[HPforGrownups] More On Snape's Backstory

[Edblanning at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 34777

In a message dated 05/02/02 16:53:59 GMT Standard Time, cindysphynx at home.com 
writes:
>Snape is a Hogwarts Slytherin, and he shows up knowing a lot of 
>advanced curses.  Snape isn't very popular with the student body at 
l>arge due to his greasy hair and tendency to glide and prowl.  But 
>Snape gets on well within Slytherin and with his head of house, 
>Karkaroff, who has, uh, taken an interest in young Severus.  Snape's 
>buddies are all Slytherins who eventually turn out to be DEs.  Snape, 
>however, isn't so sure he wants to go that route, and he is still 
>deciding what his future holds, despite Karkaroff's attempts to win 
>Snape over by providing, uh, wine.

<lots of snipping>

> This is just too much for Snape to take.  Dumbledore has shown who he 
> favors and where his loyalties lie -- the Gryffindors and the 
> Marauders.  This solidifies Snape's relationships with the DE 
> Slytherins and slams the door on any possibility that Snape will join 
> Dumbledore's team.  Figuratively speaking, Snape finally accepts 
> Karkaroff's wine.  :-)  Upon graduation, Snape really has nowhere 
> else to go other than join up with the DEs.  He certainly isn't going 
> to join up with Dumbledore, and he trusts the judgment of his fellow 
> Slytherins, like, uh, the Lestranges, Travers, Mulciber, Karkaroff, 
> Rookwood, Crouch Jr.  Snape figures joining the DEs will give him the 
> two things he would never get from Dumbledore:  power and respect.
> 

I really like elements of your backstory - chiefly because thay are very 
similar to mine - although  I haven't fleshed mine out as much. I also assume 
that the prank and more particularly it's aftermath, or should  I say *lack * 
of aftermath were the turning point for the young Severus. This rather 
implicates Dumbledore, doesn't it? It's not so much what the Marauders did 
that's the problem, as what Dumbledore *didn't* do. I fancy he felt ever so 
let down by the 'light' side, didn't find justice in the all-wise all-just 
Dumbledore. The man has almost a sainted reputation ( not canon perhaps, but 
isn't the general feeling that Dumbledore's the fount of all goodness), you 
go to him with the most terrible story and nothing really happens. What's the 
point of allying yourself with goodness if evil goes unpunished? Is there any 
difference between the two sides? Perhaps not. In fact this ties in with the 
way Vodemort recruited Quirrel: convincing him there was no such thing as 
good and evil only those with power and those afraid to use it or words to 
that effect.

In this way, Snape simply makes a mistake. A huge mistake of gargantuan 
proportions to be sure, but a mistake nonetheless. And he realises it . There 
*is* a difference between good and evil. Now whether there is a specific 
event that triggers his realisation is another matter. As I've said before I 
think that a 'conversion experience' rather weakens the plot and the 
character. What I like about Cindy's story getting him *into* the DEs is that 
it doesn't require any 'conversion', he maintains the same character and 
motivation throughout. Getting him out without a 'conversion' is a bit more 
difficult and I can only make it work by going along with Cindy's feeling 
that the young Severus wasn't sure that he wanted to buy in to the dark side 
from the start. I've suggested before that he may have been exploring which 
way he wanted to go and Dumbledore's understanding treatment of the Marauders 
tipped him the wrong way. On other words I don't think he was *bad* and 
converted to *good*, I think he was uncertain or confused and made the wrong 
decision. That way his coming back to Dumbledore's side is more 
understandable.

Of course, I also happen to believe he comes from a family of dark wizards, 
explaining all those curses he knew, and that though he's intellectually a 
*good* guy, many of his instincts lead him toward the dark side leading to a 
lot of tension.

Just in passing, I should go on record as saying there are things I don't go 
along with. I have no inclination to climb aboard the good ship Lollipop just 
yet ( waving respectfully to Caprain Tabouli as I sail by), but if she comes 
in to land, I'm prepared to eat my sailor's hat and beg a berth. Other 
things, such as ambushes etc we can only speculate on. (Says she, ignoring 
the fact that most of the above *is* speculation)

I've been wondering who recruited Pettigrew?
I have a feeling it can't have been Snape. But that would be a nice twist 
that would add some more self-loathing to the scenario.

Eloise


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