[HPforGrownups] Re: Pondering a Snape thing

[Christina Gross]

No: HPFGUIDX 3868

On 16.10.2000 at 19:58:08 mmarth at peoplepc.com wrote:

>I agree that he must have suffered a severe disappointment and hurt 
>in his life.  But when and what?  I think it does go WAY back.  

I don't think it was just one thing but rather a series of events.

>How 
>does an 11 year old know so many curses?  Who taught him?  Why has
>he 
>always been interested in the Dark Arts?  

My guess would be that in his family there are wizards who practise
the Dark Arts, moving in a grey zone. Do we know if the Dark arts are
banned, or are they just frowned upon by the general wizarding
community?

>Is it because that is the 
>life he likes?  Or is he interested  because something has happened 
>to him (some Dark Art thing) and he is trying to find a way out of
>it.

That is an interesting idea, but I haven't seen anything in the books
to support it. 

I believe Dark Arts are somehow part of his family background. When
he came to Hogwarts he had to realize that the thing he was good at
is something that won't win him admiration from most of his peers and
teachers. That changed when he started to move in Death Eater
circles. He probably thought he finally found a place where he
belongs, but then something happened to open his eyes about the
people he had joined and the shock was big enough to make him risk
his life as a double agent. But instead of becoming the hero of the
wizarding world only Dumbledore's testimony kept him out of Azkaban. 

Pure speculation, of course.

Greetings
Christina

"A room without books is like a body without a soul." -Cicero

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