[HPforGrownups] 2 nagging questions

[heiditandy]

No: HPFGUIDX 48871



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Carol Bainbridge [mailto:kaityf at jorsm.com] 
> The 
> trio has long 
> suspected the parents of Malfoy and his cohorts as having links to 
> Voldemort, or at least they've said they wouldn't be 
> surprised to learn 
> that.   Not everyone that heard what Harry had to say believed him 
> either.  Fudge certainly didn't.  Serius isn't going to tell 
> anyone.  Snape 
> no doubt already knew and hadn't done anything about it 
> before or treated 
> anyone differently because of that knowledge.  (In fact, he 
> treated Draco 
> better than he treated Harry.)  

Actually, this leads to an interesting point. Snape made a sudden
movement when Harry spoke Lucius' name as one of the Death Eaters at the
graveyard, which at least gives the implication that Snape believed
whatever story Lucius told when he was suspected before, back when he
was cleared of any wrongdoing. 

Here's the bit from GoF that I'm refering to:

<<Snape made a sudden movement, but as Harry looked at him, Snape's eyes
flew back to Fudge.

"Malfoy was cleared!" said Fudge, visibly affronted. "A very old family
- donations to excellent causes -">>

In other words, Snape didn't necessarily already know that Lucius was an
active Death Eater, or that he'd be at Voldemort's side as soon as he
did come back. 

However, on the issue of why he treats Draco better than he treats Harry
(excepting, of course, the simple reason which is that he still hates
James and can't take his hatred out on James so he does it vicariously
on Harry) there are a number of possible reasons why he does that - he's
reported as favoring his own house in the first place, but it's also
possible that he sees Lucius as being less-than-a-good-role-model to
Draco, that he doesn't want Draco to make the same mistakes he (Snape)
did (i.e. joining the Death Eaters and putting his life at risk for
that), or that he's trying to get information out of Draco about Lucius'
activities, just to keep tabs on what's going on outside Hogwarts. 

Heidi
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