Sometimes things just have to smack me upside the head.......

[Carol]

Carol earlier:
<snip>
> Seriously, though, do we know for sure that Snape knows about Neville as a potential Prophecy boy? Maybe he just can't tolerate incompetence,....
> 
Mary responded::
> Yup, Snape would still be a Death Eater and yes, he can't stand incompetence. Look how hard he was on other students. If you weren't in Slytherin, you were worthless in his eyes. Competence was not a redeeming factor. Look at his disdain & abuse of Hermione. He picked on everyone who wasn't a Slytherin but he picked on Neville the most. (i.e., Snape's comments to Lupin in the first DADA class in POA.) Neville, being who he was, was worse in Potions because of Snape's actions.


Carol responds:
Since we never see Snape teaching Potions to any students except the Slytherins and Gryffindors, I'm not so sure we can say that competence isn't a redeeming factor. Four Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuff Ernie Macmillan (who praises Snape's first DADA lesson) made it into NEWT Potions, which means that they must received O's on their NEWTs (we don't see anyone except Ron and Harry come to that first class without books and supplies; the rest knew they'd gotten in). The only time we see Snape docking points from Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs is when he catches them snogging behind the rosebushes at the Yule Ball, and then it's a very businesslike and impersonal statement.

Hermione is another matter. He marks her papers fairly (she never complains that he's unfair to her); he just avoids answering her questions when he can, reprimands her for speaking without raising her hand, and calls her "an insufferable know-it-all"--the last part of which is certainly true. Even Ron (in HBP) makes fun of her raising her hand in MCGonagall's class, desperate to be called on. 

Neville starts out nervous in Snape's class, but he melts his first cauldron *before* Snape calls him an idiot boy. Granted, Snape's sarcastic and critical teaching style hurts him more than it helps, but I don't think it's anything personal. Nor do I see (despite rumors that Snape favors the Slytherins) any evidence that he favors anyone besides Draco. We don't see him handing out points left and right to Pansy Parkinson or even Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott, both of whom end up in NEWT Potions.

Mary: 
> I think Snape could easily have figured out who the two potentials (Harry & Neville) could have been. He was a Death Eater as soon as he could be and may have even helped Voldemort figure out who the potentials could be. As far as I can tell Snape was the only DE who knew exactly why the prophecy was important.

Carol:
In theory, he could have checked the Daily Prophet to see which Wizard kids were born at the end of July that year, but we have no evidence that he did so. All we know is that he went to Dumbledore when he found out that Voldemort had decided that Harry Potter was the Prophecy and intended to kill the whole Potter family. Before that, the matter was of no concern to him, I'm sorry to say. And although he was the only DE who, AFAWK, even knew about the Prophecy, having heard part of it, I see no reason why he would have meddled in what would at that time have seemed to be Voldemort's affairs. It became important to him only when he found out that Voldemort intended to kill Lily, at which point he felt both remorse and panic.

Mary: 
> Snape is a very smart man. One of the reasons I didn't buy the premise of Snape murdering DD was that two such intelligent people, who were already working together, would have a plan of their own.

Carol:
Oh, absolutely. I'm the last person to question Snape's intelligence. (I did have my doubts, though, because of the clever way in which HBP was set up. I thought that in wanting to believe in Snape's innocence (and seeing ways in which JKR might be setting us up), I was indulging in wishful thinking. Thank goodness for the main group, which restored my faith that Snape was Dumbledore's man. But doubt his cleverness or his skill as a wizard? Never.

Carol, who thinks that we have insufficient evidence regarding Snape's interaction with students other than HRH, Neville, and Draco to draw any firm conclusions
> 
> ---Mary
> 
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