, something important, but after the horrible history of Snape teaching Harry in both potions and occlumancy, DD had to know that Snapecould not impart the information directly to Harry.

3. Dumbledore wanted Harry to find the book (if ron had found the book I think its safe to assume he would have shared it with harry).

4. Maybe the reason DD (at least believes that snape is layal) is because he knows Snape is a half-blood.

4. I also believe no matter if Snivilus is good or evil, his last lesson is very imprtant. Harry must learn to keep his mind shut and learn to cast without words.

See pretty random=p

You could so tell the minute that he got the DDA job that he wouldn't be there at the end of the year but for me it was a big shock y after so long did DD give him the job .........was it because DD thought he could trust him now....how wrong was that Idea DD

Sorry, I obviously missed that bit - in which chapter does it say that Voldemort cursed the position when it was denied him?
I was under the impression that Quirrell had had the job for some time (a couple of years, at least) before Harry came along (or before he went to Albania to study vampires) ... perhaps I was wrong about that.



Thanks for reminding me! When I read that the job has been cursed ever since Voldemort was turned down I immediately thought of Quirrel because when Hagrid was talking about him in PS I also had the distinct impression that he had been working there for a number of years. In fact I distinctly remember that Quirrell took some time off to get some experience, during which time he met Voldemort.

It could be a mistake on JK Rowling part, but I hope not. Perhaps Quirrel had been working at Hogwarts, just not in the DADA position until Harry's 1st year. Or perhaps I'm competely wrong. Could someone with the first book check?

It could be a mistake on JK Rowling part, but I hope not. Perhaps Quirrel had been working at Hogwarts, just not in the DADA position until Harry's 1st year. Or perhaps I'm competely wrong. Could someone with the first book check?

Well, maybe he only taught one year before deciding to go out and get some hands-on...and when he returned, he was not exactly the same person, was he? He was more Voldemort's sock puppet....

I also think the position was a gift from DD. He knew what would happen by the end of the year so why not give him the job he always wanted. IF Snape ends up being on the right side in the end, then he did the most important and difficult job for the Order. Maybe DD felt he deserved it.

I really don’t remember Harry learning anything truly important while in Snape’s defense against the dark arts class in Half-Blood Prince; this might have simply been because Harry like Neville is intimidated by Snape’s presence and couldn’t get his act together while Snape was breathing down his neck.

The only thing we can deduce from Snape becoming the courses professor is that the job is indeed truly cursed, and that all of us that truly believed that the job was indeed cursed were right, but that it wasn’t done so by Professor Snape but rather LV, which is kind of scary. If LV was able to curse the position is it possible that he was able to curse the school as well, or even school houses possibly?

One answer I didn't get from the book (or I probably missed it and I'm counting on you to help me!) is why did Dumbledore suddenly decide to make Snape the DADA prof? Obviously, DD didn't trust Snape enough to let him have the post before, even though he knew Snape really wanted it. What made DD change his mind?
Here’s my take on it:
The thing is that DD did trust Snape and wanted to keep him around as long as possible. But seeing as there really is a curse on the job of DADA teacher, DD decided not to give Snape the job. But DD finally gave old Snape the job b/c DD knew it would be his last year there as teacher. (read all the theories that say DD and Snape had some kind of agreement for Snape to kill DD, to understand what I'm saying)

I posted something similar to this in another thread but it got closed so here goes:

I think that Dumblerdore gave him the job not only because it was logical, (if Sloghorn was going to teach potions somebody had to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts Job)but because he wanted to show Snape, as well as other people that he trusted Snape. Boy he was wrong.

1) No one else wanted it. The position is believed to be cursed to the point where most are unwilling to do it. Look what happened in OOTP. Dumbledore could not find anyone who wanted the job so the ministry appointed someone. Snape was literally the only person who would take the job.

2) Snape seems quite talented at unspoken spells...which seems to have been one of the focuses of his course. I am sure Dumbledore wanted that taught to the students.

Here’s my take on it:
The thing is that DD did trust Snape and wanted to keep him around as long as possible. But seeing as there really is a curse on the job of DADA teacher, DD decided not to give Snape the job. But DD finally gave old Snape the job b/c DD knew it would be his last year there as teacher. (read all the theories that say DD and Snape had some kind of agreement for Snape to kill DD, to understand what I'm saying)

I don't think there is really a curse on the job and I don't think Dumbledore would be foolish enough to buy into that rubbish.

we should have known right after we found out that ever since dumbledore refused the job to voldemort that something would happen so snape would only be there for one year.

Here's my theory (I know I suck at it):
Slughorn is and was Potions teacher his entire life. I suspect Dumbledore wanted him to return for some reason, maybe to protect him, because he knew some valuable information (thus he was hiding when he was found by DD and harry).
So, as Slughorn needed to teach Potions, and DD trusted Snape so much (grr...)he decided that it would be okay for him to teach DADA.

...VERY bad idea.

DD also needed Slughorn at the school to teach potions and somehow extract the crucial memory. He wasn't going to fire Snape to bring Slughorn on board. I think that this is the major reason that Snape got the DADA job. Dumbledore couldn't risk letting Snape go, he was the major spy for the Order! Although, as we now know, Snape was mainly spying for Voldemort...so bad move on Dumbledore's part. And Slughorn already had taught potions at Hogwarts, so he already knew the curriculum... and the DADA curriculum changed every year with the new teacher.. so Dumbledore was just going to let Snape have his dream job before Snape left Dumbledore to declare his allegiance fully to Voldemort... a goodbye present, as some have said.

I was glad after hearing that Voldemort had the job cursed. How did Harry not pick that up? Obviouslly he never would have guessed that Snape would eventually turn on them, but still. Snape would end up either not being a teacher or end up being sacked or quitting. I just thought it was a little funny.

Perhaps JKR had wanted to make Snape the DADA teacher for a long time but was only able to do it when he would end up turning on Dumbledore.

Sorry if anyone has already said this.

My opinion: Dumbledore knew something was going wrong, planned for Snape to leave at the end of the year anyway, planned for Snape to 'kill' him in front of Death Eater witnesses and return to Voldemort's side (no more double-agenting, just a one-way spy for the Order, now), and so was able to risk moving Snape to the cursed position, allowing him to bring in Slughorn, who he needed to get the memory from, and incidentally allowing Harry to get into potions.

And now that Dumbledore is generally believed to be dead, he is free to work against Voldemort behind the scenes without the ministry hounding him and the Death Eaters spying on him.

Maybe DD was trying to just give Snape a chance

I don't agree with the Polyjuice potion idea, as i've stated briefly in the discussion on Snape's betrayal. I'm also really confused about why Snape finally got the DADA job. Now that you mention it, it does sound floozy to say that there was no one else. However, you are missing one detail here: Slughorn was skilled to teach Potions, not DADA. And Dumbledore strongly needed Slughorn to come to Hogwarts. He needed to find out more about that memory. It was imperative. So what would he do with Snape if he gave his post to Slughorn? He trusted Snape so he probably didn't want to fire him or whatever, so he might have thought since there was no other option, he could give the post to Snape for a year, since he wouldn't be able to keep it longer as the post was cursed. Also, it's not necessary that something bad has to happen to the people who take on the job. Nothing too bad happened to Lupin - his reputation fell a little lower, but it wasn't anything life-threatening or horribly awful. At least not by the usual standards. Though it is a very confusing topic.

I don't think there is really a curse on the job and I don't think Dumbledore would be foolish enough to buy into that rubbish.

When Dumbledore was showing Harry the memories he told Harry that the job was indeed cursed.

I think that the real reason DD wouldn't give the DADA job to Snape is because he was protecting Snape. If Snape has been applying for 14 years and not getting it, and suddenly gets it now we have to see what has changed.
Snape was under DD's protection. Somewhat like Sybill. The DADA job could have caused him to go away. It didn't matter this year, because with the Unbreakab;e Vow and Voldemort out in the open, Snape would have to leave in the line of duty in any case. Snape's protection was no longer as important as the protection of Harry and the destruction of Voldemort. It did not matter anymore that the job was cursed to be temporary.
With what we know of Snape, he is actually the perfect teacher for the job. He has practiced the subject closely from both the angles. Dark Arts and DADA. It is his specific interest and his teaching could be useful in a time like this.
Does not hurt to let Harry continue potions and bring Slughorn to school too!

I think you may have something there, and I'll add to it.

Yes, Snape is under Dumbledore's protection...and that protection may have included trying to keep Snape away from the Dark Arts and away form the curse.

In OOTP, Dumbledore realized that his overprotection of Harry was doing more harm than good. In HBP, you see Dumbledore treating Harry more like an adult, giving him more information, letting him come along on dangerous missions.

Harry and Snape always seem to have odd parallels going on.

Maybe, totally apart from any previously determined plan, Dumbledore also decided he was overprotecting Snape, and gave him the DADA positions to free him to make his own decisions and to free him to fight the curse.

i was surprised that Dumbledore let snape have the post too. especially after i found out that the position really is cursed. why did dumbledore do this knowing that snape wouldn't last till next year?

is the the secret to ending/reversing the curse/jinx perhaps hidden in snape?

Does anyone else think that it's interesting that:

1) The first thing Snape tries to teach in DADA is silent spells/silent blocking?
and
2) While he's leaving Hogwart's grounds to escape, he tells Harry he'll keep failing "until you learn to keep your mouth shut and your mind closed".....silent spells and occlumency.

Does anyone else think that it's interesting that:

1) The first think Snape tries to teach in DADA is silent spells/silent blocking?
and
2) While he's leaving Hogwart's grounds to escape, he tells Harry he'll keep failing "until you learn to keep your mouth shut and your mind closed".....silent spells and occlumency.


that IS interesting. i didn't think of that. hmm.....now you've got me thinking (and that's hard work if you're me!).

Does anyone else think that it's interesting that:

1) The first thing Snape tries to teach in DADA is silent spells/silent blocking?
and
2) While he's leaving Hogwart's grounds to escape, he tells Harry he'll keep failing "until you learn to keep your mouth shut and your mind closed".....silent spells and occlumency.
i think that snape says that to harry as one last tip, trying to help him, and since he'd been teaching him about both those things, i think he might have been telling harry a kinda "remember what i've been teaching you" type thing without being too obvious to the other death eaters around

Does anyone else think that it's interesting that:

1) The first thing Snape tries to teach in DADA is silent spells/silent blocking?
and
2) While he's leaving Hogwart's grounds to escape, he tells Harry he'll keep failing "until you learn to keep your mouth shut and your mind closed".....silent spells and occlumency.

Very good theory.....didn't think of that before....
Surely, the first DADA lesson was also FUN but could have been USEFUL to Harry.....
Correct me if I'm mistaken.....Harry performed Levicorpus on Ron without speaking.....It was Snape's spell.....just a coincidence....could that book teach Harry more than we think???
I wonder if Harry will get it back?

This may be far-fetched, and I'm sorry if someone already thought about this - but check this out.
Do you think DD let Snape teach DADA so that Harry could become an Auror? He knew that Snape wouldn't let him into his Potion's class, but Slughorn would...but then again, I guess DD could have told Snape to let him in anyway, I don't know. Any thoughts?

Do you think DD let Snape teach DADA so that Harry could become an Auror? He knew that Snape wouldn't let him into his Potion's class, but Slughorn would...but then again, I guess DD could have told Snape to let him in anyway, I don't know. Any thoughts?
I think DD would've made Snape take in Harry into his potions class; he only got an E. I still say that DD gave Snape the job as DADA teacher b/c he knew Snape would be leaving at the end of the school year, so might as well make it a nice year for him. That's why DD went and got Slughorn as a teacher b/c Slughorm had been the Potions Master before Snape.

I think Dumbledore knew what Snape was up to, and wanted him to leave. He used the cursed spot to his advantage to get rid of Snape. He couldn't have just needed someone to fill the position, he knew it was cursed, and he knew that if Snape took it he would have to leave. Maybe that's what he wanted.

so i have a couple of comments to make Dumbledore obviously knew about the horcruxes from the beginning of the book as his hand was blackened- im assuming by Marvolo's ring- when he comes to collect harry from the dursleys. ANd at this point he also tells Harry that he will have to stop off somewhere on the way to the weasleys (Slughorns) therefore he has already determined that he wants slughorn as a teacher and i think the primary reason for this is to extract the memory; furthermore i think that he could have done this at any point but takes harry with him as he remembers that Slughorn has a tendency to single out certain students and make them his favourites and therefore takes this chance to nudge slughorn into taking harry under his wing. This shows that dd takes teacehrs not necesarily because of their teaching abilities but because he has some need for them to be there this is shown too in trelawney remaining as a teacher solely because she made the prophecy and therefore dd needs to keep her from voldy. the former dada teachers have all been there just to fill the place as it is cursed but the other teachers seem genuinely good at what they teach with perhaps the exception of hagird but dd has a soft spot for him. snape is included in this so i think that up until this point dd kept snape as the potions master because he believe he was the best man for the job.
bringin slughorn back meant that snape either had to leave or take the dada job and i think that dd wanted snape under his watch at this point but also knew that it didnt matter if snape left after a year because lv was back i power and he must have doubted whether hogwarts would stay open that long. i think this is the only reason that he gave snape the job and not because he secretly wanted to get rid of him or anything like that... comments?

I don't know. It seemed really odd that Dumbledore allowed him to be DADA teacher too. I wonder if he thought that Snape would know more about the Dark Arts and could therefore better teach the students about Dark Spells and how to Defend themselves from them now that they were in open war where it would be more common for students to run into them.
Exactly what I thought!!! :p DD still believed Snape was on his side but by being an undercover DE, he would know exactly what the students needed to defend themselves against!!

The 'shut your month' thing reminded me of when he told Hermione to 'hold your tongue Miss Granger' (POA), I thought it was 'cause he's sick of Harry and co always sticking their noses in, although the silent spells thing makes way more sense!

Very good theory.....didn't think of that before....
Surely, the first DADA lesson was also FUN but could have been USEFUL to Harry.....
Correct me if I'm mistaken.....Harry performed Levicorpus on Ron without speaking.....It was Snape's spell.....just a coincidence....could that book teach Harry more than we think???
I wonder if Harry will get it back?

I'm sure he will retrieve the book, he might need information on potions and such -- he could always get Neville or Ginny to retrieve it, if he doesn't go back to Hogwarts as he says.

Why did Riddle want the job so badly in the first place? If all he wanted to do was to spy on Dumbldore and Hogwarts, any teaching job would have sufficed. For that matter, any job at all would have sufficed even assistant librarian. So why the DADA job specifically and why did he go to the trouble of cursing that position?

It's possible that Riddle cursed the job out of spite, but I have to think there is more to it than that. In my opinion there is something that the holder of that position is evenutally exposed to or might discover over time that Riddle either wants to protect or to obtain for himself.

It's possible that Riddle cursed the job out of spite, but I have to think there is more to it than that. In my opinion there is something that the holder of that position is evenutally exposed to or might discover over time that Riddle either wants to protect or to obtain for himself.
Could it have to do with one of the horcruxes? There is something about the DADA office or something that allows access to one of the "missing" horcruxes. And if a teacher is only in the position for a year, they don't really have time to be comfortable and take time to explore and thereby accidentally stumble on the horcrux hidden at Hogwarts.

I agree that Dumbledore giving Snape the DADA position was a going away present. The unbreakable vow was made before the school year started, so Snape knew Dumbledore would have to die. It was a bonus that Harry got extra-good teaching of DADA, even if it was not as pleasant as Lupin had been.

Could it have to do with one of the horcruxes? There is something about the DADA office or something that allows access to one of the "missing" horcruxes. And if a teacher is only in the position for a year, they don't really have time to be comfortable and take time to explore and thereby accidentally stumble on the horcrux hidden at Hogwarts

I don't know. I suspect it may be something other than a horcrux, but it could well be something Godric Gryffindor's that Voldemort wants to use as a horcrux. It may be something, knowledge possibly, that is only revealed to them after they have been in that job for two years.

I agree that Dumbledore giving Snape the DADA position was a going away present. The unbreakable vow was made before the school year started, so Snape knew Dumbledore would have to die. It was a bonus that Harry got extra-good teaching of DADA, even if it was not as pleasant as Lupin had been.

I agree in part. I think Dumbledore was terminally ill and knew it. This is likely the only reason Snape was willing to maintain his cover by agreeing to the Unbreakable Vow. It was, after all, Snape who treated Dumbledore after his misadventure with Gaunt's ring. I think Dumbledore wanted someone in the DADA job who could 1) be trusted, 2) could overcome Riddle's curse on the position and 3) would actually teach students what the would desperately need to know in the times to come.

There is the added problem of Dumbldore's successor. Who might that be? If the MoM gets involved, it might well be someone of Umbridge's ilk.

Why did Riddle want the job so badly in the first place? If all he wanted to do was to spy on Dumbldore and Hogwarts, any teaching job would have sufficed. For that matter, any job at all would have sufficed even assistant librarian. So why the DADA job specifically and why did he go to the trouble of cursing that position?


Maybe he wanted to try to minipulate the students to embrace the Dark Arts instead of fight them.Teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts would be the best way of doing this because you are working so close to the Dark Arts anyways.

Maybe he wanted to try to minipulate the students to embrace the Dark Arts instead of fight them.Teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts would be the best way of doing this because you are working so close to the Dark Arts anyways.

Well, that would certainly be one way to find talented recruits, wouldn't it? It would also have the added benefit of Death Eater parents knowing that their children were at Riddle's mercy, yes?

As useful as these would be to Riddle, I still suspect that there was something else--something Riddle wanted badly and could only get by holding that position. The above mentioned ends could have been met irrespective of which job Riddle held at Hogwarts.

I believe that the idea that DD wanted Slughorn there to get the horcrux memory is correct. I'd never thought of it that way, but now it seems obvious.

Still, it seems strange that DD would put Snape in a cursed position. There's more to this than meets the eye, especially since the book made a big deal about how this was Snape's big triumph.

There's more to this than meets the eye, especially since the book made a big deal about how this was Snape's big triumph.

Maybe I'm missing something, but isn't it Snape's big triumph since that's the position he wanted? I don't understand the mystery behind his joy for having the position.

Well, Snape IS a major Dark Arts nut...maybe he WANTED the challenge of trying to fight the curse.

I don't think DD was throwing Snape a bone by finally allowing him to teach DADA. I think that DD knew a lot of how this year was going to end. DD kept vouching for Snape through the series but that doesn't necessarily mean that he truely trusted him- it is possible that Snape had a role to fill and that DD knew it.

I guess I just don't want to believe that DD got so bamboozeled by Snape.

I would prefer to believe that DD had his reasons for dying, or that he accepted his death was inevitable once Snape told him about the unbreakable vow.

Snape could be evil and trying to play DD or he could be good and is now only thrust into the DE because there is no way he could hang around after killing DD, even if DD knew it was coming.

I also want to add that Snape did have enough arrogance to play a double agent or triple or quadruple or whatever he turns out to be. He surely would have the arrogance to believe he could survive the curse of the DADA teacher.

DADA is a cursed subject but that doesn't mean that the teacher has to die after he takes the job.. look at Lupin or Dolores, etc.. maybe DD gave Snape the job 'cause he knew that was going to be their last year at Hogwarts for both of them..

Snape becoming the DaDa professor and being replaced by a teacher who would let Harry take Potions even with an E on his OWL was one of the only theories of mine (perhaps the only one) that turned to be 100% correct.


I agree. But I was still surprised by DD leting him teach DADA, and I also think that, for someone wanting this position so bad, he didn't appear to be a good professor (I know that there's not too much of his classes on the book, but he seemed more like Umbridge than Lupin as a professor).

I agree. But I was still surprised by DD leting him teach DADA, and I also think that, for someone wanting this position so bad, he didn't appear to be a good professor (I know that there's not too much of his classes on the book, but he seemed more like Umbridge than Lupin as a professor).

actually that Hufflepuff boy said the class was pretty good (i think it was either Justin or Ernie) and Hermione made the comment that Snape sounded like Harry when he was teaching... from what we see, i'd say be was a pretty good teacher. but still it's Snape, so no, he didn't get a sudden burst of sensitivity or learn the art of patience.

anyways, as a Snape supporter it makes perfect sense that DD would give Snape his dream job for his last year... Snape haters will have a more difficult time comming up with somthing :evil:

I think Snape was finally given the job for a few reasons. I think that the most important is that it allows Harry to take potions. I also think Dumbledore knew what was going to happen at the end of book 6, so he planted Snape there as he knew that Snape would never teach at Hogwarts again.

anyways, as a Snape supporter it makes perfect sense that DD would give Snape his dream job for his last year... Snape haters will have a more difficult time comming up with somthing :evil:

Actually, the Snape Haters are saying that Dumbledore gave him the class hoping that the curse would get rid of him. :evil:

Actually, the Snape Haters are saying that Dumbledore gave him the class hoping that the curse would get rid of him.
Huh? I guess people have to work to justify whatever they believe.

Anyhow, we have had clues Dumbledore is getting older and more tired in the past two books. Then Dumbledore recovers the ring horcrux and nearly dies, and ends up with a burned hand. That may also have left lasting effects, and maybe Dumbledore knew it would eventually kill him. We do not know when the unbreakable vow was made, before or after Dumbledore was injured. I am betting it was afterward. Both Snape and Dumbledore knew Dumbledore's days were numbered, so agreeing to see Dumbledore was killed became less of an issue.

Then Dumbledore discovers the cave and all that goes with it. He figures there is some slow-acting poison, and he decides to take it, because he is dying already from old age and possibly his curse injury. He takes the poison, and not Dumbledore is dying from 3 possible sourcesm age, curse and poison. Makes the AK seem somewhat anti-clamactic. But Dumbledore cares about his students first and foremost--and all the students not just Harry, so Dumbledore decides to allow himself to be killed to save Draco as well as set Harry up for his quest which hopefully will end in Voldemort's death.

Anyhow, it seems Dumbledore was going to die, and JKR makes it really obvious he is dying in so many ways, that the AK "sacrifice" is almost a forgone conclusion.

We do not know when the unbreakable vow was made, before or after Dumbledore was injured. I am betting it was afterward. Both Snape and Dumbledore knew Dumbledore's days were numbered, so agreeing to see Dumbledore was killed became less of an issue.


actually we do know it happened before the vow because Snape mentions DD's injury during that scene.

I am pleased to say, however, that Dumbledore is growing old. The duel with the Dark Lord last month shook him. He has since sustained a serious injury because his reactions are slower than they once were.

if that doesn't scream Dumbledore's not gonna to last long i don't know what would.

You know what's really funny?

The ONE TIME that Snape actually taught Harry anything, he wasn't even there!

actually we do know it happened before the vow because Snape mentions DD's injury during that scene.
Thanks for the quote, don't have the book here.

if that doesn't scream Dumbledore's not gonna to last long i don't know what would.
I thought so too, but some people still need convincing.
The ONE TIME that Snape actually taught Harry anything, he wasn't even there!
Yeah, that was a good one!
Actually I also think this may forshadow that Snape will be secretly helping Harry in the next book, and Harry won't find out until the end.

We'll see in about two years, give or take........

I have 2 theories-

1. Dumbledore had it planned out from the beginning of term.
2. He had no choice, because he needed a potions teacher and that was Slughorns area. So he let Snape teach DADA because he was good at it and they needed a teacher for it also.

You know what's really funny?

The ONE TIME that Snape actually taught Harry anything, he wasn't even there!

Harry hated Snape and would have had a hard time learning directly from him even if he had been the best teacher in the world.

Harry hated Snape and would have had a hard time learning directly from him even if he had been the best teacher in the world.

He is a fairly good teacher, if he would just shut up once in a while. Or leave the room after writing the directions. But let's get back on topic.

Has anyone ever thought that maybe the curse compelled Snape to kill Dumbledore (or just made it look that way) so he'd have to flee Hogwarts?

It was my hope that Snape was compelled by the unbreakable vow- not because I hold out hope that Snape is good, just that I hold out hope that the loss of Dumbledore was not due to his blind spot for Snape. That there is some reason for his death. Even if the only reason is that Dumbledore was trying to save Malfoy and that he spent all year educating Harry in preparation for his own death. I still won't be happy about it, but at least I can reconcile that Dumbledore made choices that lead to his death and that is was not a suprise, not a suprise betrayal by someone he truely trusted. I mean since he was the one who told Harry that he thought the position was cursed from the time that Voldemort sought it, he had to have known Snape would only last one year. Even if he did trust Snape, that at the very least should have given him great pause.

I seriously hope that JKR is not going to prove herself a despicable writer by taking one of the most loved and respected characters of the book and, via Snape's actions, turn him into a doddering old fool. Or even someone who "made a mistake"... I can't see her doing that, which leaves us with one of the following reasons:

1. Harry had to take potions somehow, and with Snape as teacher that wasn't possible
2. Slughorn is probably not qualified for DADA, only potions, and they had to have the memroy
3. Dumbledore knew he would die and if he was gone and Snape at Hogwarts that would be a bit of a sticky situation for Snape

I'm inclined towards number 3, as throwing Snape a bone doesn't sound like something Dumbledore would to (at least, to me.)

Essentially, (pardon my rambling) either Dumbledore turns out to be stupid for giving Snape the post or he knew something would happen making Snape's defecation of the post at the end of the year worthwile.

I seriously hope that JKR is not going to prove herself a despicable writer by taking one of the most loved and respected characters of the book and, via Snape's actions, turn him into a doddering old fool. Or even someone who "made a mistake"... I can't see her doing that, which leaves us with one of the following reasons:

1. Harry had to take potions somehow, and with Snape as teacher that wasn't possible
2. Slughorn is probably not qualified for DADA, only potions, and they had to have the memroy
3. Dumbledore knew he would die and if he was gone and Snape at Hogwarts that would be a bit of a sticky situation for Snape

I'm inclined towards number 3, as throwing Snape a bone doesn't sound like something Dumbledore would to (at least, to me.)

Essentially, (pardon my rambling) either Dumbledore turns out to be stupid for giving Snape the post or he knew something would happen making Snape's defecation of the post at the end of the year worthwile.

All 3 reasons are good together. I also really don't want to beleive that DD was taken in by Snape. JKR did have DD state however something to the effect that because he is such a great wizard that his mistakes are also often great.

It does seem strange that DD hasn't ever reeled Snape in over all these years. How could he truely trust him knowimg how he treats students, especially Harry? And if Snape is evil I just hope that he did know and he thought there were lessons for the students to learn (especially Harry) or DD was also learning about Voldemort through Snape. Just because he knew, wouldn't necessarily mean he could avoid what happened.

I think Dumbledore gave Snape the DADA because he felt it maybe a quite difficult situation for Snape to keep lying to Voldemort (obviously, before he turned into a traitor who wasn't lying), and as the work is cursed Dumbledore found the most subtle way to get rid of Snape.

Well, I think the real reason Dumbledore never gave Snape the DADA post was because it was jinxed. He would rather have Snape on staff, and keeping him as potions master kept him alive and at Hogwarts. He knew when he gave Snape the DADA post this year that it would only last the year, so he must have been prepared for SOMETHING to happen. Possibly he even discussed this with Snape beforehand.

It seemed to me that the differences between Snape and Umbridge were few.

It looked like that Snape focused a bit more than needed on writing essays and such on the topics concerning the Dark Arts, with a minimal amount of actual wandwork.

The only similarity between the two as teachers (of any subject) is that both can be exceedingly nasty to students they do not like. Wands away, read chapter x in your book, remember? (Not to mention that the book she selected was supremely lame-the author prefers negotiation to counterjinxing as a defense, for crying out loud!) Snape, on the other hand, has no problem with Harry's use of the Shield Charm, for example. in the first class. (His objection is that it was spoken, not nonverbal.)

Contrast to Snape's first DADA class. After a short introductory speech, the rest of the class was devoted to practicing nonverbal jinxes and counters. Snape walked around correcting people and showing how to do stuff. (Oh, sure, in a mean and nasty way, as I have already conceded.) Even as Potions master, for 5 years we have seen him write instructions on the board, then have students *make* the potions. (BTW, interesting now to note he always wrote on the board instead of just referring to a page number in the text. I wonder why...)

The essays were *homework*. Anyway, it seems at NEWT level the theory of magic is introduced in a more important way across the board. Sluggie talking about Thingie's Three Laws, McGonagall giving explanations only Hermione can follow, for two other examples.

Finally, I'd see the events in this book demonstrate rather convincingly that Snape's mastery of the subject (DADA/DA) is at a far higher level than Dolores'. (Really strong duelling skills, knowledge of how to defeat curses such as that of the Ring Horcrux and the necklace that got Katie Bell, the invention of Sectumsempra *and* its countercurse.)

(BTW, interesting now to note he always wrote on the board instead of just referring to a page number in the text. I wonder why...)

Considering all the improvements and corrections he scribbled over his own Potions book, he understandably didn't really have much faith in the textbook, did he? :p

Actually, the Snape Haters are saying that Dumbledore gave him the class hoping that the curse would get rid of him. :evil:

Now that's what I call irony!

I dunno, but I think that the DADA position will remain cursed, only one year per instructor...until Harry takes it.

After Voldemort is gone.

Look at the DA. Harry is a natural teacher. He just needs more knowlege (exceptional skills), which he is about to get.

If the dada job is jinxed so people can only take it for a year then why is snape still alive?

Dumbledore had never let Snape teach DADA because he didn't trust him completely.
This time he let Snape teach DADA. The only thing I can think, it's that Snape had given Dumbledore another reason to trust him. Probably he joined Dumbledore's plan about "how to win Lord Voldemort".

I also really don't want to beleive that DD was taken in by Snape. JKR did have DD state however something to the effect that because he is such a great wizard that his mistakes are also often great.

There is at least one other doozy in Book 6, I'd say. Perhaps the big mistake was not to listen carefully to Harry when Harry tried to tell him about Malfoy in the Room of Requirement that evening when they were getting ready to go Horcrux-hunting. If DD had not been weakened by the potion in the cave the whole scenario would have played out very differently, I would guess...

I think that DD gave Snape the job for one reason and thats he couldn't find anyone else to do it, I think that people knew it was jinxed and didn't want to take their chances with it and of course DD trusted Snape and knew he wanted it so him seemed ideal for the position as new DADA teacher If the dada job is jinxed so people can only take it for a year then why is snape still alive?
it is jinxed meaning they only last for a year not neccessarily that they die, as only Quirril perrished while Moody wasn't really Moody, Lupin resigned, Lockhart lost his mind, and Umbridge was fired so technically its jinxed in the sense that no one stays for more then a year.

I prefer to believe that all the talk about Dumbledore making mistakes and how Jo says in the interview stuff about "clinging to some desperate hope" and that how intellignet people can make "emotional mistakes" will be discussed in book seven means exactly that: it will be discussed, but that doesn't mean the discussion is based on accurate fact, especially if Harry is the one talking--and I think the "desperate hope" quote is meant more for those who believe Dumbledore to still be alive, rather than believing Snape to be not fully "evil". And Dumbledore made plenty of mistakes--caring more for Harry than his plan, letting the curse on the ring ruin his hand, letting Quirrel into the school; all this and more can go under the "great mistakes" category. These quotes don't necessarily refer to what we think they do.

At least, I hope so...

As I've said before, if anything it shows DD's increasing trust of Snape - the book has shown that ULTIMATELY DD seems to have control over everything; he is the powerful, stoic front against Voldemort, and his decisions are invariably informed and justified, even if he does occasionally express a gut instinct for something.

Somehow it's clear that DD knows more than us and the characters in the book about the entire situation.

I think that DD gave Snape the job for one reason and thats he couldn't find anyone else to do it, I think that people knew it was jinxed and didn't want to take their chances with it and of course DD trusted Snape and knew he wanted it so him seemed ideal for the position as new DADA teacher
it is jinxed meaning they only last for a year not neccessarily that they die, as only Quirril perrished while Moody wasn't really Moody, Lupin resigned, Lockhart lost his mind, and Umbridge was fired so technically its jinxed in the sense that no one stays for more then a year.
oh yeah!!

There is at least one other doozy in Book 6, I'd say. Perhaps the big mistake was not to listen carefully to Harry when Harry tried to tell him about Malfoy in the Room of Requirement that evening when they were getting ready to go Horcrux-hunting. If DD had not been weakened by the potion in the cave the whole scenario would have played out very differently, I would guess...

I am not sure that was a mistake. DD knew Malfoy was trying to kill him and he knew Snape at the very least told Malfoy he had taken the unbreakable vow to help Malfoy. I think that DD knew he was going to die and that is why he spent the whole year giving Harry the knowledge he needed in order to go about getting rid of Voldy. If Snape had told DD right away about the unbreakable vow that may have help DD's decision to give Snape the job, knowing that (or at least believing that) Snape had finally gotten in too deep to stay at Hogwarts past that year. I also think that even if Harry doesn't become an auror, DD knew that Harry needed to be in potions in order to further his education and the only other way to get Harry into potions class would have been to force Snape to take E students instead of just O students- not something Snape would have done willingly. It also must have been apparent to DD (from the result of the occlumency lessons) that Harry's hatred of Snape blocks Harry from learning from him. So having Snape teach Harry a subject that he learns on his own, and excells at is more productive than having Harry spend a year not learning a thing in a potions class that Snape wouldn't have considered him worthy to be in. I also think it is very ironic that Snape ultimately became the great potions teacher to Harry that he could have been all along if he was such an evil ........

1. Harry had to take potions somehow, and with Snape as teacher that wasn't possible

I'd say that was one of the main reasons for JKR to make Snape DADA teacher, because she wanted Harry to become an Auror.

My other theory is if-and only if-Dumbledore did not tell Snape to kill him..yada yada yada... See, it could be that Dumbledore appointed Snape to become DADA teacher because he wanted Snape out of the school, because he knew Snape truly was on Voldemorts side. Since Dumbledore knew that Voldemort had jinxed the DADA job, he might have just wanted Snape to get out of his school, without actually firing him, because that would look suspicious.
This is ONLY a theory, since I personally do believe that Snape was acting on Dumbledore's orders.

I think that the fact that Dumbledore gave Snape the Defense against the dark arts position in this book is a good support for theories that Snape either was acting on Dumbledore's orders to kill him (or fake Dumbledore's murder, if you'd like to think about it that way), as it indicates that Dumbledore would then know that Snape could not stay beyond one year (and knowing that as defense against the dark arts teacher, he'd not last beyond the year anyway...), or that Dumbledore knew what was coming, somehow. I'm unfortunately inclined to take what happened with Dumbledore's death at face value, but that doesn't mean he didn't know what was coming and make preparations to make the best of the situation, or that I don't hope for a different version of those events to appear in book 7.
The fact that the position was jinxed is reason enough for Dumbledore not to have given Snape the position before this- he did not want to lose Snape so kept him safely in the position of potions master.
That Dumbledore needed Slughorn to allow Harry to get the memory from him is a decent reason for giving Slughorn the position of potions master, and keeping Snape on staff as DADA teacher also makes sense, though if that were the reasoning behind the whole thing, it appears Dumbledore simply was willing to sacrifice Snape to get a memory about which he already had strong suspicions...
However, doing this to allow Harry to take potions so he could become an Auror seems a more noble sacrifice. It makes me hope that Harry will return to school to complete that training, however.

I agree with two of the posters above in that DD has grown to trust Severus completely. DD says in HBP that he watched Riddle during his years in Howgwarts, and never trusted him completely. He probably watched Snape as well until he was completely satisfied that Snape was no death eater. DD always refered to Snape by his given name, and insisted on others treating him with respect and dignity. JKR makes a great point of this in all six books. Also, DD loved Harry yet he trusted Snape to teach Harry Legilimency and Occulumency. Isn't it odd that a potential enemy would have such intimate access to Harry's mind with the potential to harm Harry mentally or give Voldy more access to Harry. I think SS told DD early on about the unbreakable vow and that it meant killing DD to keep Malfoy and himself alive. This is why DD gave him the DADA job: because he trusted him, because hSnape was an excellent teacher and because he knew that events were coming to a swift conclusion. Giving him DADA is a show of confidence to Harry who has made it quite clear that he detests Snape, and either a slap to Voldy, or a means to draw him out with false confidence. Harry was unable to learn the essential mind reading and blocking techniques from Snape because of his hatred, so I think it is no accident that Harry gets Snape's old potion textbook. He has to learn from the best to arm himself and this is the only way to overcome his hatred and help hoim prepare. As for Snape being nasty, perhaps that's one part natural sarcasm, one part perfectionism, and a large part defense agains having his mind read if his guard is ever let down in the enemy camp. No one would ever accuse him of being partial to Harry or his friends after one quick glimpse. Finally, perhaps the biggest mistake DD committed had nothing to do with Snape, perhaps it was actively seeking out and bring Tom Riddle to Hogwarts, in spite of all the evidence suggesting that he was evil.

A lot of posters have opined that maybe Snape and DD switched roles via Polyjuice Potion, and that Snape is really the one who died and DD is now a spy among the Death Eaters. No, there would have been hints about that.

I agree about the possibility for a "deal". DD must have known that most likely Snape would no longer be at the school at the end of the year, and this must have been the main reason he didn't get the DADA job before. So it was obviously a conscious decision from DDs side to "get rid" of Snape. It seems to me that it is hard to explain that Snape was not aware of this, so a deal between the two is likely. I don't believe in giving Snape the job he wanted as a present. That doesn't "compute". It must have been a conscious decision. I think they agreed on that the double-spying no longer worked, and that he needed to go.

An alternate explanation is that Snape thought that he could break the curse, but DD did not think this, and therefore refused. In that case, DD was letting Snape become teacher as a way to get rid of him but without firing him. He might have gotten suspiscious of Snape after the Occlumency disaster.

Those are the two possibilities I can see. Both still hold Snapes actual position open. Is he for or against Whats-His-Name? We still can't be sure. Clever writing by JKR indeed... Oh, the suspense.


Reality check warning. Do not read if you don't want to have a dose of reality in your HP-world:

Of course the real reason Snape got the DADA job is so that Harry could get a new potions teacher, so that Harry could use the Half-Blood Princes magic. Snape would first of all never have given the book to Harry, and secondly he would have sussed out what was going on in 0.2 seconds. I mean, it only took me a couple of minutes. ;)

I don't think Dumbledore stopped Snape from having the DADA job all those years because he thought it would turn Snape evil. I think he stopped him because Tom Riddle appears to have cursed the post, so that teachers never last more than a year. I think Snape was too valuable to DD to risk something happening to him.
And since he knew that Snape would have to kill him in the end, he figured he'd only be there a year, so why not?
Yes I agree. I never felt that Snape and DADA would be evil. Snape was definitely in Hogwarts for his protection. When DD knew that he would die by the time the year ended, I guess it didn't matter. Plus Snape had been fighting DADA in real life for many years now. He knew his subject and could be a good teacher.

So was Snape lying to Bellatrix? He told her that while Dumbledore let him teach at Hogwarts, he never let him "nearer the Dark Arts" than could be helped--"He seemed to fear it might bring about an... ah... relapse."

It's certainly plausible, whether truth or lie.

Maybe Dumbledore knew that the post was jinxed and saw a chance to get rid of Snape :).

No really, I think Dumbledore knew he would have to die and gave the post to Snape as gratitude for what Snape would do in the future. Dumbledore wouldn't be able to grant many more wishes, so he decided to make Snape's come true.

This is what I do not understand, why give Snape the DADA job if he is as important to the order as a spy. Why would Dumbledore risk anything happening to Snape because face it he new the job was cursed and if Dumbledore new about the vow then things could have gone seriously wrong. That curse could have caused the vow to back fire and kill Snape. I just wonder whether Dumbledore would risk giving Snape that job and this begins to make you think whether there was a swap between Snape and Dumbledore during at least the DADA classes. Snape's attitude in PoA when he was teaching DADA was completely different to his attitude when teaching 6th year DADA, he actually came across as more intelligent than he normally is during that class.

Then again Snape is a spy and I guess can put on different character traits so it is hard to say. The one thing though that does strike me odd is the fact that Dumbledore new that job was cursed in HBP (he was not sure about that in the previous books) and we keep saying Dumbledore would not kill anyone, so why would he risk Snape's life by allowing him to take that job up.

The only thing I can think of is that Snape is immune to the curse on the post due to his dark mark but then Crouch with his dark mark would have come off better and he did not, he got caught.

I think it was decided after Snape has made the Unbreakable Vow, for Snape to become the DADA teacher. Dumbledore knows the position is cursed, he knows Snape will HAVE to leave at the end of the year (whether he is good or bad, and I believe good). If he is bad, then he will have to leave because he has killed Dumbledore, and if he is good, then he has to leave because he has other things to do away from Hogwarts.

Slughorn is necessary for the book, i.e, to find out about Horcruxes and maybe about Lily's potions ability, and he is a Potions teacher.

Yes, Harry needs Potions to become an auror, so the only ways he can are either for Snape to be made to accept Harry, or for a new teacher to come in.

I don't think that even if Snape had been the DADA teacher for many years that Dumbledore would have allowed him to teach the students "evil" things - he has an eye on everything remember.

Sorry, I obviously missed that bit - in which chapter does it say that Voldemort cursed the position when it was denied him?
I was under the impression that Quirrell had had the job for some time (a couple of years, at least) before Harry came along (or before he went to Albania to study vampires) ... perhaps I was wrong about that.


And finally, although we are led to believe that Quirrell has worked there for many years, he may well have only accepted the job in the summer holidays shortly before Harry meets him in the Leaky Cauldron, then goes off travelling, meets up with Voldermort, then goes off to Hogwarts.

Well.. since thhe job as a DADA teacher was cursed ever since LV was refused to work in Hogwarts (as a DADA teacher)... it works for Snape as well.. common.. JK Rowling did not want to upset Snape as well and gave what he wants... and yes.. he was a teacher for only one year..

Maybe DD gave Snape the DADA position because:
1 Voldemort is getting stronger and Dumbledore is growing physically weaker: if LV is triumphant there will be no DADA. There won't even be a Hogwarts; therefore it makes sense to give the job to a very powerful wizard (Snape) regardless of the curse so that the students can learn to defend themselves properly and balance the odds in their favor. The wizard world is now at war, and there is no more time for observing the niceties. Snape is sarcastic and spiteful, to be sure, but he is portrayed as a very good teacher. We often read that his classes settle down as soon as he comes in the room, and that he students do try to follow the potions directives and not slack off (most likely because they are afraid of his comments - but, hey, it works). This gives DD an extra level of confidence that he is doing all he can do to empower his students.
2. If Voldemort is defeated and killed, perhaps his curse will die with him and the post will become a lifetime one, making the curse a non-issue.
3. I am really intrigued by the ideas posted before that there might be something in the DADA position that LV really wants, probably Horcrux related. If Snape is working on DD's side, then putting him in that position is another effective way of drawing LV out and getting him to show his plans. We've already been told that LV trusts Snape.

I hope this makes some sense.

And finally, although we are led to believe that Quirrell has worked there for many years, he may well have only accepted the job in the summer holidays shortly before Harry meets him in the Leaky Cauldron, then goes off travelling, meets up with Voldermort, then goes off to Hogwarts.

Quirrell could have had a different position, was offered the DADA job and then decided to get some hands on experience before teaching it.

One thing that dissapointed me is that we didn't get to see how Snape was as a DADA teacher. Was he his usual unpedagogical and unjust self? Did Harry enjoy DADA as little as he used to enjoy potions? JKR never told us, unfortunately. or did i miss something ( I read the book VEEERY quickly :rotfl: )?

One thing that dissapointed me is that we didn't get to see how Snape was as a DADA teacher. Was he his usual unpedagogical and unjust self? Did Harry enjoy DADA as little as he used to enjoy potions? JKR never told us, unfortunately. or did i miss something ( I read the book VEEERY quickly :rotfl: )?

It seemed to me that Snape was exactly the kind of DADA teacher as he was a potions teacher- knowledgable but totally inept at how to actually teach.

Originally Posted by smartypants
One thing that dissapointed me is that we didn't get to see how Snape was as a DADA teacher. Was he his usual unpedagogical and unjust self? Did Harry enjoy DADA as little as he used to enjoy potions? JKR never told us, unfortunately. or did i miss something ( I read the book VEEERY quickly)?

MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY! :tu: I really missed seeing Snape goading Harry in class.... It may seem kind of sick, but that was one of my favorite parts of the books!!! :)

who knows the book doesnt describe dumbledore gasping in shock or any shock at all when snape lifts his want to kill him dumbledore say`s, "please severus" maybe dumbledore knew about the vow or knew he was a double agent but then theres another thing maybe dumbledore gave snape the job to get rid of him or to have snape stop complaining about never getting the job???????

here's my theory why DD made snape DADA prefessor:
Remember slughorn? he has tt pensieve right? It explained wat horcruxes do rite?
so...DD hired slughorn as a potions professor to get access to the pensieve.
so...with a new potions master...Snape will be out of job so DD made him a DADA professor...
tt's wat i think...

Well, I didn't read the entire thread (more than 4 pages?! Forget it!) so I apologize if this is a repeat of many other people's ideas but I think that Dumbledore didn't allow Snape to be DADA for Snape's preference. It's more of a chain reaction of other events. Dumbledore wanted Slughorn to come and teach at Hogwarts so Harry could help him on his misson to find out more about horcruxes. In order to do that, he had to make the potions position open, which was the only class Slughorn would teach. And with the only place left to put Snape as DADA teacher, I think Dumbledore had no other choice. Does this make sense?

EDIT: Heh, I'm not the only one who thinks this. *glances at post above mine* sorry folks!

here's my theory why DD made snape DADA prefessor:
Remember slughorn? he has tt pensieve right?He does?

It explained wat horcruxes do rite? No, slughorn explained it to Tom Riddle. No Pensieves involved.

so...DD hired slughorn as a potions professor to get access to the pensieve.Which would be kinda sily, since he already have one...

Oh, you mean MEMORY... not pensieve. Ah, so you mean dumbledore let Snape become DD so he could hire slughorn, so he could coax that memory from him unaltered.

Yes, quite likely. But still, he knew that it ment that Snape would not be around next year.

My opinion is that Dumbledore knew that Draco would attempt to kill him and finally Snape would have to do this instead. DD is a kind of a person who's able to sacrifice himself no matter if J. K. Rowling says he's not Jesus (of course he isn't :p ). So he decides that Snape will have to kill him to be second most important person among Death Eaters, to save Draco... this is a WAR. Maybe these women killed (who were mentioned in chapter 1) sacrificed themselves in some way too). Everything DD does in HBP looks as if he was doing his last will.
Snape teaching DADA is fulfilling Snape's dreams. Snape has to kill DD and DD decides to sweeten his life a bit. My opinion. :rolleyes: Snape doesn't necessarily have to be evil to teach this subject. Lupin wasn't. Lockhart too. Harry likes teaching this subject the same as Snape.

First off, I'd like to state that I'm a Snape-is-good supporter, so this will make sense.

Dumbledore gave Snape the position because he knew it was the last time he'd be at the school, his last chance to have the position, at least until everything clears up, and that's if the Order allows him back, at all. Snape was sacrificing a lot, so he got the position as a "good-bye gift."

It could also be for Harry to be able to take potions, but I stick to my original theory more.

I thought he was allowed to teach DADA so that he could feel he was allowed to do things. Hagrid says that he heard Snape saying he didn't want to do it anymore, (persumably spy for the Order), and Dubledore was worried that Snape would be tempted into going back to being a DE.

I think Snape told DD about the unbreakable vow, so he kwen that by the end of the year he was going to be dead...He also kwen that Draco was not going to be able to kill him, and that in the end it would have to Snape the one to do it. He had a good potions professor, which he needed for othe reasons, so then he put Snape as DADA prof because he did not care about the fact of the job being cursed... He could not last for more than a year after killing DD....

Forgive my English, pleaseeeee...

I think that it was because he knew Harry wanted to become an Auror. He probably knew that Snape would not let Harry into his NEWT Potions class, so he got Slughorn out of retirement for this reason. Knowing that Harry got an O on his DADA OWL, then Snape would not have any reason to not accept him in his class. I know it's a stupid theory but...that seems to be the only thing that makes sense to me.

Could it possibly be a chain reaction? I am in two minds about Snape: One says that he played Dumbledore's weakness like a harp and lead him to his death via betrayal. My other half of my mind says that Dumbledore knew he was going to die and that Snape was going to do it, but I am not sure if he told Snape to do it or if Snape acted on Voldemort's orders.

But that's beside my point. My idea is that Dumbledore allowed Snape the post of DADA simply because he needed Slughorn at the school, not because Snape wanted the post. He had to keep Snape at the school and so he had to move him to the only available position; DADA. Afterall, if it weren't for Slughorn, Harry would be lost and without Dumbledore, nor a clue of what he should do to get rid of Voldemort once and for all.

I dont know why but to me this is what I think. DD said Harry is most important. I think he gave Snape the position in order to ensure that Harry could continue schooling to become an Auror, remember what McGonnacall (sp) said in OOTP, she would do anything to make sure that Harry became an Auror. JMO

Interesting theory....Maybe DD wanted HP to know more potions, so he needed to get Snape out of the equation....

But maybe he gave SS the job because he DD wanted to ADVERTISE to the world (IE to VOLDIE) how much he, Dumbledore, TRUSTED Snape...if DD was playing SS as a double agent, if you give the double agent a promotion, they become even more valuable to whoever is trying to use them, which then helps you find out more about the DL.....

3. I am really intrigued by the ideas posted before that there might be something in the DADA position that LV really wants, probably Horcrux related. If Snape is working on DD's side, then putting him in that position is another effective way of drawing LV out and getting him to show his plans. We've already been told that LV trusts Snape.

I hope this makes some sense.


This is also a fascinating theory... :tu: :tu: :tu: ...if Snape is evil...letting him get his hands on whatever....finally....fascinating

.

But maybe he gave SS the job because he DD wanted to ADVERTISE to the world (IE to VOLDIE) how much he, Dumbledore, TRUSTED Snape

exactly - if ANYTHING, the progression of HBP depicts an increase rather than wane in Dumbledore's trust of snape - surely this must be for a VERY prominent reason?

I don't think that the staff restructuring was solely meant to allow Harry to take potions in all honesty .. it's exactly as lindaluna said, DD is trying to send a message that he solidly trusts Snape - and the pupils, or more importantly HARRY, should too.

Some things are left unsaid in the book, and I'm pretty sure we still don't know the true reason DD trusts Snape - I doubt it was for him feeling remorse at James/Lily's death.

But that's beside my point. My idea is that Dumbledore allowed Snape the post of DADA simply because he needed Slughorn at the school, not because Snape wanted the post. He had to keep Snape at the school and so he had to move him to the only available position; DADA. Afterall, if it weren't for Slughorn, Harry would be lost and without Dumbledore, nor a clue of what he should do to get rid of Voldemort once and for all. I think that's a good point. I always thought that Dumbledore seemed a bit... intent... on making sure Slughorn got the job, by even tracking him down and then going to his house along with Harry (which he knew would tempt him out of retirement).

Anyway, back to Snape. I think there has to be a reason why Dumbledore gave Snape the DADA position after denying it to him after all these years. Dumbledore believed that the position was jinxed anway... so why give the job to Snape,a person he always trusted, knowing that Snape would last only a year? What did he expect Snape to do after a year - reapply at Potions? What would Slughorn do then? :huh:

But maybe he gave SS the job because he DD wanted to ADVERTISE to the world (IE to VOLDIE) how much he, Dumbledore, TRUSTED Snape...if DD was playing SS as a double agent, if you give the double agent a promotion, they become even more valuable to whoever is trying to use them, which then helps you find out more about the DL..... That's interesting... but hadn't he already proved his trust in Snape by enabling him to escape Azkaban when he was caught as a DE? Snape had been working under Dumbledore's nose for the past 16 years... doesn't that show enough trust? But I still like your point though.

I always thought that Dumbledore seemed a bit... intent... on making sure Slughorn got the job, by even tracking him down and then going to his house along with Harry (which he knew would tempt him out of retirement).


Yeah Slughorn. I like the theories posted so far that he was someone DD was "collecting" as part of DD's "Voldie past" collection. If Slughorn taught the DL he must have more memories of him.

If Slughorn was on the run for a year...he must have value to the dark side...so I have to guess he is an excellent potions master...he knew about horcrux's...so a good weapon for the OOP, potentially...why specifically was he running...is he the only one who can make a certain type of potion?

He's also very politically connected...which is why I see him a being the next headmaster, vs McGonnagall, who was DD's right hand person.

What do you think?

He's also very politically connected...which is why I see him a being the next headmaster, vs McGonnagall, who was DD's right hand person.

What do you think?
I think that maybe Dumbledore wanted Slughorn at school because he knew that Snape won't be at Hogwart's next year (if the school isn't closed) so that Slughorn could be a new Head of a Slytherin house. And the memory from Slughorn was crucial too- Slughorn, reminding himself his old, good years when he influenced so many students, would be able to "melt" and give this memory... Giving the memory was dangerous for him, because it revealed much about the Horcruxes (f. ex. the amount of them).

Well, from what Snape tells us in Spinner's End, Voldemort wants Snape to get the job, so surely once Dumbledore gave Snape the job, Voldy would lift the curse so that Snape could continue with Voldy's DADA scheme. Perhaps, Dd knew this and decided to give Snape the job in order to lift the curse. So the question would be, why is he all of the sudden ready to lift the curse, after all these years. This kindof feeds my theory that Dd knew he might die and perhaps he wanted to allow the position to be secure for the next generation. Or perhaps, after the Umbridge fiasco he wanted to prevent the risk of the ministry gaining control of Hogwarts again and wanted the curse lifted. Either way, I think Dd put Snape in the position so that Voldy would lift the curse.
I also agree with allegro, he could be securing a new potions master and head of slytherin, while simultaneously lifting the curse, to ease McGonagall in continuing in his footstetps, after his death.

First off, I'd like to state that I'm a Snape-is-good supporter, so this will make sense.


Dumbledore gave Snape the position because he knew it was the last time he'd be at the school, his last chance to have the position, at least until everything clears up, and that's if the Order allows him back, at all. Snape was sacrificing a lot, so he got the position as a "good-bye gift."

It could also be for Harry to be able to take potions, but I stick to my original theory more.

Snape may end up actually being on DD side- but this does not make him good. DD may have trusted Snape because he knew how valuable he could be in a war with Voldemort but I highly doubt DD appreciated the the way Snape treated students he didn't like- thus impairing their ability to learn his subject.

Just being on the same side of a fight doesn't make you good. The Soviet Union was on "the good side" of WWII but they certainly weren't good. They were just as busy as the Nazi's were persecuting and killing their own citizens.

DD needed Slughorn- to teach potions and for any memories he might have about Tom Riddle- that meant Snape had to go to the only open position.

TahraT I think you're interpreting 'curse' too literally - I doubt Voldemort put an actual JINX on the position, merely just made sure the the position had to be replaced each year in his own way.

Well, first when i read that SNAPE was the DADA professor..I was like WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON????...I mean, this was weird...May be this was per-planned or something...May be Dumbledore was planning to do something with nape by giving him the DADA post..And failed, and jus died...I dun know...Maybe!!!!

I don't think I can push any one theory on this issue. Sometimes things happen in such an intricate way that whatever happens just had to happen.

Yes, I believe that Dumbledore knew about the unbreakable vow with Narcissa. Yes, I think that Dumbledore kept Snape out of the DADA position because he knew he would only last a year and Dumbledore wanted to keep him on staff. Yes, I believe that Snape was given the DADA job as a way to keep him in good graces with Voldemort as a spy...

I'm not going to continue, as there are too many things the happened either intentionally or coincidentally. I'm just saying that sometimes things just work out...for the best. For all involved, whether we can see the reasoning or not.

I believe the only reason Snape was given the DADA position is to get Slughorn into Hogwarts and get the memory from Slughorn about the Horcruxes. Remember, by the time he attempted to recruit Slughorn back, DD had already found and destroyed Marvolo's ring and had a good idea at that point that the diary from CoS was a horcrux. The ultimate goal is the defeat of Voldemort and DD absolutly needed to know for as close to certain as he could be of how many horcruxes may have been created, and he had an idea that Slughorn may have that information. Without it, there is no chance for Voldemort to be defeated. I believe that DD would be willing to risk Snape's possible betrayl for the chance to be able to rid the world of Voldemort.

I believe the only reason Snape was given the DADA position is to get Slughorn into Hogwarts and get the memory from Slughorn about the Horcruxes. Remember, by the time he attempted to recruit Slughorn back, DD had already found and destroyed Marvolo's ring and had a good idea at that point that the diary from CoS was a horcrux. The ultimate goal is the defeat of Voldemort and DD absolutly needed to know for as close to certain as he could be of how many horcruxes may have been created, and he had an idea that Slughorn may have that information. Without it, there is no chance for Voldemort to be defeated. I believe that DD would be willing to risk Snape's possible betrayl for the chance to be able to rid the world of Voldemort.

Great Idea!!! I agree... :tu:

I think Snape was made Defense Against the Dark Arts professor purely because of narrative structure. If J.K. Rowling was always going to kill Dumbledore off via Snape, it would make good sense that through having to flee Hogwarts, he complied with Lord Voldemort's curse on the posistion. Although it does beg the question if the position is cursed, why did Dumbledore let Snape fill it? He considered Snape a valuable spy, why would he want to risk him?

Also, it allowed for the introduction of a "good" Slytherin in Slughorn.

This topic makes me cry...literarly...

I had a theory a while back, around the time Harry had his OWLs: we knew that he was forced to take Advanced Potions class -in need for the Auror job-, but we also knew that Snape doesn`t let students attend his class only if they get Outstanding. Sadly we could easily figgure out that Harry`s Potions OWL wouldn`t be O, no matter what. Therefore JK "must do something" so that Harry could attend these Advanced classes...and the only possible solution was to put Snape to teach another subject, preferably DADA, becasue Harry would have get Outsanding on that one, and, naturally, to bring somebody else as Potions Master. This is the saddest thing, though probably necessary, in the whole world. It was such a shock when Dumbledore announced that Slughorn will be the Potions Master that I almoast leaped out of the chair.

Therefore JK "must do something" so that Harry could attend these Advanced classes...and the only possible solution was to put Snape to teach another subject, preferably DADA, becasue Harry would have get Outsanding on that one, and, naturally, to bring somebody else as Potions Master.
Interestingly enough, Snape seems to admit people with E grades in his DADA NEWT class, seeing as that is what Ron and Hermione got.

That was really shocking as well: how on Earth did he let students with E on his class?? I have absolutely no idea...:no:...maybe DD ha something to do with this...or maybe too few students have O on their DADA OWl...either way, very interesting, indeed.

I think the reason why JK made Snape the DADA must have some signifigance behind it, other than so Harry can study potions, otherwise she would have made Snape accept Harry into his class (unwillingly i would imagine).

I think perhaps the reason why Dumbledore made Snape DADA teacher is because Snape must have done something, something evidant (unbreakable vow?) to prove his alliance to Dumbledore, of course this would only work for those who believe the Snape is good theroy (in which i do).

Furthermore i beleive Snape of all people would be an effective DADA teacher, nothing on Lupin of course :p , but who better to teach fighting agaist the dark arts, when he snape, know's the true horror of them and could perhaps teach the students thier flaws from his own experiance? :huh:

Interestingly enough, Snape seems to admit people with E grades in his DADA NEWT class, seeing as that is what Ron and Hermione got.
Maybe Snape clasifies DADA as a more 'challanging' subject, hence only requiring an E to be able to continue onto NEWT level. And of course, Harry needed to be in Potions for the plot to work out...

You know, I never thought about the fact that Snape as DADA professor = no Snape in Hogwarts next year. It makes me think that the whole Snape killing Dumbledore thing was more twisted than it looks right now.

I think DD must have really good reson to give his spy a job that means he will be out of order in ten months time. Does that mean that DD thought he wouldn't need Snape's help then?

I believe DD did know about the vow.

we'll know in a few years....

I know there's more to this than we've already read in HBP.
The only reason I can think of from the book is that Dumbledore was one teacher short and employed Slughorn. Slughorn teaches potions, which leaves the DADA post open and Snape without a job when Slughorn takes over potions. So Snape got the DADA position. But there's more to this...
Dumbledore knew something about Snape that we don't yet. And that's what made him give Snape the DADA job. But why he didn't before...? I don't know. I want book 7!
This all boils down to if Snape is good or evil. Or a little bit of both...

Well Dumbledore knew that the post was jinxed so maybe he made sure that someone from his own order did the wrong (doing). Maybe, once voldemort is dead then Snape will be able to get a word in and maybe Dumbledore has a memory of himself give orders for snape to kill him in the Pensieve.

I don't know if someone already mentions it....

If Snape on DD’s side and they both made some plan how to defeat the Dark Lord – Snape probably should go closer to Voldy, and in the future to do some action for the Order.
That may happen ONLY if Snape is out of Hogwarts.
The DADA position is jinxed – so Snape in 10 months will go free….
If Voldy will ask Snape why DD gave to him teach DADA – the answer is actually simple and good enough:
- NO ONE applied to DADA teacher for this year
- DADAi is important subject, cannot be ignored
- Snape can teach DADA, but new potion master needed
- Slughorn knows to teach Potions [only]

i was wondering if LV always wanted Snape to spy through the DADA job because he would know that would only last one year.

Wether Voldemort would want Snape to spy only one year...hardly the case, I fear. As Snape kindly explained to Bella in Spinner`s End, he is highly appreciated by Voldemort for his spying work, so I reckon Voldemort wouldn`t care less if Snape would be in Filch`s position, as long as he could spy on DD.

One answer I didn't get from the book (or I probably missed it and I'm counting on you to help me!) is why did Dumbledore suddenly decide to make Snape the DADA prof? Obviously, DD didn't trust Snape enough to let him have the post before, even though he knew Snape really wanted it. What made DD change his mind?

I can't help but feel this is significant in relation to the ending. DD must have already decided to let Snape teach DADA when he and Harry visited Slughorn. I know, one theory would be that DD couldn't find anyone else and since Slughorn used to teach Potions, it only made sense to make Snape the DADA prof. This answer seems too easy. I mean, couldn't Tonks have taught DADA? DD had trouble finding DADA profs before, but even then, he didn't consider letting Snape have his dream job.

Also, we found out that the DADA post was cursed by Voldemort when he was refused the job. So, DD knew that Snape could only hold the post for one year, or that maybe something bad would happen to him. Did Snape also know about the curse? If so, he would have known that he could only keep the job for one year.

It seems to me that DD and Snape had some sort of deal going. This would play into the ending. A lot of posters have opined that maybe Snape and DD switched roles via Polyjuice Potion, and that Snape is really the one who died and DD is now a spy among the Death Eaters.

Any thoughts on why DD let Snape become DADA prof?

That makes sense... and it would be rather fitting :evil: :eyebrows: , Voldy's gonna get one big surprise in the next book... :p

MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY! :tu: I really missed seeing Snape goading Harry in class.... It may seem kind of sick, but that was one of my favorite parts of the books!!! :)

He was still goading Harry somewhat... remember the "Sir, yes sir" part during Harry's 1st DADA class with him... he was still goading him, just not as much, he had a lot more on his mind... such as DD's plan, etc. ;)

This may have been posted before, but there are more posts in this thread than I have minutes to be online to read...

I just was wondering about the DADA post. Could Voldie have more of a reason for cursing the position other than sour grapes of not getting the post? The benefits: revenge (not getting the job -- once a year DD has to make the decision to put someone in a "cursed" job), future witches/wizards have a deficient knowledge/ability to defend themselves against curses, new openings in Hogwarts every year means more abilities to hoodwink DD into hiring a genuine Death Eater into the school...

Now, I wonder if the curse could have been lifted or avoided if the name of the course was simply changed. Instead of Defense Against the Dark Arts, it was simply named "Dealing With The Dark Arts" or "Identifying and Countering the Dark Arts." Sure, the names are EXTREMELY similar, but think of them like college classes -- same generic idea with a twist.

Random thoughts.

Cursing the dark arts teaching post, has given Voldemort a distinct advantage. In terms of the number of trained aurors and the skill level they have against Voldemorts death eaters.
And the ordinary wizards will also not be very good at DADA, unless they have a natural ablity in the subject or were part of Dumbledores order of the phoenix.
I doubt changing the name of the job would have had any effect on the curse Voldemort put on the job, he would have thought of that eventuallity occuring.

One answer I didn't get from the book (or I probably missed it and I'm counting on you to help me!) is why did Dumbledore suddenly decide to make Snape the DADA prof? Obviously, DD didn't trust Snape enough to let him have the post before, even though he knew Snape really wanted it. What made DD change his mind?

I can't help but feel this is significant in relation to the ending. DD must have already decided to let Snape teach DADA when he and Harry visited Slughorn. I know, one theory would be that DD couldn't find anyone else and since Slughorn used to teach Potions, it only made sense to make Snape the DADA prof. This answer seems too easy. I mean, couldn't Tonks have taught DADA? DD had trouble finding DADA profs before, but even then, he didn't consider letting Snape have his dream job.

Also, we found out that the DADA post was cursed by Voldemort when he was refused the job. So, DD knew that Snape could only hold the post for one year, or that maybe something bad would happen to him. Did Snape also know about the curse? If so, he would have known that he could only keep the job for one year.

It seems to me that DD and Snape had some sort of deal going. This would play into the ending. A lot of posters have opined that maybe Snape and DD switched roles via Polyjuice Potion, and that Snape is really the one who died and DD is now a spy among the Death Eaters.

Any thoughts on why DD let Snape become DADA prof?

A better question is, why did DD let anyone have the job when he knew that it was cursed?

I kept wondering this after reading HBP.. Dumbledore knew that the DADA job was cursed and that nobody had lasted for more than a year after Voldemort's request, then why did Dumbledore give the job to Snape this year knowing very well that Snape wouldn't last for more than a year.?

I have a feeling Dumbledore had important plans between Snape and himself. I believe that Dumbledore knew of the promise Snape had between Narcissa Malfoy and had plans that needed to be put into action and part of the plan consisted in Snape being the DADA job. Also I'm sure Dumbledore had no more choices. Nobody wanted the job because it WAS cursed and were afraid to take the job.

I bet Dumbledore had some weird pact with Snape. Think about it: their conversation in the forest, the possibility of Dumbledore being Snape in the moment he closed the deal with Draco's mother... and a plenty of cirsumstances that tell us so. Therefore, I think Dumbledore wanted Snape in the DADA class first because he does not believe in the silly curse of the job, seconf because he trusted Snape and third because he wanted him to teach kids a real class of DADA.

I don't know.. I don't think that it is possible... In HBP, when Harry was in Dumbledore's office, Dumbledore told Harry that after Voldemort's request to be DADA teacher, nobody had lasted more than a year.. And i don't think that Dumbledore is stupid enough to under estimate voldemort's power and Dumbledore is well aware of what Voldemort is capable of.. And still, he placed Snape as the DADA teacher. I don't think that any plan of dumbledore's would include throwing snape of hogwarts if he trusted snape so much.

Hmm now you got me thinking haha, then I guess that Dumbledore was desperate. I think that Dumbledore didn't trust Snape as much as he said he did so he placed him in the DADA job slot because he wouldn't mind losing him as a teacher as much as he would mind losing Mcgonagal. If that was the case the I doubt Dumbledore knew of any plans and certainly didn't expect Snape to kill him.

If Dumbledore didn't trust Snape, I think that Dumbledore must have responded to Harry's pleas of not trusting snape when harry told Dumbledore of the conversation he had overheard between Snape and Malfoy. He would have taken some action..

I feel it was all part of Dumbledore's plan. I think he didn't put Snape in the job, knowing how much he wanted it for all those years, because he knew the job was cursed. And I think he did it in Book 6 because he knew the job was cursed. I think the act of Snape killing Dumbledore was pre-planned by Dumbledore (I just don't know if it means he's really dead) and he knew having Snape kill him (for real or otherwise) would set Snape up perfectly to get cozy with Voldemort and spy for the Order. I also think he needed Slughorn back at Hogwart's in order to get the much needed memory, and Slughorn was a Potions Master, so he had to get Snape out of that job.

Well, Dumbledore could make Slughorn as the DADA professor. Slughorn WAS the potion master. It was also said in HBP that the Death Eaters, if given a chance, would have wanted to get Slughorn. It is quite obvious that Slughorn is well informative to be the DADA teacher because he knew about the Hocruxes too.. So it is not as if Dumbledore did not have a choice. and to risk losing Snape if Dumbledore trusted him so much???? It doesn't make sense.

It's possible, of course, that Dumbledore was hoping to break the curse by putting Snape in it and seeing if Voldemort's curse would work on someone who Voldemort believed to be his own agent.

On the other hand, perhaps Dumbledore realized Snape would be ousted within the year, and was using the opportunity for Snape to show his true colors.

Or, another possibility is that Dumbledore had some large over-arching plan that we still have not learned about in the books. This is likely, merely because even if Dumbledore could make mistakes, he was far from stupid.

If Dumbledore didn't trust Snape, I think that Dumbledore must have responded to Harry's pleas of not trusting snape when harry told Dumbledore of the conversation he had overheard between Snape and Malfoy. He would have taken some action..

I totally disagree with your sentiments.

Dumbledore trusted Snape totally. To refresh memories:

"Thank you for telling me this, Harry, but I suggest that you put it out of your mind. I do not think that it is of great importance...Yes, Harry, blessed as I am with extraordinary brainpower, I understand everything you told me," said Dumbledore, a little sharply. "I think you might even consider the possibility that I understood more than you did. Again, I am glad that you have confided in me, but let me reassure you that you have not told me anything that causes me disquiet." (335-6, Canadian Edition)

Snape and Dumbledore has an argument in the Forbidden Forest that Hagrid overheard. My belief has been that Snape wanted out of spying, but also out of the Unbreakable Vow. He was willing to die, instead of fulfilling it. Dumbledore orders him to continue, not knowing what he has promised to do.

Snape has a life debt he passed onto Harry and Dumbledore knows this. Dumbledore needs Snape close to Voldemort, no matter what, in order for him to be in place to help Harry.