Snape's Lost Love

[Eric Oppen]

No: HPFGUIDX 42126

An idea that's occured to me about Our Man Snape is that he may _be_ being
mean to Harry because he's still not over a lost love---but that that lost
love is _not_ Lily Evans.

The scenario that came to my mind is roughly as follows:  Snape, as a
student, isn't too popular with his fellows---doesn't fit in, too studious,
knows all those _na-sty_ curses, and a *looking around uneasily*
_Slytherin._  The Marauders, at least James and Sirius, are pretty much the
"alphas" in the student body---popular, academically successful, able to get
away with murder (so to speak) and do not always handle their high status
well.  Lily is James' girlfriend, and pretty much the "queen bee" among the
Hogwarts girl population---and she doesn't always handle her high status
well, either.  They're teenagers.

However, although Snape isn't popular, he _does_ have a girlfriend.  We'll
call her "Jessica," just because I like the name.  Snape and Jessica are
always together, and he depends heavily on her for his emotional
stability---she's the one person he feels he can trust.

Unfortunately, James and Lily notice this, and decide to have some Fun.
Lily pretends to befriend Jessica, and gets her to drop her boyfriend,so
that she can "fit in better" with her "new crowd."  Snape is heartbroken,
and watches from the sidelines as Jessica begins palling around with the
Marauders.  Maybe James even pretends to be interested in her, (with Lily's
connivance) to really rub it into Snape.  Or Sirius Black starts dating her,
and Snape has to watch as the girl _he_ still loves is swept off her feet by
Sirius.

And then the other shoe drops, and the Marauders' clique throws her out.
Whether they explain that it was all just a good joke on her and Snape or
not is moot.  It's just that one day, she comes around, and is pretty much
told "Welcome to Dumpsville--population, _you._"  (I have seen this happen
among teenagers, and it is Not Fun At All for the victim.)  She's suddenly
back to Pariah-land, after having thought that she'd finally been accepted
by the In-Crowd, which is every outcast student's dream.  Sobbing and
embittered, she crawls back to Snape, who takes her back---and vows undying
hatred to the Marauders, their friends, and all who love them Because They
Treated Jessica Badly.

He tries to get revenge, but it backfires (see discussions of "The Prank")
and it embitters him even further, to the point where he (and Jessica?) are
quite susceptible to the wiles of a DE recruiter and talent scout.

So, when he meets James-and-Lily's son, it's hate at first sight because of
a lost love---but that love is NOT Lily Evans!

I know that this is going to shock some people, but I honestly think that
James and Lily have acquired posthumous halos more for the way they died and
because we see them through Harry's eyes, and that they may well have been
flawed, fallible human beings---and could have gone through a period as
teenagers where they were perfectly horrible to their less socially
successful peers.  The teachers may not have noticed (or have mellowed their
opinions considerably since their heroic deaths).