Snape and the faculty, foe glass, Vampire fluff

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 35639

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Porphyria <porphyria at m...> wrote:

<snip of Snape's relationship to the faculty which I agree with 
100%) and that the secret Hagrid is keeping from Harry has 
nothing to do with vampires, with which I agree about 95%.>

I think Hagrid knows what Snape is, and tends to sympathize 
with him, but I think as a card-carrying L.O.V.E.S.L.A.V.E. (League 
Of Violently Enamoured Snape Lily And Vampire Enthusiasts, 
that the secret has something to do with Lily.

> 
> My point here is that I'd find it rather redundant and 
heavy-handed 
> writing if Snape turns out to be a vampire. He already has 
enough 
> problems with his dark past and with people being prejudiced 
against him 
> for it (like both the fake and real Moodys). I'd find it artistically 
> unbalanced if vampirism was heaped on top of what already 
looks to be a 
> teetering pile of issues. And furthermore he's one of the most 
*human* 
> characters that JKR has developed; I'd hate to think that his 
nastiness 
> could somehow be "explained" by vampirism. That's too much 
of a 
> simplification; he's nasty because he's human.

Which is why I like the part-Vampire theory. I thoroughly believe 
that it's Snape's *human* side that is nasty. Vampires as I 
imagine them are cooly dispassionate about everything except 
their next meal. I think that's one reason Rowling is hiding his 
vampire nature...she wants us to understand how very human 
Snape is. I agree that it's heaping an awful lot of baggage on 
Snape to make him a vampire and an ex-Death Eater, but 
Rowling wasn't afraid to put two monsters in the Castle, so why 
should she be afraid to give Snape more than one issue? There 
are plenty of RL people who have to cope with being say, black 
and disabled, or Jewish and gay, or whatever.

> 
> Plus I really don't get the point of why a character would turn out 
to 
> be a vampire when they don't exhibit *any* of the stereotypical 
symptoms 
> of it. Snape bleeds -- profusely, he eats in public, goes out in 
> daylight, bursts through doorways uninvited; it is implied that 
he 
> sleeps, has no fear of garlic and there is no evidence that 
Hogwarts 
> students occasionally find themselves suffering from 
unexplained anemia 
> and puncture wounds to the neck. 

Well, Snape's unhealthy appearance could be due to an 
absence of haemoglobin in the diet. He goes out in daylight 
once in a while but so did Bram Stoker's Dracula. We don't know 
that Snape has no fear of garlic, since it's unclear whether the 
turban smells of garlic or not.

 As for the doorways: Snape is a Hogwarts Professor, "Master of 
this School": why shouldn't he go where he likes, since the 
Master of the House, Dumbledore, has given him leave?
The Shack is either Dumbledore's or no ones' and Snape enters 
on Hogwarts business.

 He does need permission to enter Lupin's 
private office, however. When he enters Moody's office (the same 
one) in GoF, he is explicity behind Dumbledore. When he bangs 
into Pomfrey's territory in PoA, it can only be after Dumbledore 
has undone the spell on the door first and the text says he, 
Dumbledore and Fudge enter together. The other time he comes 
in, it's with Fudge, who would also have leave to control who 
enters and leaves. In fact this point is made specifically in the 
text by having Fudge refuse to sign Harry's Hogwarts form. In fact 
Fudge can not only enter the school, he can bring a Dementor 
with him! Surely he can bring a vampire, if he wishes.

I agree that pale, thin, interesting, angry/depressed characters 
who swoop around in black are a cliche, but that is true even if 
they aren't vampires, so I can't see that being a vampire makes it 
worse.

I agree that we don't seem to know 
> exactly how JKR construes vampirism, but if she even wants to 
deal with 
> it at all then she must ascribe to it some symptoms which 
distinguish it 
> from normal wizardy. If Snape is a vampire, or part-vampire, or 
> 'treated' vampire, then it *virtually doesn't matter* -- even the 
> 'treated' Lupin still got sick every month, had a morbid fear of 
the 
> moon, and still transformed accidentally. There's no evidence 
that Snape 
> has even residual vampire problems. I guess I'm saying I don't 
see how 
> this would fit in thematically; if the point is to give Snape more 
angst 
> and vulnerablity towards prejudice, I'd say he already has 
enough to 
> hold him in his human interactions.

Not neccessarily.  Rowling could be making the point that  
Snape has assimilated and could live as a normal wizard, could 
fit in, except that he wouldn't be welcome in normal society just 
because he is a vampire, a member of a despised race. That's 
different than being an ex-Death Eater, which was a choice, or an 
uncontrollably violent werewolf, or a magically handicapped 
Muggle,  or a culturally ignorant Muggleborn. Vampires come 
from a magical culture, yet the wizards hate them.

There is a  passage in Mein Kampf where Hitler explicitly likens 
the Jew to the vampire, in that it preys on those who give it 
hospitality. 

Pippin
who thinks Snape should have an extra House Elf to carry his 
emotional baggage