Snape's Lost Love

[darrin_burnett]

No: HPFGUIDX 42136

Eric laid out his scenario, which I've snipped:

> 
> 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).

And once more unto the breach I go:

I can see why the Slytherins are such a comforting parallel to 
students who feel they are outcasts, or maybe were outcasts in 
school. 

Snape himself looks like he was a little Goth boy, listening to punk 
rock music, reading Anton LeVay, experimenting with darker magic and 
probably fiercely intelligent. And it's likely he didn't do too much 
to endear himself to anyone at school.

But we do know Snape was friends with Slytherins. He ran with a gang 
of them, we're told. So, he wasn't a complete outcast. Which leads me 
to my next point.

Snape is the only Slytherin (if that truly was his house) so far that 
fits the profile of an outcast. He's the only skateboarder, Goth, 
class brain, kid from the other side of the tracks who is picked on 
because of his or her wealth, etc... that we know was Slytherin.


The lead Slytherin in the books is not some outcast from the wrong 
side of the tracks, but the son of a wealthy, connected man who could 
have gone to any school he wanted and who can buy his way onto the 
athletic squad.

Draco isn't an outcast from the in-crowd. He IS the in-crowd. His 
father is rich and his family is well-known. Draco is the one who 
makes value judgements about Lupin based on the state of his clothes, 
and the Weasley family based on their financial troubles. He's the 
one who takes it upon himself to torture a shy and weak kid like 
Neville. And Crabbe and Goyle snicker along with everything he says. 

Tom Riddle, though a poor orphan, was popular at school, and even 
made Head Boy, something an outcast would turn down as being beneath 
him or her. And after he turned to the Dark Arts, he still had 
friends/followers. We are told he asked his fellow Slytherin to start 
calling him "Lord Voldemort" which means he had friendly 
relationships.

Marcus Flint protects Draco, even after he drops the most vile racial 
slur the WW has on Hermione. As I've said before, protecting a racist 
soils your hands with the same dirty deed, in my opinion. 

And it is Pansy who see herself as the arbiter of good taste and 
beauty at Hogwarts, as determined by her catty comments about 
Hermione's looks and her complete shock when Hermione outdoes her at 
the Yule Ball. If anything, the scenario you lay out for Jessica 
would more likely happen to a girl like Hermione.

The only reason Slytherin seems like an outcast is because they 
aren't in the HRH house. But in reality, just as many Slytherins have 
well-connected parents and it is impossible to ignore the fact that 
the entire Slytherin creed has a lot to do with exclusion of those 
not deemed "pure." 

The HRH trio -- an orphan with a built-in mortal enemy to torture 
him; the youngest son of a family that has overextended its means and 
a Muggle-born braniac who actually believes intelligence counts more 
for than appearance -- fits any outcast profile you'd care to name 
better than any current Slytherin.

The only sympathetic Slytherin so far is Snape, and as I've said 
before, there comes a time when, nearly 20 years after the fact, you 
stop being a victim and start being an active chooser of the life you 
live and how you choose to live it.

Darrin
-- And we STILL don't know that Snape was a Slytherin anyway.