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harry potter - Did Snape ever commit murder?


It's well known that Severus Snape was, in one way or another, a Death Eater since he was at Hogwarts. He hung out with the likes of Avery and Mulciber who became well known Death Eaters, he joined Voldemort right after he left Hogwarts, and he basically became Voldemort's right hand man until the very end.


However, in his time as a Death Eater did he ever kill anyone? We know that he was a Death Eater for around 3 years before Voldemort fell; Lily and James died at 21 and they were the same age as Snape, so it would have been 3 years since they left Hogwarts. Then after Voldemort came back in book 4, Snape would have been a Death Eater again for around 3 years. That's a total of around 6 years of Death Eaterhood with Voldemort.


So, in either of these periods, did Snape commit murder as part of his job as Death Eater? I'm not counting a certain death at the end of book 6 for reasons which are obvious if you've read book 7.


Clearly it's much more likely he killed before Voldemort fell since that roughly correlated with the period when he pledged allegiance only to Voldemort, before he became a teacher at Hogwarts. But did he ever do it?



Answer



He did not.


This is based on his conversation with Dumbledore (as seen by Harry in his memories at the end of DH):




“If you don’t mind dying,” said Snape roughly, “why not let Draco do it?”
“That boy’s soul is not yet so damaged,” said Dumbledore. “I would not have it ripped apart on my account.”
“And my soul, Dumbledore? Mine?”



This is a pretty clear evidence that his soul WAS (by Snape) considered in danger of being ripped apart from the murder, and therefore was a thing that he did not yet experience, else he would not be worried.


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