Snape and Death Eaters Theories

The Circle

What do we know about the circle of Death Eaters? I'll answer by saying "not much". It would appear that when looking at the above chart that higher ranking Death Eaters are positioned on one side of the circle. I don't think it's coincidence that Lucius Malfoy was positioned next to the Lestranges. And apparently, they always circle in the same order, because Voldemort knew exactly who was missing. So perhaps the higher ranking people are on one side while the lower ranking people are opposite them. It seems logical that dimwits like Crabbe and Goyle fall in line after Malfoy.

We can now go around the circle just as Voldemort did in the book and meet the Death Eaters. First is Wormtail who has instantly moved up in rank by rebirthing Voldemort. After Wormtail is Lucius Malfoy of course, than the Lestranges. Something I thought was odd was there are three Lestranges but the gap is big enough for just two people. So which of the three is lower in rank? I hate to say Bellatrix because she's one of my favorite characters but she's also a woman and the Death Eaters are very traditional people who may believe in keeping a woman in their place. So my guess would be Bellatrix is missing from the higher ranks. That's just speculation though it could be Rudolphus or Rabastan.

Next we are informed that Voldemort skips some Death Eaters and doesn't speak to them. I wonder who is hiding behind those masks? After apparently skipping a few people, Voldemort comes to Macnair, Buckbeak's executioner. Followed by Macnair are Crabbe and Goyle. Voldemort asks the pair of morons if they'll "do better this time?" I wonder what that means... Voldemort could be scolding them too about not making an attempt to revive him, but it doesnt sound like it. It sounds like maybe they are terrible Death Eaters that let victims escape more than once. After that Voldemort moves onto Nott who is "in Goyle's shadow". Nott is Theodore Nott's dad of course, a friend of Draco's. Voldemort tells him the same goes for him, so maybe Nott is a poor Death Eater as well.

Then, Voldemort comes to the largest gap in the circle. The gap for six Death Eaters. Voldemort says three are dead. Who are three dead Death Eaters we know about? Wilkes, Rosier and Regulus Black. Wilkes and Rosier were both killed in 1980 by Aurors (GoF27). I'm not quite sure I believe Voldemort was referring to Regulus Black as the third dead Death Eater. Voldemort specifically says "three dead in my service". I dont think I would count Regulus Black as being killed in his service. Regulus Black was killed by Death Eaters on Voldemort's personal orders sometime before October 1981. I doubt Voldemort would even count Regulus.

The next missing three are the big ones. "one too cowardly to return, one who I believe has left me forever, and one who is my most faithful servant who has already reentered my service". A few lines later we learn the faithful servant is at Hogwarts. So who are these three Death Eaters? I'll get to that....

After Voldemort rants about these three Death Eaters, he actually stops taking attendence. Isnt that a bit odd? He becomes distracted by Harry Potter and walks off to taunt the boy. So what about the other fifteen Death Eaters? Who else was there? Well we know Avery was there, he was hit with Crucio. I'm guessing he is a lower ranking Death Eater which is why he is on the other side of the circle. But who else was there? By gathering information between GoF and OotP, we know some of the other Death Eaters were Rookwood, Mulciber, Travers, Dolohov, and Jugson. They were in the Department of Mysteries in Book Five, of course they were at the Rebirthing Party.

This now leaves at least nine spots. We know there are at least thirty Death Eaters because Harry says so (GoF34 Page 660 US Edition). Nine unknown Death Eaters.

The Coward, The Traitor, and The Loyal Servant

So who are these three missing Death Eaters?

The first guess is obvious:

Coward	Traitor	Loyal Servant
Igor Karkaroff	Severus Snape	Barty Crouch Jr.

Why do we think this? Well Karkaroff is a wuss, Snape is a spy, and Crouch Jr devised the whole scheme. We know Snape was acting as a double agent, spying for Dumbledore. But we dont really know if Severus was ever caught spying. I'm guessing no, he was never caught because he has maintained a great friendship with Lucius Malfoy these past fourteen years, hasn't he? If Voldemort knew he was a spy, Lucius probably wouldn't have stayed friends, he's the type to give Voldemort Snape's head a birthday present.

I personally think the traitor or coward (it doesn't matter which) is Ludo Bagman. Now I know loads of people will say "not Ludo! He was cleared!" But was he actually cleared? Ludo Bagman was accused of passing information onto Augustus Rookwood, but no proof was found he didn't do this. The public merely turned a blind eye to Mr. Bagman because he was a beloved Quidditch star. Yes, he is a foolish person, but so are Crabbe and Goyle and they are Death Eaters. So why not Ludo Bagman? Ontop of never being cleared as a Death Eater, Bagman was found in where the Dark Mark was conjured at the Quidditch World Cup. Could he have been speaking with Crouch Jr at this time and that's why he ran off? Did Crouch Jr tell Bagman that Voldemort had a plan and it scared Bagman? Also.... something interesting is Ludo Bagman was hell-bent for Harry participating in the tournament. We learn later on that he had a wager on Harry, but Bagman is all for Harry participating before he could even make his bet. Right away in GoF17, Bagman insists on Harry competing. Why?

So that makes it more like:

Coward	Traitor	Loyal Servant
Ludo Bagman	Igor Karkaroff	Barty Crouch Jr.

Lucius Malfoy? "Here!" --- Peter Pettigrew? "Here!" --- Severus Snape? "Here!"

So now that I've given you my two cents on Ludo Bagman, that makes room for one more Death Eater, Severus Snape. Was he at the Rebirthing Party? I'd say so.

First off, in OotP we see Snape alive and kicking, yet Karkaroff and Bagman are suspicially absent. I think it's because theyre dead. Regulus Black is a perfect example of what happens to Death Eaters who try to leave Voldemort's service. They die, and I'd wager their deaths aren't exactly pain-free. If Voldemort did indeed believe Snape was a traitor, Snape would have been dead before Harry made it back to school in September. You could argue this by saying Snape has been protected at Hogwarts, but he hasn't. He's been in London, visiting Twelve Grimmauld Place. I'd also like to point out (yet again) that Severus and Lucius are friends. And as I said above, Lucius would have turned in Snape.

This leads to the conclusion that Snape is not being hunted. If Snape is not being hunted that means he was indeed at the Rebirthing Party. There are at least nine chances that an un-named Death Eater was Severus Snape.

So how did Snape get to the graveyard? You can't apparate from the Hogwarts grounds. That's true. You cant. But if Snape is working privately for Dumbledore and it's Dumbledore who can control the apparating on grounds. It's entirely possible that Snape has special permission from Dumbledore to apparate into Hogwarts. If your skeptical about that (which I understand) keep in mind it's possible to floo in and out of Hogwarts. Imagine the scene; Snape is skulking about the edges of the maze wondering what the hell happened to Potter. Suddenly a searing, burning pain floods through his left arm. He gasps and looks down seeing the Dark Mark as black as the night. He looks around and sees he's alone, everyone else appears to be on the other side of the maze. He takes a deep breath and runs to the castle and down to his quarters. Snape takes his black robe and mask from his wardrobe and steps into the flames of his fireplace. "Malfoy Manor!" he yells, throwing a hand of Floo Powder into the fire. A second later he emerges from Lucius's fireplace. Lucius already has on his mask and robe, possibly as well as Narcissa. Severus steps from the fireplace and shrugs his robe on. "Ready?" Lucius asks his long time friend. "Yes," Snape answers as he slips the black mask over his face and pulls up his hood. With a Crack! they apparate from Lucius's home and into the graveyard in Little Hangleton.

That might sound like a long time, but it isnt. The Death Eaters don't apparate as soon as Voldemort touched Wormtail's mark. It was an estimate of about ten minutes. If you read GoF33, page 646 US Ed., youll see Voldemort does quite a bit of talking and pacing between the time he summoned the Death Eaters and the time they showed up. That was enough time for Severus to floo to the Malfoys. It would have been tight, he didn't have tea with Lucius and Narcissa, but it was still possible.

If Severus was there why didnt he help Harry? Why WOULD he help Harry? Severus may be working for Dumbledore but he's no Goyle. It would have been foolish to defy the Dark Lord at that time to save Potter. Severus knew he would end up on the wrong end of a green flash of light. Lets say for a moment that Snape DID help Harry, and Snape and Harry managed to escape, that would have meant Snape's cover was blown.

Now, Snape was back at Hogwarts when Harry got back. Snape wasn't there right away, Harry didnt see him when he portkeyed back to the Quidditch Pitch, in fact he only saw Dumbledore, Fudge and Moody. In the time that it took for Harry to be drug to Moody's office and listen to Crouch Jr.'s tale, Severus could have listened to a speech from the Dark Lord, been dismissed, flooed back to his chambers, and found Dumbledore. It's possible. Harry was injured and Moody has a wooden leg so the walk to the castle would have been quite slow. During this time Voldemort gave his Death Eaters a speech. Moody got Harry into his office, locked the door and gave Harry a potion. By now Voldemort would have dismissed the Death Eaters and Snape apparated back to Malfoy Manor. After chatting for a moment with Lucius, Snape Floos back to his chambers and sets out to find Dumbledore. There was definitely enough time for all this.

I also think Snape was there because in the hospital wing Harry starts chattering about who was at the graveyard and Snape seems to get nervous. I doubt JKR would put that in for no reason.

More theorizing coming soon.....