Re: part 2 I wonder what you think she could have done? She at least got them out of there.
Not be there in the first place. There was an Order member there in the castle that they could have spoken with outside of Umbridge's presence, had they bothered to talk to him.
However, she didn't show compassion for Umbridge, and frankly, neither did I. Just a moment earlier, Umbridge used Harry as a human shield against arrows. I can't have compassion for that. So maybe you're more compassionate than I - and Hermione.
I draw a distinction between what people do in the heat of the moment, as in this case with Umbridge, and what they do in the cold light of day, having had time for reflection. Thus, it does not speak well of Granger that she planned to disfigure anyone who spoke of the DA after the fact in a way that was ineffective to restrain the tattles. Similarly, it does not speak well for her that she has no empathy for what Umbridge suffered after the fact, no matter how much she hated her at the moment it happened. If she has compassion or sympathy only for those she considers important to her goals, how does that help anyone trust her? And how does it make her different from Umbridge?
The agonizing: You see - I don't see him like that. I see him trying to make amends, but not agonizing. I'm not a fan of 'I've been so bad, please step on me'-Snape. I like to see him move on, try to put to rights what he did wrong and not wallow about it all the time. He might even learn a lesson, hopefully, but as Hermione, he's a rather slow learner where his own faults are concerned.
Agonizing was a poor choice of words on my part, perhaps. I don't mean he agonizes as in "please step on me--I'm evil". I mean it in terms of he thinks about it, worries about what he could or should have done differently, etc. As in I can totally see him reading The Art of War and thinking about all the things he did wrong, according to that. And trying to fix it.
*Who* worked with Hermione in canon? No one did.
In canon, Dumbles, which is a scary thought. But I meant in the context of your story. Snape has spent hours upon hours with her. And she's not getting it.
He betrayed the prophecy he just heard to Voldemort.
That's another agree to disagree, then. What he did was not a betrayal. Yes, he repeated it. But he owed no special loyalty or consideration to anyone other than Voldy when he gave Voldy the information. In fact, what he did was follow through on the oath he made to Voldy.
Dumbledore's doing nothing to stop him is another kettle of fish. If you ask me, Dumbles knew Snape would repeat it and intended him to do so, believing it would push Voldy into acting precipitously. And then he spent decades making Snape feel guilty for the consequences of the mistakes of Dumbledore and James and Lily Potter. The scumbag.