Vampires

[dfrankis at dial.pipex.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 20118

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., joym999 at a... wrote:

> Oh, and the whole Snape/Vampire question.  I tend to think there is 
a 
> good chance that Snape will turn out to be a vampire -- the signs 
are 
> there, and JKR has mentioned vampires too many times for her not to 
> eventually give us one.  But if he is a vampire, or part vampire, 
> does this in any way explain his deep-seated hatred of James Potter 
> and his abusive behavior towards not only Harry but also Hermione 
and 
> Neville?
> 
> --Joywitch

Thank you - you've put your finger on my uneasiness with the Snape-is-
a-vampire debate.  If JKR can write vampires the way she wants them, 
then it tells us nothing except that he drinks blood - we can't rely 
on references to bats, mirrors, daylight, death, etc (I haven't 
looked at Snapefans but I assume Quirrell was supposed to be wearing 
garlic to keep Snape off?).  So just to say he's a vampire actually 
tells us very little about what's important about him in the series.  
If on the other hand he is a typical Buffy (Angel?) type vampire then 
I'd be disappointed in Jo - it's a cliche too far.

I think (and hope) the series is going somewhere much more 
interesting than:
Book 5 Snape is a vampire
Book 5 1/2 Madam Hooch is a hag
Book 6 Dumbledore is a house-elf
Book 6 1/2 Ron is a seer
Book 7 Harry is a secret fanfic writer...

David