Ambition (Draco and Snape)

[lea.macleod at gmx.net]

No: HPFGUIDX 17115

"Dinah" wrote:

 Draco is not the natural pick for Severus as
> "teacher's pet". He has the ambition, that's something Snape as head 
of> Slytherin admires naturally, but Draco doesn't want to work for
> achievements. If he wants something he uses his fathers reputation, 
his> place in the Quidditch team is bought, he doesn't even bully 
people himself > but lets Crabbe and Goyle do the dirty work. And he 
doesn't seem to be such> a great student, either.
> Another crucial point is that he relies heavily on Snape to get 
others> students in trouble and to keep him out of it. I don't see 
Severus as a> person who would normally tolerate that well.

Yes, well observed. I looked through the books again to verify that 
Snape "obviously favours" Draco, as most people say. I must say he 
seems to favour the Slytherins (e.g. Quidditch refereeing) in 
general, but I can´t find any proof that he *especially* favours 
Draco. 

Draco´s getting away with things is usually not due to him being 
favoured particularly by Snape, but to Snape bullying Harry. In other 
words, Snape´s intention is to bully Harry as much as possible, and 
he merely uses the Harry-Draco-relationship to achieve this. He 
"favours" Draco not because he likes him, but because it will make 
Harry feel bad.

Another point is of course the relationship between Snape and Lucius 
Malfoy. We know *suspiciously* little about that so far. I don´t think 
there´s a single scene in any of the books where Snape and Malfoy sen. 
actually meet face to face and talk to each other.

Does Lucius know Snape was Dumbledore´s spy? Does he trust him at all? 
Does he see Snape as a secret ally or as an enemy? Is he happy with 
Draco being "tutored" by Snape in Slytherin or does he mind?

If we knew more about this, we might see the Draco-Snape-relationship 
explained, too.

Dinah continues:

> BTW, was ever really mentioned that Severus was in Slytherin? I 
always assumed that, but what if he had been in Gryffindor? The 
rivalry between him > and James would be very clear to understand - 
And because in his house no one liked him (and he would see this as 
fault of the Marauders, for sure) and the DE
> clearly saw potential in his knowledge of all curses and his 
intelligence he turned towards them and became one of them?>

I´m quite sure Snape was a Slytherin. In GoF, Sirius (in the 
mountainside cave) says something like: "He always hung around with 
his gang of Slytherins" (paraphrase). I think  Snape does identify 
with Slytherin. I mean, there´s not much else that would ever make 
him go as far as express his personal feelings by wearing *green* 
robes for a day ;-). I also believe we can rely on the sorting hat not 
to put any student in a house where he fits in so badly he has to make 
friends somewhere else.

Part of my personal Snape theory is that he came from an all-Slytherin 
family background, so the one fundamental choice he had to make in his 
life was *not* becoming a DE (having been a harmless Gryffindor 
before) but it was turning to the *good* side at the height of 
Voldemort´s power.