Mugglenet.com's Harry Potter Should Have Died - Emerson Spartz [77]
Are Harry and Hermione partly responsible for Snape’s death since they never tried to save his life?
No!
There was nothing Harry and Hermione could do to save Snape’s life. Snape’s fate was sealed the moment the Dark Lord had him in the Shrieking Shack trapped with Nagini the giant snake. He was at Voldemort’s mercy, and if either of the kids had raised a wand to zap Voldemort, they both might have died, and the snake would still have been there to kill Snape. Harry thinks about trying to kill Nagini, but he’s not sure he can do it. And he doesn’t automatically step in to help Snape because he still believes that Snape is Dumbledore’s murderer.
Nagini has poisonous venom that nearly kills Arthur Weasley in OotP because the wounds won’t heal properly [OotP, p. 507]. Snape is bitten more severely than Arthur and right in the throat over an artery, so the poison enters his bloodstream so quickly there is nothing they can do. Even after Voldemort leaves Harry and Hermione alone with Snape, no amount of dittany herb would have stopped the bleeding, so of course they are not to blame. It was Snape’s time to die, and he accepted that.
Yes!
Harry and Hermione are brave Gryffindor wizards with magical powers, so of course it’s their fault that they didn’t lift a wand to help Snape survive. Every other time Harry has seen someone die he always felt a need to help them and be a hero, but this time he suddenly doesn’t? He liberated the Muggle-borns from the Ministry, a dragon from Gringotts, and Draco and Goyle from the burning Room of Requirement, but for Snape he does nothing? Why does he forget that Snape equals the Half-Blood Prince, the boy from the Potions Book whom he had thought of as a friend? Why does he forget all the times Dumbledore said he trusted Snape? Maybe Harry can be partly forgiven, since at one point he suddenly views Snape’s death through the raging mind-connection with Voldemort. But what about Hermione? She never hated Snape in spite of her problems with him, and when he was knocked out in PoA, she was quite worried about him.
So what could they have done? Well, first of all, Disapparation—they could have disappeared and reappeared elsewhere. We are told several times in Prisoner of Azkaban that the Shrieking Shack, where Snape’s death occurs, is not on the Hogwarts grounds where Disapparation doesn’t work, but in Hogsmeade, where it does. Even if there were charms on the Shack to keep Lupin in, when Dumbledore died those probably disappeared, because most magical spells are broken in the books upon death. And since Harry and Hermione escaped using Disapparation from Grimmauld Place, the Lovegood house, and Bathilda’s house, then why not the Shack? They could have blown a hole in the wall, as Snape did earlier when he fled from McGonagall, and flown Snape right out of there.
And secondly, what about a Freezing Charm on the snake? Immobilus, perhaps? Or they could have tried a combination Leg-Lock and Stupefy on Voldemort. What about those silent spells they learned in HBP, which Harry uses to great effect later on in the battle? Or the biggie—Shield Charm, anyone? Harry protects nearly everyone with that just a few chapters after Snape dies. Even Expelliarmus would have forced Voldemort’s wand out of his hand—are Harry and Hermione brain dead? Haven’t they used that spell in the Shack together before? Hello? It’s frustrating because Harry actually has the loyalty of the Elder Wand at that point and Voldemort couldn’t have killed him. Of course, Harry and Hermione are responsible for not helping Snape.
Verdict
Did Harry and Hermione owe Snape any help in the Shrieking Shack, or were they wise to lay low as bystanders when the snake attacked? Should they have tried a diversion—made a few old chairs fly at Voldemort, perhaps? Or use some first-year spells or at least Muggle first aid? They had no moral obligation to endanger their lives to save the life of someone whom they justifiably assumed was Dumbledore’s murderer.