Canon evidence for Snape being a vampire

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 35299


Snape as vampire: the evidence

SS/PS
Quirrel says he has to pick up a book on vampires  ch. 5 
Hagrid says Quirrel met vampires in the Black Forest (n.b. the 
Black Forest is in Germany, not Romania)  ch.5 
Quirrel's classroom smells strongly of garlic  ch.8 
Everyone says it's to ward off the vampire Q. met  in Romania 
and is afraid will be coming back to get him one of these days.  
ch. 8 
The Weasley twins insist the turban is stuffed full of garlic. ch 8 
Snape's eyes are black, cold and empty ch 8 
Snape has the gift of keeping the class silent ch 8  
He speaks of human veins  ch 8
Snape wears a long black cloak which sweeps ch 8 
Snape bleeds ch 11
Snape watches Quidditch ch 11
Snape is roaming the corridors after dark ch 12
Snape referees a Quidditch match ch 13
He exits the castle as the sun sets ch 13
Snape tells Q, "You don't want me for your enemy...you know 
perfectly well what I mean." SS ch 13 
Q. says Snape was "swooping around like an overgrown bat" SS 
ch 17

CoS
Snape's skin is sallow. His nose is hooked ch 5
Snape gives the impression he can read minds ch 5
Snape's face is gaunt ch 9
Snape comes "gliding over like a large and malevolent bat" ch 
11

PoA
Sirius is gaunt ch 2
Harry had  "never met a vampire", but has seen pictures of them 
in DADA. ch 3
The photograph in the Daily Prophet of Sirius Black, "with his 
waxy white skin" looks just like a vampire ch3
Snape's robes billow ch 7
blood flavored lollipops "they're for vampires, I expect"  ch 10
Lupin's vampire essay discussed by Harry and Neville  after 
Snape's werewolf essay ch 14
Neville says he doesn't understand "that thing about the garlic" 
ch 14
Snapes robes swish ch 14
Snape's teeth are yellowish and uneven ch 14
Lupin mentions the vampire essay in front of Snape ch 14
Snape watches Quidditch from the stands.  ch 15
Snape's robes swish ch. 22
Dean Thomas suggests a vampire will teach DADA next year ch 
22
Snape constantly flexes his fingers as if wishing he could place 
them around Harry's throat ch 22

GoF
Viktor Krum, thin, dark, sallow-skinned, with a large curved nose, 
looks like an overgrown bird of prey ch 8
Krum flies as though he was "unsupported and weightless." ch 
8
No non-human creature may use or carry a wand ch 9
Rita Skeeter wrote, a week before the QWC, that the Ministry 
should be stamping out vampires. They are covered by 
paragraph 12 of the Guidelines for the Treatment of Non-Wizard 
Part-Humans. ch 10
Moody says Lupin reported the DADA class had covered 
"Boggarts, Red Caps, hinkypunks, grindylows, kappas and 
werewolves." (Vampires are *not* mentioned) ch 14
Hermione's teeth expand. Snape says he sees no difference ch 
18
Snape has a pulse ch 25
Snape maintains his right to prowl the school after dark ch 25
Harry wonders if Snape can turn himself into a bat ch 29
Ron says he wouldn't put it past him ch 29
Snape looks "slightly paler than usual" ch 36
FB
The centaurs objected to being classed as Beings along with 
vampires  p. xiii

QTA
No wizard can fly unaided in human form. p1
A winged creature animagus can fly, but a wizard who is merely 
transfigured into a bat would lose human intelligence p1
A Quidditch referee must be an expert flier p31
The Transylvania vs Flanders QWC saw the release of  "a 
hundred blood-sucking vampire bats" by the Transylvanian 
Captain p 40

Rowling's Snape Sketch as shown on Harry Potter and Me
http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/hpforgrownups/vwp?.dir=/
Harry+Potter+%26+Me&.dnm=profsnape.jpg&.src=gr&.view=t&.h
ires=t
In the photos section of this Yahoo group.

Allowing for the exaggerated nose, the  sketch recalls Romanian 
born Bela Lugosi in his role as the Transylvanian vampire Count 
Dracula. There are many pictures of Lugosi as Dracula on the 
web, but I can give no links since I am unaware of their copyright 
status.

To summarize: 

Potterverse vampire lore:
Vampires exist in the Potterverse. They are the among the first 
Beings mentioned in the text, just after Wizards and Goblins. 
They are associated with Romania,Transylvania and the Black 
Forest .  They are hated and feared by many. Centaurs oppose 
them. There are products made and sold for their use. Their 
appearance is described as pale and gaunt. Harry has seen a 
vampire's picture in DADA, but has never "met" one. Vampires 
are studied in Defense Against the  Dark Arts, but are not 
considered Wizards. Garlic is used against vampires. 

The pros:
Rowling has built associations between vampires, bats,  flying 
ability, eastern European origins, the Hollywood concept of the 
vampire's attributes ( pale, thin, cloaked in black, slick hair, 
hypnotic abilities, nocturnal habits, menacing appearance) and 
Severus Snape. Vampires are mentioned numerous times but 
no vampire character has been introduced, or so it seems.

Since vampires are hated and feared by many, and may not have 
the right to carry wands, Snape may have good reason to 
disguise what he is.

Quirrel may have guarded his classroom and his turban  with 
garlic to discourage Snape from investigating them. Snape is 
active at night and is seen outside the castle only in connection 
with Quidditch. Attention is drawn to the appearance of Snape's 
teeth, and to  the fact that in the Wizarding World, the appearance 
of teeth can be altered. Lupin's assignment of the vampire essay 
follows Snape's assignment of the werewolf essay and was not 
included in his list of subjects given to Moody. Lupin may have 
ssigned the essay for the same reason Snape assigned his: to 
clue someone in to the fact that Snape is a vampire.

Snape's lack of  the traditional vampire attributes of fangs and a 
sensitivity to sunlight may be explained in various ways.

1) There is no canon support for the idea that Potterverse 
vampires have fangs or avoid sunlight.

2) Snape avoids sunlight generally but uses a potion to protect 
himself when he can't avoid going outside. The fangs are either 
retractable, or also altered by magic.

3) Snape is part Vampire, as Hagrid is part giant and Fleur is 
part Veela. Potterverse crossbreeds display only some 
characteristics of the non-human magical parent.

4) The sun is not mentioned as visible in the sky when Snape is 
out of doors. Daytime itself doesn't count, similar to the way that 
Lupin does not transform until the full moon becomes visible in 
the sky.

The cons:

The whole idea is silly. Vampires belong in Buffy or The Vampire 
Chronicles, not the Potterverse.  We have already had a werewolf 
in disguise who uses a potion, having a vampire in disguise 
would be too much. All that swooping and swishing and the bat 
metaphors applied to Snape are just Rowling painting a picture 
in words. At most the vampire references are a red herring.

Only the Weasley twins think there is garlic in Quirrel's turban. 
Snape would not be put off by a vegetable in any case. Hermione 
would have learned what  Snape is and told the boys what she 
knew. Snape would not have dared to reveal Lupin's secret if he 
knew Lupin might reveal his. Vampires are traditionally undead, 
Snape, who has a pulse and bleeds, is clearly alive. Snape has 
been seen outdoors and everybody knows that to be outdoors 
during the day is fatal or injurious to vampires. Vampires are 
magically afflicted wizards, not a separate race and therefore 
cannot breed true.

The counterarguments:
Rowling obviously intends to deal with vampires, since she has 
mentioned them prominently several times. Rowling delights in 
disguised characters and probably has not tired of this device.
If the vampire references were a typical Rowling red herring, 
Harry himself would consider whether Snape is a vampire. He 
has not.

Potterverse creatures have curious weaknesses. The crowing of 
a rooster will kill a Basilisk, why shouldn't garlic repel vampires?  
Hermione has kept knowledge to herself before at the school's 
request and may be hiding what she knows. Snape is very 
daring and was willing to take the risk that Lupin might out him. 
Nobody would believe a werewolf anyway. Some creatures 
considered undead in tradition, such as Veela, can breed with 
humans in the Potterverse. If  Potterverse vampires were dead, 
they would be classed as Spirits, not Beings, by the Ministry of 
Magic. If they were magically afflicted wizards, Percy would not 
call them Non-Wizards.

Well, there you have it. Not conclusive by any means, but food for 
thought.

Pippin
succumbing to her inner L.O.O.N.