Good point regarding "lap dog Snape" from a reader

Drew is a reader of our humble weblog and I promised him that I would read his ideas and put something up if it was good. So here are some of his thoughts about Snape: I know there's been a lot of speculation about whether Snape is truly an evil character, or if he really is on Dumbledore's side. As much as I love to hate him, I've been leaning more and more towards the idea that Snape has been a force for good throughout the books. I'll list the reasons I've been thinking this, although I'm sure you've heard some of them before. Of course, the deciding factor of this question is whether or not Dumbledore died by murder, or according to Dumbledore's own orders. From listening to the audio books a couple times, I am of the opinion the Dumbledore ordered Snape to let him die. To set the scene for this hypothesis, cut back to the scene in Spinner's End at the beginning of HBP. Snape tells Narcissa and Bellatrix that he's managed to stay in Dumbledore's confidence by being his "lap dog". Snape has continued his service to Voldemort by staying close to the OotP, gathering information and following the orders of Dumbledore. In the Birthday Surprises chapter, Hagrid lets slip that he heard Snape and Dumbledore arguing in the forest. Snape said that he "didn't want to do it anymore", to which Dumbledore replied that "you've agreed to do it, and that's all there is to it". Now, if Snape were truly pretending to be Dumbldore's "lap dog", it hardly seems fitting that he would argue about his orders. Pets do what they're told. That leads me to think that Snape was arguing against these orders out of his own conscience, and not in the service of Voldemort. This would fit well with the theory that Dumbledore ordered Snape to pull the "death stopper" on him. Now flash back to Spinner's End. When Narcissa asks Snape to help Draco fulfill his mission (i.e., to kill Dumbledore), Snape pauses before agreeing. I believe he was thinking - calculating, if you will - that there was no reason that he couldn't make this unbreakable vow, and still be following Dumbledore's orders. Finally, I'd like to point out that, for all his hatred for Harry, Snape has always maintained his image of a forceful instructor. While he no doubt takes pleasure in causing deriding Harry and his work, Snape is also always demanding perfection, which is every teacher's ideal result from a student. In the Flight of the Prince chapter, Snape tells Harry that he must master non-verbal spells. I believe that there is one last lesson hidden in that scornful comment. I really like the "poor lap dog performance" argument for Snape being on Dumbledore's side. We could imagine Snape's argument as described by Hagrid with Dumbledore being a little like Harry's arguments - ultimately Harry listens, but more like a opinionated friend than a eager dog. As far as Drew's take on the vow, the pause and the calculation goes, I would describe myself as wanting to believe, although I think it's a little harder to make the good Snape argument based on this little bit of evidence. Reading this did remind me that Snape knew about Dumbledore's "injury" at the time of the scene at Spinner's End because he mentioned it. Hmmmm... Thanks for the contribution, Drew. I do hope we find out in Book 7 that Snape has been on the right side.