S. Snape suspected snake speech?

[koinonia02 at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 16858

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Magda Grantwich <mgrantwich at y...> wrote:. 
> 
> Snape didn't know Harry was a Parseltongue because when the snake
> appeared he told Harry not to move and he (Snape) would get rid of
> it.  He would have stood back and waited silently with arms folded.

Snape probably didn't know Harry was a Parseltongue but I think he 
wanted to find out and what a perfect chance.  Snape did stand back.  
He did wait to see what Harry would do. He only got rid of the snake 
after Harry did his little talk! Snape just calmy got rid of the 
snake.     

 
> I think he thought it would be fun to use the Slytherin symbol to
> terrify Harry in front of his friends; as someone else said, most
> people are icky about snakes and this was a big one.


Though Snape can seem petty and childish at times, I don't think this 
was the case here. If Snape was just trying to terrify Harry, I would 
have expected him to be peeved that Harry wasn't afraid.  That wasn't 
Snape's response.  Snape is clever and calculating.  He found an 
opportunity to find out more about Harry and he took it.

  
> > The question (if Snape didn't knew): Given the amount of time he 
> > spent with the other parselmouth, wouldn't he be at least 
slightly 
> > pale or surprised at the discovery of another one?


Not necessarily.  


Considering the
> Great Slytherin Mythology, Snape would have to wonder if there's 
more
> to Harry than is apparent superficially.

That's why I think Snape took this wonderful opportunity to check 
Harry out.  

Koinonia