S. Snape suspected snake speech?

[Lyda Clunas]

No: HPFGUIDX 16726

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Amy Z" <aiz24 at h...> wrote:
>> So, to my question:  of all the things he could do, why does 
Snape  cause Draco to set a snake on Harry? Does Snape already 
suspect Harry of knowing Parseltongue?  What would give him that idea 
before this incident? Does he suspect him of being the Heir of 
Slytherin even before this incident?  Again, why would he? Or did he 
just suggest a nasty spell and didn't have any idea that a snake 
would reveal something telling about Harry?  His "shrewd and 
calculating" look could just mean he's wondering =now=, or that he 
now sees a way to give Potter a very hard time.<<

No. I seriously doubt that Snape had any idea about Harry's 
Parseltongue. Why the snake spell? Because he thought it'd be 
something fun for Malfoy to pull, and he wanted to see Harry squirm, 
IMO. Hey, Slytherins just *love* their serpents, I suppose. Also, it 
did make for a nice bit of foreshadowing on JKR's part; don't forget 
the fact that it could have simply been a plot device, as I suspect 
it was. I don't even entertain the idea that he thinks Harry is the 
Heir of Slytherin; he *knows* as much as Dumbledore, I think, about 
Voldy's lineage, being it that he was a DE and a spy. After the 
attack on Mrs. Norris, Snape sneerily says, "Potter and his friends 
may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time." Now, 
that's not to say he doesn't suspect Harry of doing something else 
(like prowling the corridors for some other no-good reason), but it 
does lend to the fact that he doesn't think Harry is the Heir. Snape, 
with his experience as a DE, would know that Harry would need some 
sort of advanced Dark Magic to petrify those people.

Lyda

"Most unfortunately, you are not in my House, and the decision to 
expel you does not rest with me. I shall go and fetch the people who 
do have that happy power. You will wait here."
--Severus Snape, HP and the CoS