Similar, but divergent characters (was Snape's love)

[lady.nymphaea at faerielands.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 18407

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., catherine at c... wrote:

(snip)

> I have been intrigued by the reports of Snape as a student.  
Turning 
> up at Hogwarts knowing more curses/hexes/dark arts than any 6th 
year 
> students I find particularly interesting.  Where did he learn this 
> from?  Who are his parents?  What kind of background does he come 
> from?  The Marauders make him out to be a very unpopular character, 
> so in this he differs from Draco, who is at least popular with his 
> own housemates.   This may be the Marauders' POV.  I tend to think 
of 
> him as similar, and much less pleasant as the Hermione we first 
> encounter - the rigid adherence to rules, a know-it-all etc.  I get 
> the feeling that he tried very hard to be teachers' pet, but that 
> even the majority of the teachers found him repellent.  Perhaps one 
> of the reasons he puts Hermione down, besides her house and 
> friendship with Harry, is because he was treated in a similar way 
> when at school.

About Snape being similar to Hermione: it appears to me that Harry, 
Ron, and Hermione all have similar "mirror" characters on the "other 
side", if you will: Harry's obvious mirror being Tom Marvolo Riddle, 
down to appearance and some of the family background (both orphans, 
both from Muggle families from recently in the family tree). Harry, 
unlike Tom, didn't resent his background and so far has been able to 
overcome any supposed disadvantages from it. 

The mirrors for the other two are a bit less obvious, but just as 
interesting. Hermione's mirror is Snape; at the beginning, she was 
outcast from the rest of Hogwarts to the point of going to cry in the 
toilet on Halloween. As Catherine said, both Snape and Hermione are 
rules nuts. As for where Snape's and Hermione's paths diverged: 
Hermione picked up great guys like Ron and Harry for friends soon in 
her school career. Snape got in with a bunch of future Death Eaters. 
The text isn't clear on how this group of 'friends' got along, and 
whether or not Snape was best buddies with the bunch or just was on 
the periphery of their circle. 

Ron's mirror is Draco. Both are from established wizarding 
families; both tend to feud with each other both with words and wands 
in much the same way. However, the main divergence is the amount of 
money each family has, and the boys' reactions to it.

Meril