[HPforGrownups] Re: Snape's Snake spell

[Dominique Medal]

No: HPFGUIDX 48105


On Monday, Dec 9, 2002, at 21:13 US/Central, Lynx412 at aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 12/9/02 10:01:30 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> melclaros at yahoo.com writes:
>
>
> > Snape's snake-vanishing spell? Well maybe he has to do that on a 
> regular
> > basis, or perhaps he just used a similar very basic "clean up" 
> spell--one
> > which must get A LOT of use in his classroom. At least since 
> Neville's been
> > enrolled.

Good idea, but I don't know if it would work. It might only work to 
clean up actual messes, not to make animals disappear.

>        Actually, I find that whole snake spell interesting. My 
> impression is
> that Snape told Malfoy to use it, gave him the incantation right 
> there. He
> wanted to panic Harry. Instead, he reveals Harry's abilities as a
> Parseltongue. It also produces Snape's most interesting reaction to 
> Harry
> yet... "Snape, too, was looking at Harry in an unexpected way: It was a
> shrewd and calculating look, and Harry didn't like it."

We don't know what Snape told Malfoy, but one logical conclusion is 
that he told him the snake spell.

>        Snape triggered that whole bit...and got a different reaction 
> than he
> intended. Which begs the question...is Snape a Parseltongue? And, for 
> that
> matter, why isn't Malfoy, whose whole family has been in Slytherin for
> generations. Isn't Parseltongue one of the things Slytherin himself 
> looked
> for in his students?

Snape is not a Parsel*mouth* (sorry, this is one of my pet peeves. The 
person is a Parselmouth, the language is Parseltongue.). It would not 
make any sense, as JK has deliberately illustrated Parseltongue as 
being *very* rare. We also know that Draco isn't one, as it seems to 
move in families - hence Tom Riddle, Heir of Slytherin, being a 
Parselmouth. I believe that Lucius would have known about this gift if 
it ran in his family, and Draco would have been scuttling about the 
corridors, hissing and hoping to find the Chamber.

Straya Luna niqui

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]