Harry Potter: How did Snape track Harry to give him the sword?

[dragonyphoenix]

Is there canon on this? I was watching the movie and it really didn't explain. Death Eaters are searching right and left and can't find him, but Snape has no trouble?

I was wondering if it were canon but do have a couple of theories:

1. Most likely, the sword gave itself to Harry (moving itself into the lake) and Snape, whom we know had the sword, followed it.


2. Ron's deluminator came from Dumbledore. It's possible the process that returned Ron to Hermione (that green ball of light) was something Snape could track. Of course that would mean that Dumbledore would have had to tell Snape to keep an eye out for it.

Comments

[kikimay]

I honestly don't even know XD It was one of the things I couldn't explain to myself while reading the books.

Thing is: the doe appears to guide Harry, so Snape casted the spell that night (I don't think that these spells can last a week or something, it always seemed that the Patroni were very volatile) and send the patronus doe knowing that Harry was in that forest at that time and that Ron was going there ... at this point I guess it was all about the deluminator. In fact, the doe appears and then Ron comes back. Maybe Dumbledore's invention worked like a James Bond's device. XD

The thing that bothers me is: if Snape took the sword and put it in the Forest of Dean himself, how the hell did he know that Harry at some point was about to find refuge there? What if Hermione never had the idea to seek refuge in that particular forest? XDD

Maybe the sword was stolen by Snape but than it moved by itself and track down Harry who was also tracked down by Ron and hence by Snape.

Anyway, it's MAGIC! XD

[feliciacraft.livejournal.com]

Yes, there is canon support for this, in "The Prince's Tale" chapter towards the end of the 7th book.

Snape has hidden the sword on Dumbledore's order so that he could give it to Harry to destroy the horcruxes. As Headmaster, Snape has all the previous Headmasters' portraits at Hogwarts working for him, and Phineas Nigellus informs him that the trio have been camping in the Forest of Dean.

Dumbledore reminds Snape that the sword must be taken under conditions of need and valor, and Snape tells him that he has a plan.

That plan, as witnessed by Harry, involves the use of a patronus. A patronus is powerful enough to deliver messages to the intended recipient (as established in Order of the Pheonix I think), so it is not surprising that it can lead Harry to the location of the sword (the message in this case is a location, or directions to it). Given that Snape casts the same patronus as Harry's mother, a patronus is used to ward off evil (dementors and lethifolds) and avoided by dark wizards, and Harry is a smart guy, the odds of the plan working is pretty high. (And indeed it does work.) :)