![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
What did Luna know, and when did she know it?
Every time I write Luna, I keep revising forward when she started having suspicions about Snape’s true loyalties. Or, perhaps, when she stopped having suspicions.
Lovegood
Several people have suggested that she figured out after being sent on that picnic with Hagrid in DH.
One of which is the following great fiction on the topic (recced by Whitehound among others): http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3675387/1/F
In my Headmaster Snape series, I thought she’d notice discrepancies in his behavior even earlier.
http://terri-testing.livejournal.com/86
Here’s one that posits she knew from the first:
http://occlumency.sycophanthex.com/view
But thinking about Luna: the thing is, she isn’t bound by convention in what she sees. Which most of the time makes her “Loony”—but if the convention is to ignore a truth, Luna will be likely not to. Remember, she spots Harry in his Polyjuiced Barney form; in fact, it apparently doesn’t register with her that she was supposed not to recognize him. What truth does everyone spend Luna’s 5th year ignoring? That the Headmaster is dying slowly from a curse, which his cheerful unconcern masks from most everyone else. Except, of course, Professor Snape. Luna might well spot that Dumbledore is dying, and possibly that Snape’s the one keeping him going on. (Even if Snape’s demeanor doesn’t give him away, Dumbledore makes it clear that year that is the one Dumbledore relies upon for curse-breaking.) Add in the fact (which even Harry and Ron remark upon) that Dumbledore has given Snape the cursed DADA position and Snape has accepted it—meaning the two of them both expect Snape to be gone before the end of the year—well, she has to have put that Ravenclaw brain to wondering. She might even, like some of fanon, reviewed the fates under the curse of various DADA teachers: and she has a larger database than we to go on. Leaving in disgrace is the lightest we saw, and it’s not what happened to either of Voldemort’s agents.
And if her friend Ginny happened ever to mention that she, her brother, and Hermione was all on Felix Felicitas potion on the Fatal Night…. Wait a minute. The effect of the potion on Hermione, apparently, was to have her (and Luna) in position to be drafted to take care of an unconscious Flitwick as Snape hurtled out of his office. Which kept the girls out of the battle and out of harm, true, but Hermione could have been lucky IN the battle like Ginny and Ron were. Or delayed by twisting her ankle running back up all those flights of stairs, if she really would have been likely to die if she made it to the battle scene. Or…. Lots of things.
So, what did indisputably happen when Hermione was on the Felix? She and Luna took care of Professor Flitwick, and sent Snape on his way without interference. What would have happened otherwise? Well, Professor Flitwick wasn’t hurt badly enough to die without care, so that wasn’t what was lucky about them staying. But Professor Snape might not have known that; is it possible he would have delayed a moment or two to look for help, had help not been conveniently lurking at his door? In which case, the effect of the Felix Felicitas potion was not just to send Professor Snape on his way without interference: it sped him to the tower faster—just in time to cast that Avada Kedavra. And it was lucky, it was the best of luck, for Hermione and her friends, that this happened.
Luna is twice mentioned as being present in the post-murder debriefing in the hospital wing. When Harry breaks the news that Snape killed Dumbledore, “Luna’s mouth trembled.” And she says not one word as Harry and the others discuss Snape’s perfidy. Because our Luna is so reluctant to discuss a conspiracy theory, right? I checked; every other character that was conscious in that scene had something to add to the debate. But not our Luna.
So what do you think? Did she see through Snape’s little charade, and if so, when?
(And if you want to comment on who else figured it out, and when, and why they said nothing, or if they did….)
Every time I write Luna, I keep revising forward when she started having suspicions about Snape’s true loyalties. Or, perhaps, when she stopped having suspicions.
Lovegood
Several people have suggested that she figured out after being sent on that picnic with Hagrid in DH.
One of which is the following great fiction on the topic (recced by Whitehound among others): http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3675387/1/F
In my Headmaster Snape series, I thought she’d notice discrepancies in his behavior even earlier.
http://terri-testing.livejournal.com/86
Here’s one that posits she knew from the first:
http://occlumency.sycophanthex.com/view
But thinking about Luna: the thing is, she isn’t bound by convention in what she sees. Which most of the time makes her “Loony”—but if the convention is to ignore a truth, Luna will be likely not to. Remember, she spots Harry in his Polyjuiced Barney form; in fact, it apparently doesn’t register with her that she was supposed not to recognize him. What truth does everyone spend Luna’s 5th year ignoring? That the Headmaster is dying slowly from a curse, which his cheerful unconcern masks from most everyone else. Except, of course, Professor Snape. Luna might well spot that Dumbledore is dying, and possibly that Snape’s the one keeping him going on. (Even if Snape’s demeanor doesn’t give him away, Dumbledore makes it clear that year that is the one Dumbledore relies upon for curse-breaking.) Add in the fact (which even Harry and Ron remark upon) that Dumbledore has given Snape the cursed DADA position and Snape has accepted it—meaning the two of them both expect Snape to be gone before the end of the year—well, she has to have put that Ravenclaw brain to wondering. She might even, like some of fanon, reviewed the fates under the curse of various DADA teachers: and she has a larger database than we to go on. Leaving in disgrace is the lightest we saw, and it’s not what happened to either of Voldemort’s agents.
And if her friend Ginny happened ever to mention that she, her brother, and Hermione was all on Felix Felicitas potion on the Fatal Night…. Wait a minute. The effect of the potion on Hermione, apparently, was to have her (and Luna) in position to be drafted to take care of an unconscious Flitwick as Snape hurtled out of his office. Which kept the girls out of the battle and out of harm, true, but Hermione could have been lucky IN the battle like Ginny and Ron were. Or delayed by twisting her ankle running back up all those flights of stairs, if she really would have been likely to die if she made it to the battle scene. Or…. Lots of things.
So, what did indisputably happen when Hermione was on the Felix? She and Luna took care of Professor Flitwick, and sent Snape on his way without interference. What would have happened otherwise? Well, Professor Flitwick wasn’t hurt badly enough to die without care, so that wasn’t what was lucky about them staying. But Professor Snape might not have known that; is it possible he would have delayed a moment or two to look for help, had help not been conveniently lurking at his door? In which case, the effect of the Felix Felicitas potion was not just to send Professor Snape on his way without interference: it sped him to the tower faster—just in time to cast that Avada Kedavra. And it was lucky, it was the best of luck, for Hermione and her friends, that this happened.
Luna is twice mentioned as being present in the post-murder debriefing in the hospital wing. When Harry breaks the news that Snape killed Dumbledore, “Luna’s mouth trembled.” And she says not one word as Harry and the others discuss Snape’s perfidy. Because our Luna is so reluctant to discuss a conspiracy theory, right? I checked; every other character that was conscious in that scene had something to add to the debate. But not our Luna.
So what do you think? Did she see through Snape’s little charade, and if so, when?
(And if you want to comment on who else figured it out, and when, and why they said nothing, or if they did….)