Snape/Lily (was: in love (and Imperio curse)

[Rita Winston]

No: HPFGUIDX 3540

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "milz " <absinthe at m...> wrote:

> I think Snape's hatred for James is multi-faceted. (snip) Part of 
> it is due to James' arrogance (as seen by Snape).

James' arrogance as seen by Severus is (my opinion!) simply that 
James doesn't want to be buddy-buddy with Severus (who may have 
approached him, as ineptly as Draco seeking Harry's friendship in 
their second meeting, and been rebuffed) and that James didn't turn 
down all the honors that came his way of which Severus was jealous. 
Since Severus was (my opinion!) quite an arrogant child himself, 
proud of how much he knew academically (such as curses), believing 
himself ENTITLED to get the best grades in their year, not just be 
ONE of the FIVE top students, and that the Slytherin Housemaster 
and/or Potions Master wouldn't have been the only teacher(s) to 
praise him, if only James hadn't stolen his top grades. 

> I also get the feeling that Snape partially blames the Marauders 
> for his involvement with Voldemort. Snape probably joined the Dark
> Side to "get back at" the Marauders and to show them he wasn't as
> big a loser as they thought he was.

I believe that Severus joined the Death Eaters by accident (of 
course, I'm a real softie, anti-war bleeding heart liberal type, and 
I don't want to get too cozy-cozy with someone who joined the Death 
Eaters for profit or in order to enjoying torturing people).

One kind of 'accident' would be if he were simply following a purely 
intellectual interest in Dark Arts, reading the restricted books, 
seeking out forbidden equipment, happy to have some rich patron with 
a big library (such as Lucius Malfoy) provide him with access to very 
rare books and a lab in which to experiment with some of the spells 
that aren't clear in the writing, happy to discuss his interesting 
discoveries with people who liked to listen, 

and not quite noticing when his experiments (influenced by subtle 
suggestions from his mentor) gradually edged from unattractive, to 
illegal, to very highly illegal AND useful to Lord Voldemort -- at 
which point, V approached him with thanks for his helpfulness and a 
'grateful' offer of initiation into the Death Eater circle with all 
benefits, such as not telling Department of Magical Law Enforcement 
about him. 

And maybe at the time he was a whole lot high on the praise and 
company of his friends and a little bit high on the drama, and 
perhaps the luxury, of the Death Eater meeting, and didn't even begin 
to realise what he had done until he woke up the next morning (or 
afternoon) with a hangover and the Dark Mark on his arm.

But I prefer that 'accident' that he was led astray by bad 
companions. I wrote this theory at length in post # 2014. To 
summaririze, Sirius told us that Severus used to hang out with a
group of Slytherins who all became Death Eaters: Wilkes, Rozier, 
Avery, and the Lestranges. Someone in that clique became a Death
Eater and recruited the rest of the clique. I have Rozier and Wilkes 
being Crabbe and Goyle types who joined the Death Eaters in order to 
enjoy their hobby of drunken assault, rape, and murder without 
getting caught by DMLE, or perhaps Avery joined the DE to get an 
extra income or a raise and promotion at his job.     

> We won't know what caused Snape to return to Our Side yet, but 
> whatever it was it made him "wake up and smell the  coffee"!

I've suggested that it might have been his first murder. That he 
found it disgusting at the time and had nightmares about it ever 
afte, making him so disgusted at himself for participating that he 
turned himself in to Dumbledore, but still to this day he 
psychologically beats up on himself about it. 

(Of course, as I said above, I'm a real softie, anti-war bleeding 
heart liberal type, who makes a Much Bigger Deal over killing people 
than do combat soldiers -- I suppose if anyone reading this list did 
kill enemy soldiers in combat in Vietnam, Korea, WWII, the stuff I've 
been writing is not well designed to lure him (probably not her) into 
discussing killing to the rest of us.)

> Snape might have genuinely good intentions, but he lacks good
> interpersonal communication skills

What an excellent understatement!